ON BEING CREATIVE…

By FH Cooper | Leave a Comment

The dictionary defines create as “to bring into existence”; creativity as “the quality of bring creative”.  It is one of the foundations of the advertising and marketing industry. It is reaching to be better than your competition. David Ogilvy, the legendary advertising executive said, “An ad should make you gasp the first time you see it.”

Not only should an advertisement, or brochure, or website contain some very basic elemental components, it should get you to “wow!” We see it in ads, TV, direct mailers and on social media. Just as there are new, young very talented people coming up on the music scene, the acting scene, and the fashion scene, there are very many up and coming on the marketing scene.

What goes into a “creative marketing piece”? First, it must be truthful and believable. Second, it should contain interesting content. The physical layout should be pleasing to the eye. The graphics, where possible, should be dramatic. You can check this out for yourself. As you look through the newspaper, or a magazine, and remember one or two advertisements, ask yourself “why were they memorable. What did they have that others did not”.  If you do this a few times, you will be able to answer that question and start to understand why the one or two memorable ads are considered very creative.

If you were asked to create an ad, for example, where would you start. How about talking to some of the people who comprise the audience for that ad and ask them what  they consider outstanding about a specific product or service. By talking to a dozen or so, you might hear some of the comments being repeated. This is a clue to what they think is important. Taking that and presenting in a way that grabs the reader’s attention and is informative and creative.

Creative doesn’t only apply to ads, but also to a wide range of arts and crafts, to the direction of a specific marketing campaign, to anything that is “above and beyond” making it memorable.