The event itself, thanks in large part to the data experience, was a social success, with a reach of over 1MM. The digital program, published on TheAtlantic.com, launched to rave reviews as well. It was featured in Adweek and PSFK, and Contently hailed the project as “artistic and beautiful...smart, data-driven, and visually stunning…. [The] most creative and experimental piece of sponsored content created thus far.”

The digital results spoke for themselves too: according to SimpleReach’s Brand Content Index, Art of the Thrill doubled the industry benchmark for traffic, engaged time, and social actions. It also saw over 4.3MM Twitter impressions, showing that data, rendered artistically, is shareable, too.

Influencers, like AdAge media reporter Michael Sebastian and SVP of Strategy at Newscorp Raj Narisetti, shared the content across Twitter and Facebook, along with reporters from Buzzfeed, Time Inc., and Adweek.

Art of the Thrill also broke all previous Atlantic native advertising records. It was 268% above average for social actions, and 492% above average for custom-unit interaction rates. And our print spread, which featured a prominent visual of the custom dashboard, was ranked the number-one most noted ad in the issue, and also achieved a 93% brand association rate with Porsche, according to Starch.

In all, then, Art of the Thrill showed that creative data not only enhances live experiences—and can inspire people in the moment—but also leads to record-breaking engagement, increase interactivity, and powerful brand recall. In other words, it can turn fleeting, ephemeral moments into permanent imprints.

There’s no way we could have truly “visualized” the thrill of driving a Porsche Macan without data as the core of our project. Sure, we could have taken beautiful photos or shot GoPro videos, but that wouldn’t have been unique or novel or nearly creative enough, given the goals of the campaign.

Data was at the heart of everything, from the initial brainstorm to the user experience of the event to the digital experience. First, the data was a big part of why influencers wanted to participate: they’d see what “thrill” looked like for them, personally. Second, the data was the centerpiece of the live event itself—users not only got to interact with their own personal dashboards live, but we also sent them posters of their experience afterward.

And it was because we not only gathered, but also stored, the data from each driver’s experience that we were able to create an algorithm that turned everything into art. The art itself was the data—they were synonymous. The inner-shapes represented the heart rate, the outer shapes the breathing rate. Whenever the data showed changes, so too would the shapes and their colors changed. And, mapped to the GPS data, the final art came to life in the shape that represented the contour of the racetrack.

All of the biometric data allowed us to create an entirely accurate representation of what “thrill” looks like—and yet, because we assigned different colors and contours and moods to each data point, we were also able to make something artful, permanent, and, ultimately, meaningful.