CANNES — Data is a buzzword in the media business, and data is widely available. But data only works when structure is applied to it, says Wendy Clark, ‎CEO at DDB Worldwide, North America in this interview with Beet.TV.

“Everyone has data, but it’s largely unstructured. The key is making it useful and structured. Making it intelligent. Data needs to be turned into intelligence and we believe that intelligence can make everything we do better,” she says. That includes creative as well as media.

When it comes to programmatic buying, data, of course, is essential to making programmatic media buys work. “It can be a little twitch or nudge in the data that informs an entire platform,” she says. Clark joined DDB earlier this year after serving in key roles at Coca-Cola.

In addition, Clark points out that agencies and marketers need to be faster and also more efficient. “If speed is the currency of business today, we need to be much faster. Our entire structure needs to lean into that pace of the marketplace,” she says.