In this episode of the “Data Champions in Communications,” Sayooj Surendran of Leap discusses how data has influenced his communication strategy.

1. How did you end up in communications?

I’m a journalism graduate. During that time is when I identified my interest in the subject and that’s where I wanted to kind of specialize in the subject.  So, my specialization is in COMMS & PR from Bombay St Xavier’s and that’s where I got to speak to a lot of veterans of the industry.  They gave me a lot more perspective.  And after college, my first job was in Bombay itself with AvianWE. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across sectors like aviation, tourism, food tech, and now edtech.  So, that’s a very general overview of my journey so far. 

2. When was your first interaction with data?

One of the large clients that I used to work with who had an access to a lot of data was Amazon–the kind of data we had on the platform in terms of consumer shopping, their preferences, and how their preferences changed especially during COVID lockdown. There was a high surge in online shopping. We were able to use that data to kind of show how the shopping preferences have changed. One of the bigger insights is how the generation before us and our parents got into the whole world of eCommerce during the COVID time because then they were also hesitant to go out and shop. All these data and the insights we got from data proved to be very strong points of narratives from an eCommerce perspective.  That helped us strengthen our communications a lot.  So, that was one of the biggest exposures of data we had in terms of predicting consumer sentiment, predicting consumer preferences, and we were able to work around that narrative.

3. How did you integrate data into your campaigns?

We have a huge student community. We get to know a lot about student preferences with data in terms of the markets they like to go to– the foreign countries and what attracts them to those markets, whether it’s healthcare, whether it’s something else. There are a lot of preferences in terms of consumers and customers you get to know more with these data back insights. That becomes a very important part of your communication to hit the right code with the media.  

4. How is data solving challenges in communications?

The biggest challenge for communicators as a whole is how do you break the clutter. There’s a lot of communications across brands that go out to the media.  Now, how do you get the attention of the media by saying—this is an important story that you need to cover.  How do you reach that point?  And that’s where data helps you a lot with.  If you can tell strong data backstories, which gives them the insight into what the industry looks like right now and gives them the outlook of what it will look like in the next six months, I think that’s what attracts the media to your pitch, to your story. And data helps you break that clutter and get to your right audience.

TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK ON THE ABOVE VIDEO