Technology might be moving the advertising industry along at a rapid pace, but marketers shouldn’t forget the power of emotion, says Stephanie Sarofian, Senior VP & Managing Director at Digitas, during an interview with Beet.TV at the Beet Retreat 2013 in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Numbers and analysis are absolutely vital in the unchartered territory of big data, branded content and multi-screens, but tapping into emotions via creative should not be neglected, she tells Ashley Swartz, the founder and CEO of the New York-based consultancy Furious Minds. “We have to use our emotions because that’s how people make decisions in the end,” Sarofian explains. “The tools we are using are important but we still have to get to the insight, and the insight brings us to an idea, and only then can we have some impact on the brand’s bottom line.”

When it comes to content creation, brands can learn lessons from newsrooms and news organizations about how to create, curate and organize content. For more insight into what’s next in partnerships and mergers in advertising, check out this video interview.

-Daisy Whitney