I think this Adobe ad where a marketer goes insane chasing metrics, is still the most accurate…

I think this Adobe ad where a marketer goes insane chasing metrics, is still the most accurate portrayal of our industry ever made.

We've built an entire industry on measuring the measurable, not the meaningful.

Metrics that tell us everything except whether our ads actually worked.

Click-through rates. View-through rates. Engagement rates. Conversion rates. Attribution models that assign credit like a rigged casino.

Meanwhile, the real impact happens in places we'll never track:

A conversation over dinner about that funny ad someone saw. The brand that pops into mind six months later when you finally need it. The perception shift that happens slowly, invisibly, powerfully.

Adobe's genius wasn't just mocking our metrics obsession. It was showing how measuring the wrong things makes us do the wrong things.

Chase clicks? Get clickbait.

Optimise for views? Get view fraud.

Demand immediate ROI? Kill brand building.

We've confused measurement with meaning. Data with truth. Dashboards with reality.

The most successful brands share one trait: They measure what matters over long-term horizons. Not what's easy to measure in 30-day windows.

They know that brand love compounds invisibly. That trust builds slowly. That the best marketing works in ways our attribution models will never capture.

Adobe's ad is from 2013. 10 plus years later, we're still clicking, baby.

▶