Losing it
The media landscape of today looks very different to that of yesteryear. Today ‘advertising’ has become ‘content’ and we are faced with a vast array of new channels. The sands of brand communication continue to blow in a blizzard of technological advance and a four fold global increase in the number of brands in just the last twelve years. Combined with a bleak economy and ever increasing pressures on investment returns – are we losing sight of the most critical ingredient of all?
Whilst there might appear to be a seismic shift in the landscape – certain things remain largely familiar. Clear and focused strategy remains paramount, data has become sexy, insight can be priceless, final application is a vital cog – but the best creative thinking and ideas are still the key to customer engagement and to ultimate success or failure.
I have recently seen no end of brand communications diagrams which appear to have grown like a virus. At the heart of every one you care to look at is a space containing one of a variety of uninspirational descriptions: content, advertising, brand communications, campaigns, messaging, etc. All refer to roughly the same thing but seem to treat ‘it’ as a rather secondary consideration. This central space should be taken up by one constant descriptor: ‘the big idea’.
Brand managers the world over deserve to be cut a bit of slack in such pressurised times and it is sometimes understandable that briefs are becoming more common that allow little scope or focus on creativity. Roster lists are often being drawn up based on technical and functional skills and the ‘big idea’ and creative difference is being relegated and highly under valued. This said, I don’t believe the finger should only be pointed in the client’s direction. I think agencies, with some notable exceptions, are falling foul of the same trap. Many are promoting technical and functional abilities ahead of their creative and ideas based skills.
Creativity is not a process or part of the process – it’s the difference, it’s what engages, sticks and resonates. We need to reach our audiences with smart communication strategies but it will be the ‘ideas’ that will ultimately connect with them.
Is Yeo Valley the social media success it is today because it paid a huge sum for an X Factor slot to launch its brilliant ‘live in harmony’ campaign? Was it the well integrated supporting PR campaign? Partly yes – but the incremental uplift in sales of £3.5million was driven home by a brave and engaging creative foundation.
At Purpose we are no different to many of our peers, clients and competitors. We acutely feel the pressure of rapid shift and change – building our skill base and better informing everything we do for our clients. Trend, insight, effectiveness, smarter strategic thinking – but ultimately it’s our creativity and big ideas that set us and most importantly our clients apart.
The debate of ‘free pitching’ still flickers in the background and this once raging debate was started around the danger to the creative industry of commoditising and giving away its mojo, its reason for being – its ideas.
Design is a broad church: product, brand, packaging, interiors, interactive, architectural, fashion, service, graphic, retail, experiential, etc. It doesn’t take a huge in-depth knowledge of any of these to realise that beyond the ‘big idea’, the creativity, the gold dust – it is all too easy to commoditise the rest of what is offered. It is the creative inspiration that sets our companies, our industry and to some extent our international creative reputation apart.
Creativity is not the ‘fluffy stuff’ that can be relegated when times become more difficult. Clients and agencies alike need to put creativity firmly back at the top of their priorities. It is fundamental and intrinsically linked to the success of both business models. Those that lose sight of it, underestimate its importance or simply don’t have it – won’t make it.
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About the author
Giles is the Effectiveness Director at Purpose’s London office. He deals with ‘effectiveness’ on a number of levels: helping clients make commercially sound decisions, reviewing the results of Purpose’s work and monitoring how the business is being run.