ABSTRACT
Everyone seems to agree on the importance of having insights to inform strategy and creative thinking but creative testing is another thing altogether. As Tiedt responded, "There's nothing more controversial than creative testing". And on that same CMO Club panel, Christine Heckart from Service Source, expressed a particular dislike of focus groups: "Focus groups can be a very useful tool and they can be a really horrific tool, and it all depends on whether or not you're smart enough to ask the questions in the right way". The tension between data and creativity was and always is demonstrable at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity held in June each year. John Travis, VP of brand marketing at Adobe, which owns analytics company Omniture, presented a different view, touting data as their new best friend. "As a marketer, we have been able to learn what works best and justify what we are doing, which is always the marketer's dilemma".
