Archive for the 'Creativity in Advertising' Channel

An Overdose of Creativity

What would you say is the single most important characteristic of an advertising person? Or advertising agency? Or advertising campaign? Most people would answer all these questions with the same, single word answer: CREATIVITY.

There is no denying that creativity is important in advertising. It is considered so important that one of the major departments within an advertising agency is named after it. But is it really THAT important? Or could it be that we have taken the reverence of creativity one step too far?

To address this question properly we first need to discuss the roles of creativity in advertising, and as Goose (Anthony Edwards) says in the movie Top Gun – “the list is long and distinguished”:

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Dew-mocratic Innovation

I have to admit that I am generally a late adopter of buzz-words (poor form I know for someone who works in an Innovation company).  One of the latest buzz words that I’ve encountered late-ly is Open Innovation. Now I’m ahead of the game, welcome to:  Dew Mocratic Innovation.

If you read the Wiki link, you’ll see that Open Innovation has its roots in technology. Yet, the concept is fast gaining traction in many FMCG companies from P&G to Kraft.  (Skeptics might say that OI is just a formalization of existing practices, namely: for years consumers-with-something-to-say have been sending companies “great ideas for the next best thing”.  When I worked on advertising for BMW, we’d get ad ideas sent to the agency every few weeks, not by copyrighters but by owners.)

Mountain Dew, the US soft-drink brand aimed at teenagers, are busy taking the Open Innovation trend into new and exciting places.

Smartly packaged, their latest marketing campaign “Dew Mocracy” sees the company getting their 13-25 year old ‘fans’ to:
1. Invent new products and flavors
2. Come up with a catchy name
3. Create an advert to promote it

4. Vote for the best idea.

The chutzpah/brilliance here is that Mountain Dew has managed to get a whole lot more than just a bunch of cool new flavor ideas.

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Thinking outside the box, to the max: Thinking without the box!


It is really hard to come by a commercial that is not only creative but also deals with an act of true innovation.

Hats off to Puma and its design agency Fuseproject and ad agency Droga5 for their ‘Clever Little Bag’ film explaining how innovation changed Puma shoeboxes to reduce paper waste!

See for yourself and enjoy a 1 minute 25 second course in innovation and corporate citiizenship!

It’s good to see that innovation can do a significant lot for a much better world.

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The “wear about” of marketing innovation

Sometimes it’s worth breaking your usual habits. This is a recurring message that we at SIT share. We decided to take our own advice, and make an exception to one of our (infamous) customs – we proactively set out to advertise our services. Our saving grace was that, at least, we wouldn’t do it in a conventional manner.

We recruited Eliyahu, a young MBA student, who has found an interesting way to make a living: Eliyahu promotes advertising campaigns on his shirt. While seemingly a familiar concept (after all, don’t most of our shirts have company logos and advertising messages on them?), Eliyahu took this banal idea and gave it a twist: You can literally buy the shirt for his back. For a fee, Eliyahu sells a “day” in his calendar on which he’ll wear a shirt sent to him by the procurer of his services. Eliyahu films himself wearing the shirt and then uploads the video to youtube along with a post about the brand/event/message in his blog, Twitter, and Facebook. There is already a hype around his t-shirt campaigns, and his follower base keeps growing.

Theoretically, Eliyahu’s advertising idea is perfect for small companies with tight budgets. But there is actually a hidden opportunity for larger companies as well, especially if they spread “Eliyahu’s” word to the masses. Think of the impact if an established Fortune 500 company would hire Eliyahu’s services, rather than the corner falafel store or Joe’s Printing Services (no offense intended). This has the Continue reading ‘The “wear about” of marketing innovation’

Creativity Templates: Stealing with Soul or Clever Archeology?

Browsing thru Posterous, the brainchild of Sachin Agarwal and Garry Tan, included in Creativity-online’s annual list of the most influential and inspiring creative personalities of the last year, aka The 2010 Creativity 50, I came across a quotation by Jim Jarmusch, one that enjoys being an eternal carry-over between blogs and sites.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, painting, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and your theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery-celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to’.”

A recommendation often heard in advertising classes and or seen in books on advertising creativity: Read the old annuals, study the old ads, dismount the award-winners, look at tourism catalogs, and read everything in sight. And so on.

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SIT, Burger King and the Take-Away

Sales data can tell you some things about what customers think of your product, as can focus groups and customer surveys.  But how do you really gauge how just deeply your customers care about you? Burger King’s answer was to take that product away.

In a recent stunt (a curious fusion of market research and marketing) Burger King made one of their US branches a “Whopper Free Zone”.  Using hidden cameras, they simply recorded the reactions of their customers upon being told “Sorry, we no longer serve Whoppers.” As the clip illustrates, the contorted disbelieving faces tell more of a story than answers on a survey every could. The stunt was aptly named the “Whopper Freak-out!”  So, what we have is an innovative market research approach, using, you’ve guessed it: the Subtraction tool.



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SIT is proud to announce the launching of its latest book - Cracking the Ad Code

Through the use of over 100 advertisement examples and numerous case studies, Cracking the Ad Code provides you with practical tools for quick production of creative ideas in marketing communications.

The book includes a mixture of systematic analysis of the creation aspect of advertising, together with a taste of the real world of advertising and what makes it work.

Marketing professionals in companies will learn what to expect from their agencies, whilst agencies will be able to explain their work to clients in an analytic language that is easily understood.

Books can be purchased online through the Cambridge or Amazon websites.

Boosting Advertisers’ Creativity: Going Back to the Brief!

Sources of creative inspiration can take different forms. One such form can be the communication objectives, included in the creative brief to the advertising agency. Now, this may sound odd! I mean, ask any art director/copy writer and you’ll hear that these objectives are the least inspiring element in the entire process!

So, how can we make our objectives more inspiring?

Take this Cannes Lions winning ad for Softlan Ultra by Y&R Malaysia for example:


Advertising Agency: Y&R, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Creative Directors: Rahul Mathew, Rowan Chanen
Art Directors: Richard Chong, Scott McClelland
Copywriter: Rahul Mathew
Retouching: Magic Cube

One possible way to describe the objective of this campaign is: “Sell more Softlan” or “The softest fabric conditioner”. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most popular ways that clients phrase objectives in their briefs to the agency. But, just think of the poor copywriter who gets yet another brief asking him to “sell more”. These guys get dozens of such requests each week and are expected to come up with a completely new creative idea each and every time.

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