For a bunch of people who are supposed to be the most open to
strange and unusual ideas, creatives are a funny lot.
Mention Web advertising or database marketing to those who are rooted in
traditional advertising practices and a vast number of copywriters and
art directors will either stare at you blankly, or, in more extreme
cases, make an excuse to leave either the room or the company.
However, in today's rapidly-changing marketing landscape, neither of
these may be an option.
And nor should they be.
Creative people should, surely, be embracing these new
opportunities.
After all, aren't they simply new channels in which to express ourselves
and demonstrate how creative we really are?
The way I see it, the challenge for all of us is to introduce the kind
of minds responsible for award-winning work in the traditional media to
these new channels.
After all, a great idea should still be a great idea, no matter what
medium it's in.
For instance, what's an Internet banner ad if it's not simply an
opportunity to do a great poster for a client?
And for any creative person who has ever complained about the insights
available in a brief, how would they like to have access to a database
that not only shows you the kind of person you're talking to, but can
also tell you what kind of house they live in, what other products they
buy and even what kind of music they listen to?
These databases exist and are crucial to a company's
competitiveness.
And for the very reason that there are so many new channels to carry our
messages, truly creative ideas are more vital now than ever before.
After all, we're being constantly bombarded with so many marketing
messages through so many different channels that to stand out from the
crowd, your message must be more startling, more visible and have better
"stopping power" than ever before.
Personally, I reckon that when advertising starts appearing on the back
of the till receipt you get from the supermarket (as it's started doing
here in Singapore) things have got beyond a joke, but I am sure you see
what I mean, anyway.
Of course, as these new channels become available, the temptation is to
tailor individual messages for each of them.
But the danger is, of course, that we forget about that other vital
element of our clients' business: their brands.
However, I believe that the ability of a creative team to translate a
"brand" concept into any number of different media simply proves how
good (and how big) the idea really is.
I mean, think back to some of your favourite brand ideas of the past:
surely the strength of something like "Heineken refreshes the parts ..."
or Nike's three-word mantra is that they could translate seamlessly into
any number of different media.
I'm convinced that the new media that is becoming available to creative
people won't kill off great TV ideas, brilliant outdoor work or press
ads that appear in the pages of every international award annual.
But my hope for the future is that the people who judge and produce
these award books will have to keep even more pages available for work
that falls outside the categories.
