Creativity is working without restrictions. This is a phrase that, although it does not define creativity, at least describes very well the conditions under which creative work can best take place.
For the general public as well as for advertisers in particular and, especially, for those who dedicate themselves full time to it, Advertising and Creativity are synonymous. Consequently, it could be concluded that advertising is working without restrictions. And yet there are too many restrictions on advertising work.
Perhaps the most recognized are the budget available to make it, the tastes, preferences and inclinations of the advertiser, government regulation and own advertising ethics. Another restriction, less evident, is the self-censorship that each of the participants in the process imposes on themselves.
And yet the most significant restriction of all results from the fact that advertising creativity has one purpose: to persuade a potential customer to purchase a product or service or to act favorably on an idea.
Advertising is communication and as such, it must be evaluated based on the objectives that are sought when establishing the message that you want to convey to a well-defined audience, in order to achieve a measurable effect in it that can be measured under parameters specific.
The basic message to get across is actually the expression, in terms of communication, of the company's market objectives and can be related to an infinite number of possibilities that arise from its Marketing Strategy.
Advertising must be closely linked to a strategic decision of the company: to position a product or service in the public mind according to its distinctive characteristics.
The important thing in advertising is to define very clearly the message to be communicated. And what is required for this is another type of creativity, related to business ingenuity that allows you to discover market opportunities. Advertising creativity comes later.
Creativity does not come out of nowhere, you have to develop a special sensitivity on the basis of market information. Good business creativity is based on a discipline that includes market research, understanding buying behavior, competitor analysis, market visits, strategy definition, budget management, and much more.
Good advertising creativity is based on what you should and want to say about the product or service you want to advertise and on the understanding of the context within which the public will receive that message.
To be an advertising creative, it is not enough to be ingenious with language or images. You have to start with the message you want to get to the public. And that message depends on the advertising company being very clear about what it is going to offer to that audience.
Entrepreneurs, managers, marketers, advertisers and others involved should consider this communication objective not as a restriction, but as a challenge that, by guiding creativity, opens up endless communication alternatives between the advertiser and its audience. Once that message is defined, the advertiser expresses it creatively.
For example, let's take the case of a brand of chewing gum whose taste is known to last a long time and that is what makes it attractive and different from others on the market. The business ingenuity consisted in detecting this market opportunity.
More than a restriction, this attribute or benefit becomes a trigger that will lead to a wide range of creative possibilities. In advertising there will be many creative ways to communicate that lasting flavor message.
For example, we could visualize a character who, facing the camera, declares that the brand of chewing gum has a lasting flavor. Or we could visualize a girl who travels on a Caribbean cruise for a week and uses the same gum from the first to the last day, keeping it while eating, at night, while kissing her boy, etc.
At the extremes, the note is simplified or exaggerated to communicate the duration of the flavor. Actually, any of you could imagine more and better ways to express it.
The point is, if there isn't something precise and relevant to say, it is virtually impossible to find creative ways to say it. If you have something clear and valuable to communicate, there will be various ways of saying it with words, images, sounds, etc.
Unlike artistic creativity, which is an aesthetic expression of reality, advertising creativity, which is a branch of business management, is subject to criteria of effectiveness and efficiency; to profitability. It does not seek to win prizes or produce artistic pieces.
However, at the same time, good advertising creativity requires an aesthetic value equal to that present in a good work of art. People want information so that they are in a position to choose wisely, while also viewing advertisements as a popular art form, so they expect to be surprised and delighted by them.
Advertising creativity is not in itself an art, a trade or something of the sort. It is the application of certain artistic techniques (images) and different language resources (words) to the solution of a well-defined communication problem.
Advertising plays a specific role within the marketing activities of the company, helping to achieve sales objectives. Its purpose is to persuade. It does not sell by itself, but in combination with the product, its distribution, price, sellers, etc. The effects of advertising must be measured in the mind of the public.
In conclusion, we can say that advertising creativity has a purpose related to modifying the mind of the consumer in such a way that he is persuaded to act favorably on something that makes sense for the advertiser in terms of his market objectives.
Advertising must get a message to the right audience, efficiently. That message must be outstanding, memorable, personable, and understandable if it is to truly persuade that audience to act in favor of the advertiser's goals.
