Creativity and data – friends, or foes? It’s time to change the record. Years of pitting data and creativity against each other have left us in the position where we’re made to make a false choice between the two. But the reality falls somewhere in the middle. Data is the yin to creativity’s yang, and we need both to make truly great advertising.
After all, advertising isn’t just throwing together some quick figures on the back of a napkin and picking out a cool soundtrack. I don’t need to tell you that a lot goes into making advertising, whether it’s the making of the actual advert itself to finding a suitable home for it. The combination of both data and creativity is the fuel which drives both, and more often than not, it gives advertisers an idea of whether a not a campaign will be successful before it even goes out into the world.
And yet just over a third of respondents agree they find advertising less invasive than three years ago. Our advertising may have come forward in leaps and bounds, but it’s not perfect yet – and in order to get there, it’s important we take the other 66% seriously.
Contrary to what the headlines might say, the solution isn’t just more data – or indeed more creativity (in our humble opinion). As with so much in life, good things take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and advertisers can’t expect to magic perfect creative or smart data-driven insights out of nowhere. The treasure trove of data out there might be almost unlimited, but quantity means nothing without the time and space to turn it into something great and to establish learnings from what went right and wrong in previous campaigns. And as for creatives, well, you just can’t rush art.
Buyers and traders are doing a bang-up job of making ads more relevant and intuitive every day. But so much time is eaten up with counting zeroes and fixing problems rather working on new, bold, brilliant things. If we could find a way to free up that time, the results could be astonishing.
Now the good news: we can do this already. Technology needn’t – indeed, shouldn’t – complicate matters, and tech like artificial intelligence, for example, can take a significant weight off advertisers’ shoulders. If we give the boring tasks to the machines, that means all the more time for advertisers to focus on what they’re good at – and what actually makes a difference. The result is better lives for advertisers, but also better creatives and better insights.
Advertising provides a crucial service – not least in making the internet free, but also in helping consumers access what they actually need and want. To win the hearts and minds of that last 66%, it’s important that our ads become ever-more relevant and engaging. That means giving time over to what’s important and leaving digits and decimal points to the robots. So be kind, take a bit of time, and let computers take control of the grind – your advertising will thank you.
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