Man vs Machine

I admit as a creative director I'm biased.

But analytics are ruining creativity. (And maybe the world, not to be too dramatic).

Not because they don't have their place in certain situations. 

Because we've started treating them like they're more important than human instinct. Every project seems to begin with a discussion on KPIs. But that's starting from the wrong place. The KPIs are a result of the creative. You can't manufacture good analytics with bad creative.

So the question is where should the creative start? Well I think the best place is "how will this make people feel?" It can be humor, anger, sadness, whatever it may be. This question can only be answered with human intuition.

This obsession with optimization has created an industry of work that's impossible to remember.

Everything is tested. Everything is validated. Everything is safe. And everything looks exactly the same.

Data doesn't have taste. It doesn't know what's beautiful. It doesn't know what's funny. It doesn't know what's unforgettable. It only knows what already happened.

That's a terrible foundation for making something new.

If an idea doesn't scare you at first, it's probably not a great idea.

Imagine trying to explain some of history's most iconic campaigns to an analytics dashboard. You don't get frogs croaking "Budweiser" from a computer.

Too risky. Too emotional. Too divisive. Not enough information.

Rejected.

The problem with data is that it rewards consensus.

Creativity rewards conviction.

The more time you spend looking at dashboards, the less time you spend observing people.

Go to a coffee shop.

Walk through a city.

Listen to conversations.

Watch how people react to things.

Pay attention to what makes you stop scrolling.

That's research.

This is how you develop a point of view. And great creative must have a point of view. 

We've confused measurable with meaningful.

Not everything that matters can be measured.

And not everything that's measurable matters.

If your work needs analytics to tell you it's good, it probably isn't.

Great ideas don't ask for permission.

They make people feel something first.

The numbers catch up later.