Creating for people not technology. In conversation with Zahra Hasan. Head of Insights, the Wilderness Agency

One of the key principles that underpins Wilderness’ approach is a focus on people rather than the technology driven platforms that they create content for. In this film I talk to Zahra Hasan about how this approach has informed how they work with brands like HBO.

Watch the 5 minute film…

Things to notice, understand and consider…

Live for the numbers.
Zahra analyses data and sees patterns in performance that can feed back into the strategy of the content that Wilderness produces. She lives ‘for the numbers’, for ‘the science of it all.’ Think about how she works within the organisation – Why do you think she is important?

People NOT Technology. Think like a FAN.
We are talking to humans. Think about the importance of listening to people and how Wilderness does this. Zahra talks about getting into the heads of the fans. How does she do this?

Learning and prediction.
Think about how Wilderness learns about their audience – What are the methodologies that they utilise? How do they use learnings to predict what comes next? Why do you think tone of voice is important?

Methodology.
Think about how the numbers combine with the intelligence derived from listening.

Understanding the Platforms.
Different channels do different things and what they do is continually evolving. Think about how platforms like Facebook and Instagram have changed in recent years.

Authenticity.
Be authentic… be real – if that means looking silly, then own it! Think about what authenticity means and how this can be achieved.

Questions to answer / things to follow up…
List all of the methods that Zahra describes for understanding an audience. Describe how she sums up what Facebook and Instagram are for, also describe how she might describe the purpose of platforms such as Twitter and TikTok. What do you use these platforms for? How are they different?

Post your thoughts in the comments section below…