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P. 32
COMPANIES & CAMPAIGNS
Navigating a digital future –
why it’s time to leave the cave
Over 2400 years ago, Plato told a story of a group of Fast forward to 2013, when DreamWorks created a
people chained up in a cave facing a blank wall. His beautiful 3D animated film called ‘The Croods’. It too
famed ‘Allegory of the Cave’ depicted a world where tells the story of a cave-dwelling family. They are gov-
a group of prisoners was entertained only by shad- erned by an overprotective and stubborn patriarch,
ows from the light of the fire behind them. This flick- Grug, who refuses to believe that life outside of the fam-
ering view of silhouettes became their sole reality. ily cave can ever be safe.
When one was freed, he turned his back on the wall and His curious teenage daughter, Eep, is coaxed out of the
was temporarily blinded by the light of the fire. Once he cave by a torch of fire, where she meets an inventive
recovered, he became curious enough to leave the cave and forward-thinking boy named Guy, who warns her of
and experience a superior, yet incomprehensible, new an impending apocalypse. Grug, fearful of change, is
world. not convinced by this ‘different’ and ‘new’ way of think-
ing, and bans Eep from seeing Guy.
He returned to the cave wanting to share his experience
but, now accustomed to the sun, was blinded by the When a massive earthquake destroys their cave,
darkness. The prisoners believed that whatever existed they’re forced to flee their home. With their lives irrepa-
outside the cave caused his blindness and, in their igno- rably disrupted, Grug has no choice but to listen to Guy
rance, refused to be dragged from their cave. and allow him to guide his family to the safety of a
mountain, where Grug retreats to his old ways of think-
2400 years later, could this ‘cave’ metaphor be ap- ing and insists that his family hide out in a new cave.
plied to how we’ve adapted to our new digital world? His family refuse, saying they don’t want to ‘survive’ but
to ‘live’ in a new, safe land that Guy calls ‘Tomorrow’, a
Many businesses believe they’re ‘forward-thinking’ and place where a person’s curiosity is allowed to flourish.
have escaped the ‘cave’ of analogue to ‘see the light’ of
digital – but the question begs: have we even left the Certainly, engineering is one of the last bastions of ana-
cave yet? Or have we only made it as far away from the logue. We’re making incremental steps forward but,
wall as the fire? We might ‘think’ we’ve escaped the compared to other sectors, we probably haven’t left the
cave, but if we understood what’s really possible, we’d cave yet. Even though digital technologies are generally
realize we have a long way to go before we can truly call seen as enabling collaboration on design projects or
ourselves ‘freed’ of analogue. infrastructure management and optimization, there are
32 Data-Driven Marketing: Customer Insights & Predictive Analysis
Navigating a digital future –
why it’s time to leave the cave
Over 2400 years ago, Plato told a story of a group of Fast forward to 2013, when DreamWorks created a
people chained up in a cave facing a blank wall. His beautiful 3D animated film called ‘The Croods’. It too
famed ‘Allegory of the Cave’ depicted a world where tells the story of a cave-dwelling family. They are gov-
a group of prisoners was entertained only by shad- erned by an overprotective and stubborn patriarch,
ows from the light of the fire behind them. This flick- Grug, who refuses to believe that life outside of the fam-
ering view of silhouettes became their sole reality. ily cave can ever be safe.
When one was freed, he turned his back on the wall and His curious teenage daughter, Eep, is coaxed out of the
was temporarily blinded by the light of the fire. Once he cave by a torch of fire, where she meets an inventive
recovered, he became curious enough to leave the cave and forward-thinking boy named Guy, who warns her of
and experience a superior, yet incomprehensible, new an impending apocalypse. Grug, fearful of change, is
world. not convinced by this ‘different’ and ‘new’ way of think-
ing, and bans Eep from seeing Guy.
He returned to the cave wanting to share his experience
but, now accustomed to the sun, was blinded by the When a massive earthquake destroys their cave,
darkness. The prisoners believed that whatever existed they’re forced to flee their home. With their lives irrepa-
outside the cave caused his blindness and, in their igno- rably disrupted, Grug has no choice but to listen to Guy
rance, refused to be dragged from their cave. and allow him to guide his family to the safety of a
mountain, where Grug retreats to his old ways of think-
2400 years later, could this ‘cave’ metaphor be ap- ing and insists that his family hide out in a new cave.
plied to how we’ve adapted to our new digital world? His family refuse, saying they don’t want to ‘survive’ but
to ‘live’ in a new, safe land that Guy calls ‘Tomorrow’, a
Many businesses believe they’re ‘forward-thinking’ and place where a person’s curiosity is allowed to flourish.
have escaped the ‘cave’ of analogue to ‘see the light’ of
digital – but the question begs: have we even left the Certainly, engineering is one of the last bastions of ana-
cave yet? Or have we only made it as far away from the logue. We’re making incremental steps forward but,
wall as the fire? We might ‘think’ we’ve escaped the compared to other sectors, we probably haven’t left the
cave, but if we understood what’s really possible, we’d cave yet. Even though digital technologies are generally
realize we have a long way to go before we can truly call seen as enabling collaboration on design projects or
ourselves ‘freed’ of analogue. infrastructure management and optimization, there are
32 Data-Driven Marketing: Customer Insights & Predictive Analysis
