Is ROI killing creativity?

There are many discussions out there about the future of the agencies and the consensus seems to be that analytics will get a more prominent part in marketing departments and agencies. The discussion than seems to revolve around the tension between ROI and creativity and I remember having done some master classes in Europe with the title “Is ROI killing creativity?”.

I’m obvious happy with more analytics, it’s Pointlogic’s core business. However, as I mentioned in my first blog post, I’ve always specifically enjoyed the tension between numbers and creativity. But my true believe is that these two could and should go hand in hand. If ROI is killing creativity, the only good reason would be if creativity indeed doesn’t deliver a better ROI. I’m guessing most would disagree.

The key problem is, I believe, that most marketers and agencies are comfortable with ROI in a historical sense. How well did this piece of creative perform? How well did this media plan perform? Then the strategic application of the ROI insights are to redo what worked and to stop what didn’t. And yes, this is like glue for creativity as creativity is about new and fresh and not about redoing.

But the solution is relatively straightforward although I know in my daily practice that it is out of the comfort zone of many. But analytical thinking and ROI should be applied in forward looking programs. Demand that analytics provide answers to expected ROI of campaigns before they happen. You might find that it could really transform the way you look at and apply research (with more assessments based on the unknown and more focus on how to monitor and adjust in real time). It’s only then that you’ll find that ROI helps creativity and that creativity helps ROI. And finally, it makes our job as analysts more fun!