10 - The Art of Data

Summary

We have seen how Super uses space, material objects, talk, and symbolism to present its activities through general and specific scientism. It uses the social legitimacy of science to encourage its clients to trust it and, through this, facilitates uncertainty absorption. Yet, as we have also seen, when interpreting data, the research team at Super do not consider themselves engaging in scientific practices. Instead, they talk about themselves as ‘giving meaning to data’ and ‘telling stories’. This is because uncertainty absorption is not about the application of scientific methods. It involves artistic qualification, as illustrated in the last two chapters.

This more creative practice is not hidden from clients – but its appearance is managed. In this chapter, I will focus on a second use of space, material objects, talk, and symbolism that occurs at Super that connects its activities to the discourse of Marketing Art. Just as Super designs dedicated spaces to perform for clients through scientism and present its research using scientific references, Super displays its good taste, productive cultural consumption, norm of newness, fun, personal relations, and anti- bureaucratic nature through its spaces and talk.

Again, though, no one involved in these performances believes that marketing researchers are artists in the strict sense of the term. As Alvesson (1994) suggests, this would undermine their value. Following their engagement with scientism, they legitimize their activities by embedding them in the social legitimacy of art. I coin the term ‘artism’ to refer to this action. It is the mirror of scientism as it involves aping the language, methods, and ethos of art without being artistic.

To illustrate the nature of artism at Super, the chapter describes the ways that artistic imagery and objects appear in Super's head office. I then explore how artistic practices influence the ways that the research team present their work to their clients. Here, we have the opportunity to return to the Luxury Car Social Media Playbook discussed in Chapter 6. I was able to attend the final client presentation for this Big Picture Project. Exploring the staging and scripting of this presentation helps us to see uncertainty absorption in action. We have already seen how the design of this Big Picture Project was shaped by Super's understanding of the relationships between the two clients – Stormer, a luxury car brand, and Splash, its creative agency.