FTI Spotlight Series: Ian Gray

Ian, how do you feel the communication landscape has changed over the last two years (as a result of COVID or other factors) such that the data-driven insights and/or creative digital solutions have become more integral to a company’s planning or strategy?

We are in an environment where everybody is looking at devices all the time I’m not even sure how much COVID has impacted that, though it may have accelerated things. I think it’s more of a natural evolution of global technology. People aren’t communicating in person in the same way they used to, and social media is an essential way of life for most people. It’s how we meet and how we connect. It produces a lot of what we call “digital exhaust” which is just information, spread out across various channels.

My team captures that information and through it we can glean a better understanding – in a quantitative way – about what the conversation is. It’s our job to make sense of it in a meaningful way.

What unique solutions is FTI bringing to help clients navigate the changes you’ve seen in the communications landscape over the last two years?

So, FTI and the Digital and Insights team has really doubled down on finding scalable quantitative solutions. What we mean by that is being able to ingest the data. We dig into underlying networks, the structures that exist within various online communities, to figure out the actual trajectory of conversations, not just how many Twitter accounts are involved. We’re not simply aggregating information that you can get anywhere, we’re tracking the actual movement within those streams of information.

We’re also highly accomplished at tracking information from traditional news media because if you spend any time around reporters Washington, DC, you can see how much the traditional news media influences social media and vice versa. Incorporating traditional media is vital for our clients because they need to know what is happening in every type of conversation, not just online, in order to build and direct strategy.

One of the things my team focuses on is network analysis, or the mapping of user interactions on various social platforms and traditional media. We look at what articles are being shared online and by who; who is being quoted and where these quotes are appearing; and what’s being syndicated and who’s tweeting and being responded to. Then, through a number of different network algorithms combined with natural language processing, we decipher who is just talking into the void or who is making an impact. For example, if it’s a political conversation, or a client engagement, there’s going to be a lot of useless noise on Twitter and we obviously don’t want to be building strategy around that, so these methods help us filter through to the conversations that really matter.

Combined with research from our in-house primary research experts, we have the best tools for figuring out sentiment, what people really think of an issue, where they are mostly getting their information from and then we can track and follow it. That combination is really powerful.

Definitely sounds like it! Ian, you mentioned research and data. What piece of advice can you give companies or brands who are beginning to consider using primary research and data? And or creative and digital to reach their stakeholders?

The way to succeed is by creating a set of metrics that are actually tied to what you’re trying to achieve; and knowing what you’re trying to achieve is a lot more difficult than people realize.

Beyond understanding what we want to achieve, we also have to understand what success looks like with the metrics we’ve set up and commit to a quantitative approach.  That doesn’t mean we have a statistic for everything, but it does mean we can see if any “goal creep” is happening and if the plans change midway through, those numbers help us understand the what and the why. Quantitative visions are good guardrails.

What advice would you give young career professionals who are just starting out in this business?

I would say that learning how to communicate well, both in the digital and real-world sense is paramount. Also, the ability to separate real information from noise, rumor from fact, of being able to find concrete information and staying on track for the true north of any discussion.

What have you personally learned most from your time at FTI?

Even though I joined FTI just two weeks before the pandemic and haven’t had the chance to be in-person with many of my colleagues, the people at FTI have been the biggest differentiator for me. The folks at FTI are real experts, who are dedicated, who know and research what they’re talking about. The attitude at FTI is different and that absolutely reflects in our client relationships. The relationships we build with clients are awesome and we’re able to do really good stuff because they trust us.

That’s so good to hear, Ian! Finally, on a personal note, what’s the last book you’ve read or show you’ve watched?

The book Hooked by Nir Eyal. It’s an incredible behavioral psychology book about what gets people addicted to things like social media. It goes through how successful companies create products people can’t put down, and why some products capture widespread attention while others flop. He details what makes us engage with certain products out of habit and the pattern underlying how technologies hook us. It’s fascinating.

Sounds like a must-read! Thanks Ian!