Creativity in Advertising

Creativity is the soul of advertising and branding. It is what gives life to messages about products and services that may otherwise be boring or insignificant in the hearts and minds of target customers. Advertisers often turn to advertising agencies for the design and development of campaigns and ads, which can lead to tension regarding the influence of creativity.

Creative Team

The creative team consists of people at an ad agency who collaborate on the creative concept for an advertising campaign. Typically, this includes copywriters, art directors or designers, and account planners. Account planners convey the needs and interests of the clients to the ad designers so they understand the objectives before and during the creative process. Copywriters provide the text or verbal copy for the ad, while art direction provides the visual elements, such as illustrations and design. Copy and visual components must be in synch for creative cohesion in the message.

Creative Strategy

Prior to developing ads, the copy team formulates a creative concept or strategy. This is the theme of a campaign that will carry through all executions and serve as the foundation of the message you want to get across to target customers. Internet service provider GoDaddy.com used a strategy of sensual messages to attract attention and drive customers to the company's website where they learn about products and services. Progressive insurance has relied on a character named "Flo" for several years to explain its products and services to audiences.

Branding

Creativity can give meaning to brands in many ways. A prominent example of the impact of creativity is Kohler. A leading provider of bathroom and kitchen products, including faucets, showers, sinks and toilet bowls, Kohler has relied on extremely abstract magazine ads created by professional artists and very creative television commercials to create its "bold" image. The company's magazine ads normally depict a product in an abstract setting with no copy other than the tagline "The bold look of Kohler." The company has managed to use creativity to turn uninspiring products into a reputation for sophistication and luxury.

Tension

Though company executives and ad agency creatives all understand the role of creativity, tension often develops in its use in advertising. The creative team normally develops thumbnail sketches and rough layouts to present to the advertiser before following through on ideas. While advertisers turn to creative professionals for fresh ideas and talent, they often express reluctance at overly abstract or hyper-creative messages. The line between being too obvious and going beyond subtlety to an unclear message is very fine. Creatives often have to persuade executives to buy in to a creative concept, often with the support of test market research.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-creativity-advertising-61394.html