Endangered poets on the internet.

There's a great scene in "The Dead Poets Society" where Robin Williams reads from the introduction of a book of poetry. The publisher is attempting to quantify poetry. To give the reader guidelines on how to tell when they have read a truly great poem. Williams instructs his class to tear the intro out of the book and dispose of it.

There are a lot of people and companies attempting to quantify effective advertising these days. They are building systems and platforms that weigh an ads perfection on several seemingly obvious axes. "Don't worry about where the ad runs - all that matters is that it reaches the right eye-balls." "If the ad is large enough it will deliver effective branding." "Ads that engage users in actions without making them click to another page are most effective." "An ad's message and presentation can be automatically optimized by automatic testing."

Reach and frequency are dead and true, thoughtful creative is right behind them.

I'm not sitting here like Andy Rooney playing the curmudgeon that thinks everything was better in black & white. I think the new technology is amazing. I think optimization on any testable criteria is exactly what marketers should do and doing more faster - is better.

Unfortunately, I think these rapped-fire, black box methods foster a lack of human creativity and innovation. "If the system is going to find the best places and the best bodies then figure out which is the best message what does it need me for??"

This tech-forward environment seems to be devaluing original creative work. Even worse than becoming a commodity, it is the latest free-bee; thrown in gratis for clients willing to pay for the new technical tricks.

Marketing is as it has always been - a science and an art. The science is knowable, countable measurable results. The art is what makes humans change their behavior. A joke. A pretty girl. A perfectly turned phrase.

Test ten dull tag lines and one will emerge as the best. When we place the value on the technology we relegate the creative to a lesser place at the table - most often a lesser (cheaper) creative process.

Play with your toys. Debunk the myths of high-priced placements and exclusive demographics. Test everything. But don't forget to start with the one thing no machine will ever replicate. Human creative that connects one person to another in just the right way for your brand and your purpose. In the end it will mean more than any technical trick.