Sam Knowles

Biography

“Insight Agents are storytellers. Data storytellers. Our purpose is to help organisations sound like people and talk Human.” There's more about the business at www.insightagents.co.uk.

Insight Agents was founded in in the U.K. in 2013 by Sam Knowles, who’s the Managing Director. Sam combines long and varied consultancy experience with a planner’s facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver. For a one-time PR man, he has unusually rich analytics experience and expertise.

Through Insight Agents, Sam helps all sorts of organisations – businesses and charities, universities and Governments – to identify and craft the most compelling, data-driven stories in their sector. He divides his time between consultancy, writing, and training.

Sam is the author of the 'Using Data Better' trilogy of books from Routledge. This includes: (i) the best-seller "Narrative by Numbers: How to Tell Powerful & Purposeful Stories with Data" (www.narrativebynumbers.com), published by Routledge in 2018; (ii) the critically-acclaimed "How To Be Insightful: Unlocking the Superpower that Drives Innovation" (www.HowToBeInsightful.com); and, the eagerly-anticipated "Asking Smarter Questions: How To Be an Agent of Insight" (www.asksmarterqs.com) published in August 2022.

Sam holds a doctorate in psychology, one source of his understanding of human motivation and behaviour and his love of telling stories with data. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Professional Speaking Association (PSA), and chairs the Data Storytelling Council of I-COM, a global association helping companies achieve competitive advantage through smart data marketing. Sam is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA).

An experienced and sought-after conference speaker, he has given recent keynotes for the MRS, the PRCA, the Media Research Group, the International Communications Consultancies Organisation, and at the Festival of Marketing. He has also spoken at Big Data, big pharma, food technology, sensory science, academic, and procurement sector events.

A prolific blogger and an accomplished speaker, Sam is a regular commentator and guest on podcasts. He is the co-founder and co-host of the Small Data Forum, a podcast examining the uses and abuses of data big and small in business, politics, and public life. You can hear Sam’s podcast appearances at www.smalldataforum.com and http://insightagents.co.uk/podcasts/

Education

BA (Classics), Cambridge University, Cambridge, 1989
MA (Classics), Cambridge University, Cambridge, 1992
MSc (Experimental Psychology), University of Sussex, 2001
DPhil (Experimental Psychology), University of Sussex, 2005

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Data storytelling
Corporate and brand storytelling
Insightful thinking
Innovation
Academic impact

Personal Interests

Cricket (playing and watching), football
Wine
Books
Communication and social media
The uses and abuses of data big and small in politics, business, and public life

Websites

• Asking Smarter Questions

• How To Be Insightful

• Insight Agents

• Insights for Impact

• Narrative by Numbers

• Small Data Forum

Books

Videos