Creativity

1. Creativity Talent is not synonymous with creativity. Creativity is a point of view, an approach towards the mundane that transforms every blade of grass into wonders of life. Whereas talent means being good in a certain field.

2. Many organizations make a lot of statements to build up a creative environment, for instance - “When you reach for the stars you may not touch them, but one thing is for sure, you will not come up with a handful of dust” • Leo Burnette gave another very inspiring statement: “We make human touch” • This statement encapsulates the power of relations and is attractive too. • Mc Cann had also given a very good statement:  “ Truth well Told”.

3. Now, these are the two foundational/ underpinning statements and one would do well by adopting them in life. • Another important issue is the barriers to communication. It is often said, “Just because you are telling the truth, doesn’t mean that people will believe you”. It implies that despite great ideas, it is not always possible to formulate them; and even if you tell the organization about the ideas, it may not always believe you. Hence, the key to success lies in convincing them by justifying your creative/ideas.

4. Examples: • Thai Airways:  Their advertisement had an image of two lobsters on a plate and the body copy said: “Our lobsters fly economy.” • Here the image of lobsters signifies the fact that Thai airways served lobsters in economy class unlike other airlines which served lobsters only in business and first class.

5. Example: • Soft drinks: An artificial drink was once attacked by a juice brand. The juice brand said in its advertisements, “No preservatives. No Sweeteners. Only Juice”. • It’s called Just Juice. • It became a huge success and Just Juice became a well known brand. • Therefore keep doing something new and keep asking yourself, “When was the last time you did something the first time?”

6. What is Creativity? • Creativity is an act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but you don't act on them, you are imaginative and not creative. Imagination is the core of Creativity

7. Idea • In the narrowest sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images, i.e. images of some object. In other words, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place.

8. Important aspects of effective Advertising 1.Strategic Analysis Here three questions are important:- Who are we competing against? Who are our best Prospects? What buying appeals have the greatest leverage?

9. 2. Ultimate Buying Research • In this section, the research translates the product’s attributes into end benefits. • This does not describe what marketing puts in but what the consumer takes away as emotional/practical rewards.

10. 3. Deals with five critical elements I.IMPACT: It has to be a pre-requisite of advertising effectiveness. II. PERSUASION: Include the strongest consumer end benefit as key to persuasion. III.BRAND LINKAGE:  Seek strong visual and verbal devices which firmly marry the message of the brand image. IV.BRAND PERSONALITY: Always seek to create a total personality for the brand which goes beyond the brand messages to an overall product image. V.MAGIC: There must be a visual and verbal impact.

11. Exercises:- • What does a word starting with the alphabet ‘I’ means in creativity? The clue: It’s a very critical word for creativity. One can come up with many words beginning with ‘I’ for example, words like, Insight, Idea, etc. But the answer was ‘Imagine’.  The skill to imagine should be developed. • A quote to ponder on, “Weeds grow, Rice is Cultivated”.

12. Maggi Exercises • Q. Try and imagine as many uses of a ‘walking stick’. • A walking stick could be used as a dance prop; to train a dog; to break it into two; can be used in Dandiya; to trip people, as a measuring rod, to hit someone and many more. As the thinking process began the imagination, visualisation and finally the answers came pouring. • This is the process which results into the invention of new ideas.

13. Maggi Exercise • What is an Idea? • “An Idea is a verbalization of a cerebral itch.” • Q. A little mouse is walking on the computer table and is looking at the device called mouse. Imagine the conversation between the two mice.

14. This requires long-term exercise. A scrap should be created which will contain know-how about advertising creativity and how it is different from any other form of creativity. The book will also have collection of ads, creative lines, and pictures of hoardings which are seen and evoke thoughts too. The book should also have a selection and categorization these ads. The scrap book should also include creative, inspiring and thought provoking quotes and sayings. • And a good strategy can be provoked by ‘Great Questions’. Because a strategy is supported by recommendation made for the brand and thus skill to write down the problems should be effectively developed.

15. “A problem well stated, is the problem half solved.” • As per research, the ‘Brook house’ was a real good coffee and anyone who had will never go back to Nescafe. Thus Brooke house was a great threat to Nescafe and they needed a right strategy for this. The question raised was, “How can I insure that retailers will not stock up this new coffee?” If they had provided the retailers with the right incentives, it might have worked. However, even Brooke house could do the same and provided even bigger and better incentives

16. “Advertising is the hand maiden of marketing.” • Nescafe started a campaign of ‘Nescheque’ which was basically a contest run by Nescafe and had a reward of around Rs 5 Lakh. To take part in this contest, a Nescafe packet wrapper was needed to be sent along. This created a demand of Nescafe in the market and as consumers demanded it retailers also stocked it up. The Nescafe took the space in the retailer’s shop that Brook House couldn’t set up their market.