The Data AdMan | Beyond Madison Avenue

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

The Data AdMan

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

As return on investment and efficiency trumps art and creativity in advertising, agencies must answer the call and evolve. Or do they? Roger Ehenberg, managing partner of IA Ventures, an investment group that works with startups and new companies, wrote a piece for Business Insider about the way advertising is shifting from being creative-intensive to data-intensive. Now, as an investor, Ehrenberg is going to hold results and ROI to a much higher standard than creativity and art in advertising. He and his group would not approach an agency to create a brand unless creating a "brand" brought clear-cut financial results to the investment at hand.

But he does have a point. Numbers and research have always been important in the advertising world, though those elements are approached first and the campaigns are created based on the data provided. What corporate marketers and keen investors like Ehrenberg are saying is that advertising must place more emphasis on the numbers than the creative. The marketing and behavioral scientists that are tucked within the depths of an agency should be allowed to see some sunlight now. Instead of looking for the next "creative revolution," is the advertising industry undergoing a "data revolution"? If that is the case, how will the data and increased insight affect the creatives?

Hopefully, it will make the profession a little easier, and more fun. Increased insight and targeting means that the agency will throw less money away. The harder an agency can hit its market, logic would suggest, the more effective an advertising campaign will be. The more effective the campaign equals the coveted ROI people like Ehrenberg drool over, while the agency still gets that satisfaction of implementing a creative campaign.

Can data geeks and creative directors play nice in equal roles? Or is this issue being blown out of proportion?

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on