LONDON — Data is everything in today’s IIoT manufacturing environments, including makers of pet food and care products. At Mars Petcare UK, efforts to use pet industry data to promote the health and well-being of four-legged companions are led in part by Analytics and Data Science Lead Jackie Clayton, who provides many passions and mission experiences.
“Pets provide so many benefits to people and society, so I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity to use science and data to generate insights that will allow us to make their lives better as well. life,” he said.
In the following Q&A, Clayton shares how he’s helping Mars Petcare improve the lives of pets and their owners through data analysis, and shares some of the trends he hopes will fuel the future of industry.
PFP: Tell us about your business or career in the pet industry.
Clayton: I am an analytics and data science lead at Mars Petcare, but a relative newcomer to the pet industry having joined Mars in 2021. I spent the early part of my career building experience in data and analytics, including customer loyalty and my own startup.
Being at the forefront of data and analytics may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to a pet care company, but data and analytics play a huge role as we look to deliver on our mission — A Better World for Pets — at Mars Petcare . The big attraction to joining Mars Petcare is how the business is looking to use data to improve the lives of pets and pet owners. Pets provide so many benefits to people and society, so I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity to use science and data to generate insights that will allow us to improve their lives as well.
PFP: How did you get started in the pet industry, and how did that experience get you to where you are today?
Clayton: I’ve always loved data and science, but what drew me to Mars was the way it uses data across businesses. Our team reaches across all areas of the business, from supporting the development of great products, to uncovering new insights into pet health and optimizing our supply chains to help achieve our vision of a healthy planet. We use data to ensure our products and services meet the needs of both pets and pet owners — by better understanding their needs, we can help ensure that the pets live better and healthier. For example, we use cutting-edge data science applications in diagnostic tools such as Whistle™, which detect changes in pet behavior that may indicate a change in well-being and therefore help predict the onset of pain
PFP: What is your biggest challenge — personal or professional — related to your work in the pet industry?
Clayton: At Mars, we’re constantly looking at ways to use technology, science and data to generate insights that can help make pets’ lives better and healthier. But it’s often difficult to get a view of the whole picture because there may be fewer touchpoints between pet owners and businesses, unlike in other sectors such as retail.
PFP: Tell me about a professional achievement in the pet industry that you are proud of.
Clayton: I am proud of my work on the recent State of Pet Homelessness Project, the largest global international study on pet homelessness. We partnered with a team of leading animal welfare experts and organizations in 20 countries to try to understand the roots of pet homelessness. Data generation involved nine months of fieldwork, 200 professional interviews, over 7,700 hours of data collection, review of 930 sources, 44 analyst interviews, and approximately 30,000 public surveys. The sheer size and scale of the report is an impressive feat, and I’m very proud of our data and analytics team’s contribution to it.
Pet homelessness is an underexplored topic when it comes to data, so this report is a hugely positive contribution. The fact that it covers 20 countries and is available to all helps businesses, NGOs, policy makers and the public better understand how the challenges of homelessness vary from country to country and region-to-region . This in turn helps them design customized interventions to address the challenge. I am very proud of the way data and analytics provided the backbone of this project and were used to bring transparency, awareness and insight to this global issue.
PFP: What is top of mind for you and/or your business in the industry right now?
Clayton: A large portion of Mars’ pet care business portfolio is centered around serving the needs of millions of pets and pet owners around the world. We are constantly focused on finding new ways to help pets and pet owners live happy and healthy lives together. It also means a more sustainable world for people, pets and the planet. Across the business we are driving innovation and giving pet owners the opportunity to make sustainable choices, while taking ambitious steps to reduce our carbon footprint and redesign our packaging for circularity.
PFP: If you could pick three trends influencing the industry today, which would be the most important and why?
Clayton: I see several major trends influencing the pet care industry right now — from formulation and alternative ingredients to personalized nutrition and smart pet technology. For me, the most important is the growth of data and science, which has the potential to change millions of lives.
Take our State of Pet Homelessness Project as an example. It shares data-driven findings about the factors affecting pet homelessness around the world, bringing insights that can guide individuals and organizations working to tackle the problem to help create real that difference.
Then there is, of course, how we use new technologies and tools to drive prevention and more personalized care. Predictive models, which allow the diagnosis and treatment of diseases at an earlier stage, have the potential to be transformative for pet health care, just as they are for human health care.
PFP: What is one thing about the pet industry that people outside the industry may not realize?
Clayton: The industry is very emotional because we work with people’s beloved pets, who are part of the family. And when it comes to pets, data and insight are even more important because pets can’t talk, so they can’t tell us what’s wrong. We are constantly looking for and embracing new technologies that allow us to work smarter and faster to improve the lives of pets. What I love about my work at Mars is that we are an innovative, forward-thinking and digitally savvy business.
PFP: What advice would you give to young people starting their careers in this industry?
Clayton: Looking at businesses that are purpose-driven and aim to make a difference in the industry is a good place to start. From a data and analytics perspective, career paths are so diverse at Mars Petcare that you’ll learn a lot quickly. There are so many opportunities to make a real impact, such as creating data-driven reports and insights — like the State of Pet Homelessness Project — that help tackle global issues. This use of our data and analytics work gives real purpose to what we do every day, and I always encourage getting involved with projects and businesses that do this.
PFP: Just for fun, do you consider yourself a dog person or a cat person? Or, if you have your own pets, tell us a little about them.
Clayton: I grew up around a lot of cats at home, so I’d say I’m definitely more of a cat person.
PFP: Any final advice for other women in the pet industry?
Clayton: Immerse yourself in workplaces that support you. Women working in data and analytics can still face many obstacles and limited diversity in teams, but these women are your best network. Mars has partnered with the UK organization Women in Data to help promote women into data roles, which is a great step in the right direction in promoting more women into senior data and data roles. analytics. If you have the right people around you, you can achieve more.
In her current role as analytics and data science lead at Mars Petcare UK, Jackie Clayton is invested in using data and analytics to drive innovation that benefits pets, pet owners and the planet. Prior to joining Mars, he led Aviva’s Quantum University platform, and he also founded and led Aimia Inc.’s Analytics Academy program. He has also held various analyst roles with Nectar and Safeway. Clayton earned his bachelor’s degree in statistics and operational research at Coventry University, followed by a master’s degree in operational research from Lancaster University.
Continue reading about other female leaders featured in our Female in the Pet Industry series.
