“Creative without strategy is called ‘art’. Creative with strategy is called ‘advertising’”
Jef I. Richards
Explored the role and value of creativity in advertising.
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Creativity is an essential component in meaningful advertising. Without the imaginative concepts
thought up by advertisers, the products or services they are promoting would not be able to
appeal to the intended audience in this age of over-loaded media surrounding us everywhere we
go. The inventive campaigns in the advertising industry are regarded so highly, and celebrated
through so many different platforms, that it heavily encourages studios to think outside the norm,
further developing the advertising world as a whole. However, as important as having original,
creative ideas is, it is still imperative to draw the line between art and advertising by injecting
meaningful strategic concepts to be able to appeal to not only the audience but also the brand.
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The advertising industry has placed a very high standard when it comes to creative solutions for
the promotion of brands. Agencies throughout the world are not simply encouraging their
employees to have innovative thinking in their results, whilst working in a traditional environment.
Instead, they are creating a completely unique workspace to ensure that every element of the day
in the office is promoting the free-thinking necessary to gain the experimental results imperative
in the advertising industry. These dynamic workspaces are becoming common over the world,
with one example being VIA agency, located in Portland, Maine in the USA. As online trade
journal AdWeek.com reported the agency is “using playtime to foster better work”. The
employees of VIA are encouraged to participate in activities such as lunchtime dance parties,
snow sculpture building contests and juggling lessons. All of these breaks from work during the
day have, according to agency directors, proven to vastly increase the creativity in the office, and
generally lifted the morale from a stale office workplace into an active and thought-provoking
domain. This process is proven through the inspired work VIA has done for large-scale clients such
as Vaseline and Unilever’s Klondike. Agencies, such as VIA, have demonstrated that creativity is a
very highly regarded and integral part of the advertising process.
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It is not only important to foster innovation in the design process, in the advertising industry, but it
is also recognised long after these ideas have come to fruition. Creativity is celebrated highly
throughout the advertising industry, with many different platforms that award agencies for their
trailblazing. There are many different award ceremonies and competitions that occur across the
world during the year, for the sole purpose of recognising those pieces of work that have
creatively made a difference and evoked emotion and purpose in their audience. One of these
events is the New York Ad Festival, which establishes a sense of healthy competition throughout
ad agencies around the world, encouraging them to step outside the norm with their ideas to
create memorable campaigns. This promotion of the industry and its work sparks the importance
of original and thoughtful concepts each year, and ensures that this ideology maintains
importance for all agencies. One advertisement in particular, a finalist in the New York Ad Festival,
is the ‘Thoughts’ campaign for the New York Lottery. This campaign, from the agency DDB,
started a precedent for future advertisements, that promoting the lottery did not necessarily mean
you had to have trite images of sports cars and beach vacations. The idea of focussing on “what
you would think about if you didn’t have to think about money”, instead took a light-hearted and
original view on what you would be thinking of if you won the lottery, whilst keeping the physical
wealth and what you would purchase with the money much more understated. This particular view
evoked sophistication in a field that has long been unimaginative. Ads such as these, being
presented at international forums, allow for the advertising industry to promote and continue to
grow as one of deep innovation and creativity.
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Although creativity is so integral in the entire advertising process, it is important for agencies to
remember not to forget the strategy and brand relevance of their campaigns. On occasion,
advertisers can be swept up in the more artistic or entertaining side of the task that they overlook
that the advertisements must be meaningful to the brand and as well to the audience, so they
have awareness of the product or brand that is in fact being promoted. As quoted in Creative
Strategy in Advertising, “great advertising is inspired by insights about brands, consumers, and
how the two interact” and it must not be overshadowed by the creative aesthetics that may be
employed - the two must work in harmony amongst each other. As well as the aesthetics, ads can
also sometimes fall into the issue of focussing on entertainment with little or no direct meaning
behind them. An example of an ad which perfectly uses humour creatively whilst also being
meaningful is ‘Stren Fishing Line’ from Carmichael Lynch, which shoes the strength of fishing wire
not from showing a large fish being caught, but instead by showing it sew up a rip in the rear of
somebodies pants which have been stretched quite thin. This uses an unconventional means to
describe the process without sacrificing the message or the creativity. Creative advertising must
ensure a happy balance is always reached between these two elements.
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REFERENCES
Castillo, M 2015, ‘VIA Agency’s Jam Sessions Inspire the Creative Spirit”, AdWeek.com, 24 March
“Using playtime to foster better work” (Castillo 2015)
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VIA Agency 2014, Our Clients, VIA Agency, viewed 23 March 2105, <http://www.theviaagency.com/#/
clients>
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New York Ad Festival, Winners, New York Ad Festival, viewed 23 March 2015, <http://
advertising.newyorkfestivals.com/winners/>
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New York Ad Festival, Competition Info, New York Ad Festival, viewed 23 March 2015, <http://
advertising.newyorkfestivals.com/about/>
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Drewniany, B & Jewler, A, 2011, Creative Strategy in Advertising, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston,
MA
“Great advertising is inspired by insights about brands, consumers, and how the two interact” (Drewnjany &
Jewler 2011, pg. 2)
‘Stren Fishing Line’ image, (Carmichael Lynch, pg.3)
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