Creativity is a God given talent… not possessed by everyone. Creativity in Advertising and Marketing has produced phenomenal sales results and launched many companies. But it is not understood or embraced by all marketers. Advertising Creativity can be stymied by naïve or reluctant business management because they just do not understand or appreciate the value of a unique, dynamic marketing effort and prefer to play it safe with more traditional methods.

Here are some of the responses that I have heard over the years heard in response to innovative concepts that I have presented to clients: “We are doing OK without it.”…“That won’t work in our industry.”…“We don’t want to spend a lot of money.”… “We want to stick with what we have.”… “Here is our competitor’s ad we want something like this… “That is something we may do later.”… “We have never done that before.”… “This is what we want…“ Let’s form a committee.” … “It cost too much”… “It isn’t in our budget.”

There are many aspects of creativity in advertising and marketing, starting with the development of a Marketing Strategy based on an objective analysis. A creative strategy is the foundation on which the advertising campaign is based.  Advertising is more than design, creativity is reflected in the ads, collateral and PR of the coordinated campaign. And even includes elements like photography, and target marketing.

Warning: Not all ideas are good ideas. Being creative does not mean being far-out, bizarre or ridiculous. Just because it is different does not mean it is a viable idea. The sales message can be easily lost in a maze of distractive colors, graphics and images. Some of these bad ideas may come from freelance graphic designers who do not understand marketing, but sometimes the boss himself comes up with a flamboyant idea. I have seen some really bad advertising that did more damage to a business image than generate a positive response and sales. So, advertising creativity can work if done right! This is best left up to the talents of an experienced professional. For more information, contact: http://smisek.com/contact/