In the popular imagination, “creative” and “analytics” are the yin and yang of the advertising world: right-brained creatives avoiding left-brain analytics like the plague. Strictly speaking, it’s not an accurate stereotype. Creatives have never really been able to ignore the effectiveness of their work. However, there’s no question that many tried.

But it is a new world we live in. Because the new digital media bring with them a variety of measurement options, continuous measurement is possible. And because metrics – and, consequently, continuous improvement – are possible, they will soon be required. That’s also the world we live in.

And then there’s the constantly changing nature of our online interactions. What worked six months ago doesn’t work any longer. Remember when animated banners were hot. Then not. And now maybe . . .

So, like it or not, analytics is quickly becoming an important new arrow in the B-to-B creative’s quiver. Imagine creatives engaging clients on effectiveness issues like click-through rates, conversion rates, or cost-per-lead. And constantly updating and changing their work to achieve business objectives.

Get ready for it. Because, once again, that’s the new world we live in.