The ROI of Art
Last time I checked, the debate about data killing creativity was still alive in 2026. Which is funny, because I think we are barking at the wrong tree. Data is not the villain here.
During my travels, one of my unspoken rules is to try to visit the local art museum. One of my favorites in the world is the Art Institute of Chicago. In the Arts of the Americas section, my favorite painting in the whole museum is silently waiting for me: Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
Some people love it. But I know people who feel nothing about it. Both are right.
For me, that painting is pure art disguised as an amazing business asset. Hopper completed Nighthawks in 1942, and the Art Institute of Chicago bought it the same year for 3,000 dollars. To attract visitors, to sell tickets, to grow footfall. To compete with the Met.
Art in the service of business.
That is how I think about advertising.
Every time someone screams, "data kills creativity," I sob. We keep mixing two very different things, judging the art and judging the business impact of the art.
I am not trying to measure the level of art in your ad. Is it beautiful, brave, clever, emotional, or inspiring? That is a human conversation, a taste conversation, a cultural conversation.
I am measuring if your campaign moved sales, pricing power, penetration, demand, or long-term brand strength. That is a business conversation.
Science is not here to judge the art. It is here to decode the impact of the art.
Those are not the same thing.
Your advertising can move me, bore me, or annoy me, and somehow still be effective. Your advertising can win Cannes Lions and fail to move more crates of goods. Both things happen. All the time.
So no, data does not kill creativity. It kills ineffective art.
If you create art in the service of your business, you owe yourself the discipline to measure whether it actually serves the business. Not to judge the response to the painting. To count the tickets. Those that are already sold, when someone is in front of Nighthawks.
If this kind of thinking helps you, you will like the book too. Marketing Effectiveness is where I go deeper on all things Art & Science.