In this episode of the Data Malarkey Podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, welcomes Kelly Beaver, Chief Executive of Ipsos UK & Ireland, to explore why the data industry is at a crossroads.

Kelly shares insights from the Market Research Society’s "Campaign for Better Data" - tackling synthetic data, the risks and benefits of AI to the market research industry, and the danger of what she terms “ultra-processed data”. With passion and precision, Kelly explains why high-quality evidence matters more than ever.

🔍 Topics covered:

• The rise of synthetic and algorithmically altered data

• What makes data "ultra-processed" - and why that’s a problem

• The need for transparency and representativeness

• Why in-person collaboration still matters

• Storytelling, ethics, and the future of insight

Resources and links

• Ipsos UK & Ireland - https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk

• Market Research Society (MRS): Campaign for Better Data - http://bit.ly/4m5eH1E

• MRS Fair Data Mark - https://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/fairdata

👉 Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

In this Greatest Hits episode, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, rounds up the sharpest, most compelling, and most insightful moments from Series 8 of Data Malarkey - the podcast about using data, smarter. From AI and ethics to storytelling with data, this episode features golden snippets of conversations with:

• VW’s Nick Ratcliffe on marketing measurement

• Cambridge United FC’s Mark Bonner on the need to balance the emotional and the rational in the era of sporting analytics

• The Great Lakes Reporter of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Caitlyn Looby, on three golden rule of storytelling from science

• Oxford psychology professor, Chris Summerfield, on neuroscience and artificial intelligence - and how AI and human minds are similar AND different

• The American Enterprise Institute’s Senior Fellow, Christine Rosen, on the extinction of real-world experience

• And data-driven PR agency owner - Darryl Sparey from Hard Numbers - on data that actually drives communications impact (and not just vanity metrics)
  
  

If you’ve missed an episode, this is the perfect sampler. And if you’re a regular, enjoy the smartest, quirkiest moments of the season all in one go and revel in how the planets align and the dots join up to create cross-sector insights.

🎧 Stay tuned to hear what ties them all together: a passion for asking smarter questions and making more meaningful use of data.

In this episode of The Data Malarkey Podcast, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, talks with Darryl Sparey, Managing Director and Co-Founder of UK-based PR agency, Hard Numbers. A seasoned expert in communications and marketing measurement, Darryl breaks down what it really means to use data effectively in PR, how vanity metrics mislead, and why storytelling still reigns supreme.

From launching award-winning campaigns to championing smarter KPIs, Darryl brings sharp insight and plenty of playful Data Malarkey to the mic.

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

🔍 Topics in this episode include:

• The rise of data-led storytelling in earned media communications and PR

• Vanity metrics vs. genuine business impact

• Lessons learned from building Hard Numbers

• What PR measurement too often gets wrong
  
  

🎯 This episode is a must-listen for marketers, comms professionals, and curious media data analysts analysts alike.