Digitas: Where Technology and Creativity Intersect

This piece was written by Andres Larrieu, a participant on Business Today’s Chicago Breakout Trip, Crossroads of Humans and Machines. Andres is a member of Princeton’s class of 2022 and is planning on studying at the Woodrow Wilson School.

When the elevator doors open, a radiant rainbow with Digitas’s company logo comes into view. A tour around the office showcases open spaces, colorful backgrounds and furniture, and a beautiful view overseeing downtown Chicago. Though in appearance it may resemble an art studio, Digitas has been driven into existence by technology, data analytics, and software engineering.

During its first day in Chicago, Business Today’s Breakout Trip Crossroads of Humans and Machines stopped at Digitas’s Chicago office. The presentation began with examples of recent award-winning marketing campaigns that Digitas created, including Whirpool’s Care Counts campaign. Exploring the intersection of technology with different industries, Digitas presented to students how marketing has evolved with the emergence of digital technology. 

Digitas emphasized that there is a wide range of skills and abilities needed to produce quality marketing campaigns in today’s market. Without software engineering, requirements to enhance user experience cannot be applied. Without data science, there is no way to measure test groups nor to analyze feedback. Data analytics will drive decisions, which then set artists and creators to formulate plans and software engineers to implement them. These different departments coexist to balance digital skills with creative talent, programming with design, and data analysis with ideas. Overall, Digitas serves as an example that proves creativity and art can thrive in an increasingly data-driven world.