Dimitri Maex discusses the evolving relationship between analytics and creativity in marketing, highlighting how digital data can enhance creative processes rather than hinder them. He emphasizes the need for real-time feedback and collaborative tools that allow creatives to utilize data for experimentation and decision-making. By integrating analytics as a partner in the creative cycle, marketers can drive innovation and optimize campaigns more effectively.

1. Global Data
& Analytics
Analytics - Creative Freedom with the Promise of Analytics
By Dimitri Maex
Managing Director Marketing Effectiveness
Ogilvy New York
Ogilvy & Mather

2. Introduction
Selling people on the idea that analytics can be a catalyst for creative freedom isn’t easy.
I have been doing analytics in the “creative” environment of a communications agency
for a while and whenever analytics and creative are thrown in the mix together the
natural instinct is a right brain, left brain power struggle. Happily, we have found ways
for analytics to help partner with the creative teams and the sparks created are usually
bigger and richer ideas.
Traditionally, creative people see analytics as a discipline narrowly and perhaps
“soullessly” focused on ROI. One which judges the quality of new ideas by looking
backward rather than forward and in doing so tends to advocate the status quo and stand
in the way of innovation. Analysts test new thinking to death with endless focus groups
and market research. Because of all of this, analytics is often seen as an obstacle to new
ideas and the enemy of “true” creativity. In the past, analytics has all too often been used
just as a measurement tool, and not as a source for inspiration.
David Ogilvy once said that most people use research (read analytics) the way a drunk
uses a lamppost – for support rather than illumination.
A New Form of Analytics
Now analytics no longer has to be used in this way. In this digital world, with its vast
quantities of data available at the speed of light, there is a different kind of analytics that
can be creativity’s best friend.
Let’s first define analytics as it can mean different things to different people. Generally
analytics does 3 things:
• Measure : we find out what happened, what works and what doesn’t work
• Understand : we try and understand the reasons why we observed the things we
saw in our measurement process
• Optimize : we use the insights we developed to optimize our campaigns.
These 3 activities, measure, understand and optimize, are not one off linear processes
with a clear beginning and a clear end. They are part of a cycle of continuous
improvement whereby one measures, understands, optimizes and then, once again
measures the impact of the optimization decisions. Companies gradually become better
through subsequent iterations of the cycle.
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3. In our digital world two important changes have given analytics the opportunity to
become creative’s best friend : volume and speed. With these new tools at the table, we
have found a way for creativity and analytics to sit side by side.
Volume of data
The volume of granular data in digital enables us to get a much deeper understanding of
the performance of creative work. Digital creative scorecards are a great example of how
analytics can provide relevant feedback to creatives. These scorecards are different from
regular marketing scorecards in that they display results of creative executions along
dimensions that are relevant for creative development. The chart below shows an
example of a creative scorecard that displays the performance of online display
advertising as measured by both the volume of leads generated and the cost per lead.
The results are shown by formats, message content, placement and creative concepts in
an easy to digest format. This information gives creative teams real time feedback on
what works and what doesn’t work and which creative decisions matter.
The insights derived from analyzing digital creative can be used across any channel.
Digital can be the perfect experimentation lab for ideas and concepts that will be rolled
out across other channels. An analysis of online advertising for one of our hospitality
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4. clients recently showed that the vast majority of all bookings that came in through
banners for their flagship brand was actually booked for other brands. When we applied
this insight to TV and tested TV commercials that featured the flagship brand in one
region we found out that bookings in that region increased 12% for all brands.
Of course most channels will soon be digital. This will only increase the ability of
analytics teams to provide relevant feedback for the creative process. We recently
leveraged Google TV tune out data on DRTV ads for one of our clients to specifically
identify when people were tuning out. The chart below shows the average tune out rates
across all of their 60 sec ads on the green line. The red line shows the tune out rate for a
DRTV spot that show a tune out peak around the 16th sec.
This was exactly when a fairly aggressive call to action was introduced. This immediately
helped us smoothen the transition from informational to selling and reduce tune-out.
The previous examples demonstrate how digital channels provide us with more granular
information which allows us to gain insights that can rapidly inform creative decisions.
Speed of data availability
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5. The 2nd big impact digital has had on the analytical process is that it has put the
traditional optimization cycle on steroids. Historically, it would take a couple of weeks or
sometimes even months for the results of a campaign to come in. In this digital age we
can get feedback on the results of our actions almost instantaneously. This real time
feedback has disrupted the traditional optimization cycle. The beginning and end of each
stage have blurred. Real time feedback has transformed our traditional 3 staged analysis
process into a platform for real time experimentation.
This is best illustrated by the power and versatility of testing in digital. Of course testing
is not new. David Ogilvy once said that perhaps the most important word in the lexicon
of advertising was “test”. But David usually had to wait weeks or months for the results of
an in market test to come back. These days we can read the results of a test in days or
sometimes even hours. The image below shows the user interface of Google Site
Optimizer. Its allows the user to track the performance of various tests real time, as if he
or she were watching a horse race.
This rapid feedback loop can be very addictive, especially for creatives who are watching
their own work. Tools like this can truly put the data in the hands of the people who
create, and subsequently “tune” the work.
And testing is cheap in digital. We can easily test multiple versions. When we
implemented multivariate testing technology on one of our clients landing pages recently
we tested 243 different variations of the page. After 15 days we were able to pick the best
performing page which showed a 15% higher conversion rate that the original page.
That’s a 43:1 ROI on the test itself!
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6. This new form of testing will also further help take the subjectivity and opinions out of the
decision making. The results will tell us who is right, period. Testing can be to the
creative process what Hawk-Eye has been to tennis. With Hawk-Eye tennis introduced a
neutral piece of technology, a scientific judge who tells us empirically what the verdict is.
And it’s a verdict no one could argue with. Analytics can be the Hawk-Eye of the
creative process. Rather than discussing iterations and versions based on best practices,
experience or simply taste, we can just try them out and let analytics be the judge of what
works best. End of discussion. Now is the time for sustainable increases in ROI.
Analytics and Creative Freedom
This combination of high volume and high speed really provides analytics the
opportunity to provide the platform for experimentation. If we have an idea, we can just
trial it. If we’re wrong, we will find out soon enough so we can limit the damages. In
digital, analytics can give us the license to experiment and therefore provide us with more
creative freedom.
4 things are needed to make analytics the catalyst for creative freedom :
1. Get real time feedback : implement tools that provide real time feedback on
the performance of campaigns.
2. Put data/results in the hands of creatives : make the real time feedback
available to people who are creating the work in an easy to digest format / user
interface.
3. Get the license to experiment : use the promise of analytics to set up the
processes that will enable more experimentation and make that linchpin of success
and not the sole terrain of “reckless risk takers.”
4. Apply learnings to all channels : use digital as a lab for generating learnings
that can be applied to all channels.
In an era when every CMO is rapidly learning and mastering the lexicon of ROI and
every quarter has become the Holy Grail, all marketers need faster, more effective tools
that constantly strive to eliminate the guesswork from decision making. The data and the
tools to make this happen for creative decisions are now ready for prime time.
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