“Anyone can be creative” can be the most dangerous statement in advertising.
It’s technically true, and any creative will admit that inspiration can come from anywhere and anyone— but let’s be real. Creativity in advertising is a controlled and strategic series of decisions, and it is usually best left to the professionals.
Advertising vs. Art
The process of a creative idea in advertising is not the same as the process of untethered creativity. It’s not just coming up with something beautiful, or emotional. It’s about truly understanding the need of a brand and the need of its consumers. It’s responding to that need in a tactical and well-thought out way. There are rules that need to be followed, even as we creatives chafe at them.
It’s a process that people outside of the artroom may not always understand, and under poor management this can mean that this process is not valued. Our goal must always be to find solutions to a problem being faced by our consumers, and then to share that solution with them in a way that connects to their needs. Sometimes this is conflated with the goal of executing the clients’ vision. When these two are not in alignment, something always falls through the cracks.
The Big Secret
There’s a secret that all advertising agencies know, and no one likes to talk about publicly— that the client does not always know what is best for the brand. I’m sure some people reading that had a little internal “yikes!” moment, because it’s not something we like to say. But growth is about honesty. Growth is discomfort. So let’s grow together.
Does that mean that creative is always right and should never be questioned? Definitely not. Questioning a strategy or a concept is the most surefire way of figuring out whether it can stand up to scrutiny. It must be done.
Do the Math
I like to think of it like mathematics. As I said before, creativity in advertising is not some nebulous, mysterious process. There are rules, just like math. Anyone can come to the right conclusion and put the correct number on the other side of the equal sign. But like my form 1 math teacher told me after I guessed my way through yet another entire end of term exam, you have to show your work. It’s not enough to arrive at a satisfying conclusion. You have to know how you got there. (It took a lot of repetition, but eventually it stuck with me, and I ended up getting a 1 in math for CXC so… go figure).
This is the untold value of a good marketing team. They should know the process like the back of their hands. Analysing the needs of the consumers. Figuring out what problem the product solves, and which market is having that problem. Figuring out what that market cares about, and how to reach them. Creating a fixed and stable brand personality with a message that should always be at the core of all advertising material.
After all this work has been done, then we can start thinking of the creative idea. With miniscule deadlines and different opinions and meetings and levels of approval it might seem too much to do every time, but this process has to become like second nature to us. In a good agency, it’s a habit built and honed through years of repetition.
So yes, anyone can be creative— but wouldn’t you rather leave your brands in the hands of an expert?
