For years, marketers have evaluated their martech stacks using hard metrics like lead generation, behavioral tracking and operational efficiency. Dashboards tell us whether the machine is running smoothly. But a more human question is emerging — does all this technology help us create better, more creative work or does it simply help us produce more noise? While martech has clearly improved content velocity and cross-team collaboration, it has also introduced a risk many leaders overlook. We rarely measure whether our tools support the messy, non-linear process of creativity or merely prioritize volume over value. It’s time to evaluate marketing technology not just by what it produces, but by how it affects the people doing the work. When martech optimizes away creativity The last decade of marketing technology was shaped by a race for integration and speed. By standard operational metrics, the industry has won. Teams can produce more assets, personalize at scale and measure performance with remarkable granularity. Yet the landscape has ballooned to more than 15,000 specialized tools — and the cracks are starting to show. Companies continue to invest heavily in these tools, yet nearly 44% of the martech purchased goes unused, per Harvard Business Review. That gap points to a troubling reality. While the pipes of the marketing machine are cleaner than ever, the system is clogged with shelfware that adds complexity without adding value. Data friction breaks creative momentum The most significant toll martech takes on creativity comes from cognitive load. Great creative work depends on…