Leveraging Data Visualization—From Napoleon to Telecom’s Digital Marketing

I have been a lifelong admirer and student of data visualization and information design. I can trace the roots of that fascination to my early years and my encounter with a striking visual representation of Napoleon’s campaign into Russia by Charles Minard.

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The image depicts much more than just the route; the juxtaposition of the outside temperature, number of troops, and distance and location by date tell a grim tale of that tragic invasion. The blue line illustrates the advance of Napoleon’s Grand Army as they invaded Russia in June of 1812. Only 25 percent of the corps made it to Moscow; many were lost or perished along the way. The departure from Moscow (beige route) saw further reductions in the numbers, which correspond to onset of winter in Russia and the brutally extreme temperatures that diminished the French army to a mere 10,000 survivors over the course of six months.

Minard’s success in telling the story of that invasion so vividly through imagery is of keen interest for many of us, as conveying copious amounts of complex information is a challenge we face on a regular basis. This task is made even more formidable, given that today’s audiences are skimmers. I too am a practiced skimmer, so I appreciate it when key findings are identified and articulated in a digestible way. That way, my skimming provides the maximum amount of information with a minimal amount of time and effort.

It was with this in mind that Adobe took on the challenge of developing a compelling summary of the recent research we conducted with eConsultancy.

The Digital Marketing in the Telcom Sector report was released in August and describes the challenges, opportunities, and priorities for digital marketing in the telecom sector. We wanted to provide an accessible, easy-to-digest view of the key findings. Yet the task was considerable, as our research resulted in a large number of findings. So, in an attempt to satisfy my inner-skimmer and represent the key findings in an easy-to-digest format, we decided to create an infographic video. Please have a look and let us know what you think.