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Chapter 9: The Creative Side

Chapter 9

The Creative Side

CHAPTER CONTENT

KEY OBJECTIVES

2. Explain creative thinking and you get the Big Idea.

4. Define issues affecting the management of creative strategy and its implementation.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Effective marketing communication is successful because the right media deliver the

right message to the right target audience at the right time. Like two hands clapping,

media and message must work together to create effective communication. This chapter

concentrates on how the message is created. It opens with a discussion of the role of

creativity in IMC, explaining how the art and science of marketing communication come

CHAPTER OUTLINE

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN IMC?

 Creativity can be defined as the generation of fresh ideas and solutions to current

problems or challenges. This definition sounds simple but creativity is complex and

multifaceted, especially in the digital age. Creativity is all around us. You don’t have

to be an artist to be creative. The ability to think like a problem solver and the

courage to take risks and try something new are requisite skills for creativity.



“Creative work must communicate a truth about the brand that moves the

organization toward a key goal,’ according to Meg Lauerman. We often talk about

‘creatives’ as the people who design ads. All agencies have copywriters and art

directors who are responsible for developing the creative concept and crafting the

execution of the idea. They often work in teams, are sometimes hired as teams, and

may work together for years.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side



The creative director manages the creative process, plays an important role in

focusing the strategy of ads, and makes sure the creative concept is strategically on

target. The role of the creative director is evolving rapidly as these team leaders need

to be familiar with user experience design (UX), which involves the interactive

conversation about the brand.



Anyone in the IMC process can generate fresh ideas and solutions. Those designing

multiplatform campaigns also demonstrate creative ways to connect content with

The Art and Science of IMC

 The art and science of marketing communication come together in the phrase creative

strategy. A winning marketing communication idea must be both creative and

strategic. The message plan is a rational analysis of a problem and what is needed to

solve that problem. This logic is built on fresh insight that comes from research.

 Professor Mark Stuhfaut identified significant elements of creativity in advertising,

which begin with novelty but include appropriateness as well as authenticity and

CREATIVE THINKING: HOW DO YOU DO IT?

 All aspects of IMC are creative idea businesses. An idea is a thought or a concept in

the mind. It’s formed by mentally combining pieces and fragments of thoughts into

something that contains a nugget of meaning. Advertising creatives sometimes use

the term concepting to refer to the process of coming up with a new idea. Big Ideas

are also called creative concepts.

 To understand what creativity is, it may be helpful to understand what it is not.

What’s the opposite of creative? What’s the opposite of creative? In advertising,

clichés are the most obvious examples of generic, non-original, non-novel ideas. To

help you understand how creative people think about strategy and advertising ideas,

consider the twelve tips offered by Professor Tom Groth in the Practical Tips box

featured in this chapter.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

What’s the Big Idea?

 What we call a Big Idea or creative concept becomes a point of focus for

communicating the message strategy. Big Ideas can be risky because they are

 Where do Big Ideas come from? James Webb Young, a founder of the Young &

Rubicam agency, explained in his classic book that an idea is a new or unexpected

combination of thoughts. He claims that “the ability to make new combinations is

The ROI of Creativity

 A Big Idea is more than just a new thought because in advertising it also has to

accomplish something—it has a functional dimension. According to the DDB agency,

an effective ad is relevant, original, and has impact—which is referred to as ROI of

creativity. According to DDB’s philosophy, ideas have to be relevant and mean

 The essence of a creative idea is that no one else has thought of it. Thus, the first rule

is to avoid doing what everyone else is doing. In an industry that prides itself on

creativity, copycat advertising—that is, using an idea that someone else has

originated—is a concern.

 Principle: An idea can be creative for you if you have not thought of it before, but to

be truly creative, it has to be one that no one else has thought of before.

 We know that many ads just wash over the audience. An idea with impact, however,

The Creative Leap

 Divergent thinking is used to describe a style of thinking that jumps around

exploring multiple possibilities rather than using rational thinking to arrive at the

“right” or logical conclusion. The heart of creative thinking, divergent thinking, uses

exploration (playfulness) to search for alternatives. Another term for divergent

thinking is right-brain thinking, which is intuitive, holistic, artistic, and emotionally

expressive thinking in contrast to left-brain thinking, which is logical, linear

(inductive or deductive), and orderly.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

 How can you become a more creative thinker? First, think about the problem as

something that involves a mind-shift. Instead of seeing the obvious, a creative idea

looks at a problem in a different way, from a different angle. That’s called thinking

outside the box. Second, put the strategy language behind you. Finding the brilliant

 Since the creative leap means moving away from the safety of a predictable strategy

statement to an unusual idea that has not been tried before, this leap is a creative risk.

Dialing up Your Creativity

 Creative advertising people may be weird and unconventional, but they can’t be

totally eccentric. They still must be purpose driven, meaning they are focused on

creating effective advertising that’s on strategy. Figure 9.1 contains a mini-test to

evaluate your own creative potential.

 Coming up with a great idea that is also on strategy is an emotional high. Advertising

creatives describe it as “one of the biggest emotional roller coasters in the business

world.” According to Ingvi Logason, owner of an award-winning agency in Iceland,

 Logason’s discoverer is why we say that curiosity is the most important characteristic

of creativity. Research has found that most people can sharpen their skills and

develop their creative potential by understanding and strengthening certain personal

characteristics. Research also indicates that creative people tend to be independent,

assertive, self-sufficient, persistent, self-disciplined, curious, and possess a high

tolerance for ambiguity. They are also risk takers with powerful egos that are

internally driven. Here are a few of the key characteristics of creative people who do

well in advertising:

 Problem solving. Creative problem solvers are alert, watchful, and observant, and

reach conclusions through intuition rather than through logic.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

 Open to new experiences. Over the course of a lifetime, openness to experience

may give you many more adventures from which to draw. Those experiences

 Conceptual thinking. It’s easy to see how people who are open to experience

might develop innovative advertisements and commercials because they are more

imaginative.

The Creative Process: How to Get an Idea

 Only in cartoons do light bulbs appear above our heads from out of nowhere when a

good idea strikes. In reality, most people who are good at thinking up new ideas will

tell you that it is hard work. The unusual, unexpected, novel idea rarely comes

easily—and that’s as true in science and medicine as it is in advertising.

 The classic approach to the creative process is portrayed by the following series of

steps:

 Step 1: Immersion. Read, research, and learn everything you can about the

problem.

 Step 2: Ideation. Look at the problem from every angle; develop ideas; generate

as many alternatives as possible.

 Step 3: Brainfag. Don’t give up if, and when you hit a blank wall.

 A structured creative exercise from Professor Linda Correll, who developed Creative

Aerobics, offers a method to help unleash your creative potential. This four-step idea-

generating process opens new doors and windows for ideas to enter your mind. The

four steps are:

 Coming up with facts about your product,

 Creating new names for your product,

 Another specialized approach to creative problem solving involves design thinking,

which stimulates innovation and solves complex problems through collaboration.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

Brainstorming

 As part of the creative process, some agencies use a thinking technique known as

brainstorming in which a group of 6 to 10 people work together to come up with

ideas. One person’s idea stimulates someone else’s, and the combined power of the

group associations stimulates far more ideas than any one person could think of alone.

The group becomes an idea factory.

 The following list builds on our previous discussion of creative thinking. It can also

be used as an outline for a brainstorming session. To create an original and

unexpected idea, use the following techniques:

 What if? To twist the commonplace, ask a crazy “what if” question— for

example, what if wild animals could talk?

 An unexpected association. In free association you think of a word and then

describe everything that comes into your mind when you imagine that word.

 Dramatize the obvious. Sometimes the most creative idea is also the most

obvious.

 Catchy phrasing. Isuzu used “The 205-Horsepower Primal Scream” for its

Rodeo headline.

 Analogy and metaphor. Used to see new patterns or relationships, metaphors

and analogies by definition set up juxtapositions. Harley-Davidson compared

the legendary sound of its motorcycles to the taste of a thick, juicy steak.

 Familiar and strange. Put the familiar in an unexpected situation: UPS showed

a tiny model of its familiar brown truck moving through a computer cord.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

 A twisted cliché. They may have been great ideas the first time they were used,

but phrases such as “the road to success” become trite when overused. But they

can regain their power if twisted into a new context. The “Happy Camper” line

was twisted by relating it to an SUV.

 To prevent unoriginal ideas, avoid or work around the following:

 The tasteless. In an attempt to be cute, a Subaru ad used the headline, “Put it

where the sun don’t shine.” An attempted twist on a cliché, but it doesn’t work.

WHAT ARE SOME KEY MESSAGE STRATEGY APPROACHES?

 This section helps transform creative thinking into action. It starts with a creative

brief that identifies the most appropriate strategy to accomplish the goals of the

organization, product, or idea.

The Creative Brief

 The creative brief (or creative platform, worksheet, or blueprint) is the document

prepared by the account planner to summarize the basic marketing and advertising

strategy described in chapter 8. It gives direction to creative team members as they

search for a creative concept or Big Idea. We make a distinction between creative

strategy and creative execution.

 Creative strategy, or message strategy, is what the advertisement says. Execution is

how it is said. The following outline summarizes the key points in a typical brief:

 A problem that can be solved by communication.

 The target audience and key insights into their attitudes and behavior.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

 A proposition or selling idea that will motivate the target to respond.

 Although a creative brief is terminology generally associated with advertising, public

relations has a counterpart called a Public Relations Plan. A Public Relations Plan is

similar to the creative brief.

 The creative brief and public relations plan explain the thinking behind the creative

ideas that emerge from the analysis of these elements. They may also touch on such

execution or stylistic direction as the ad’s tone of voice.

Message Objectives

 What do you want the message to accomplish? What message objectives would you

specify? Below is a review of some of common advertising objectives that relate to

the Facets Model of Effects.

 See/hear – create attention, awareness, interest, recognition

 Feel – touch emotions and create feelings

 Think/learn/understand – deliver information, aid understanding, and create recall

Targeting

 The target decision is particularly important in planning a message strategy. It is

essential to understand what moves this group.

Branding and Positioning

 The demands of the brand are also important considerations. Brand positions and

brand images are created through message strategies and brought to life through

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 Brand communication creates symbols and cues that make brands distinctive, such as

characters, colors, slogans, and taglines, as well as brand personality cues. Today’s

new-age characters are ironic and even a little self-deprecating and they speak to the

ad resistance of today’s consumers with irony and inner conflict.

Translating Communication Objectives into Message Strategies

 Once you have identified communication objectives, how do you translate them into

strategies? Remember, there is no one right way to do brand communication. In most

cases there are a number of ways to achieve a communication objective. Planners

search for the best message design – the approach that makes the most sense given

the brand’s marketing situation and the target audience’s needs and interests.

Choosing the Strategic Approach That Fits

What you want to say forms the foundation for the message design. How you say it is the

strategic part. First, let’s review some simple ways to express a strategic approach—head

or heart and hard or soft sell. Then we’ll look at some more complex models that get a

little deeper into the complexities of message strategy.

Head and Heart

 In the Facets Model of Effects, the cognitive objectives generally speak to the head

and the affective objectives are more likely to speak to the heart. However,

sometimes a strategy is designed to inform the mind as it touches the emotions.

 Another way to refer to head and heart strategies are hard- and soft-sell approaches.

A hard sell is an informational message that is designed to touch the mind and create

a response based on logic. The assumption is that the target audience wants

information and will make a rational product decision.

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 However, there are examples of ads designed to stir emotions that did not work

because they were too manipulative or raised inappropriate emotions. It is possible to

manipulate emotions in a way that viewers and listeners resent. But sometimes high

emotion works.

Systems of Strategies

 Head or heart, hard sell or soft sell—these terms all refer to some basic, simple ideas

about message strategy. Creative strategy, however, is often more complex. Frazer’s

Six Creative Strategies and Taylor’s Strategy Wheel offer more complex approaches.

 Professor Charles Frazer proposed a set of six creative strategies that address various

types of message situations. Although not comprehensive, these terms are useful to

identify some common approaches to strategy. They are preemptive, unique selling

proposition, brand image, positioning, resonance, and affective/anomalous.

Strategic Formats

Even though advertising is a search for a new and novel way to express some basic truth,

there are also some tried and true approaches that have worked over the years. These tried

and true approaches are outlined below.

Lectures and Dramas

 Most advertising messages use a combination of lecture and drama to reach the head

or the heart of the consumer. A lecture is a serious instruction given verbally. The

speaker presents evidence and uses a technique such as an argument to persuade the

audience. Lectures are relatively inexpensive to produce, and are compact and

efficient. The phrase talking head is used to refer to an announcer who delivers a

lecture about a product.

Chapter 9: The Creative Side

 Political advertising is a challenge, in terms of how much information versus how

much drama is appropriate. In particular the issue of negative advertising, which

arouses emotions as well as counterarguments, is a topic of research, debate, and

criticism. Although the impact of negative political advertising remains debatable,

in the context of the plethora of news outlets, talk show pundits, candidate surrogates,

Psychological Appeals

 The psychological appeal of the product to the consumer is also used to describe a

message that primarily appeals to the heart. An appeal connects with some emotion

that makes the product particularly attractive or interesting, such as security, esteem,

sex, and sensory pleasure. Although emotion is at the base of most appeals, in some

situations, appeals can also have a logical dimension. Appeals generally pinpoint the

anticipated response of the audience to the product and the message.

Selling Premises

 A selling premise states the logic behind the sales offer. A premise is a proposition

on which an argument is based or a conclusion is drawn. To have a practical effect on

customers, managers must identify the product’s features or attributes in terms of

those that are most important to the target audience. A claim is a product-focused

strategy that is based on a prediction about how the product will perform.

 Here is a summary of rational customer-focused selling premises:

 Benefit. The benefit emphasizes what the product can do for the user by

translating the product feature or attribute into something that benefits the

consumer.

 Promise. A promise is a benefit statement that looks to the future and predicts

that something good will happen if you use the product.

 Most selling premises demand facts, proof, or explanations to support the sales

message. The proof, or substantiation, needed to make a claim believable, is called