Marketing is an exciting and creative industry to be in. In this article we'll reveal the thinking behind creativity and share useful techniques on how to come up with great ideas quickly.

The difference between an idea, a concept and an execution

Once you understand the differences, it will makes it easier for you to judge or come up with great creative work.

 So when it comes to advertising creativity:

1.     The idea is the thing you want to say.

2.     The concept (sometimes called the big idea) is the overarching thought.

3.     The execution is how you express the concept.

Let's take Guinness as an example:

1.     The idea – Guinness and its drinkers have depth of character.

2.     The concept - Guinness is Made of More.

3.     The execution – think back to the wheelchair basketball ad, that features six guys playing wheelchair basketball revealing in the end that only one of them actually needs a wheelchair. Then after the final buzzer, the group heads into a pub for a few post-game pints. These guys are Made of More just like Guinness.

Form Follows Function

Modernist architects of the early 20th century and the Bauhaus movement revolutionised design thinking as we know it, with “Form Follows Function”. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

This is equally true in marketing. That what we create should be based upon the outcome we desire. This may seem simplistic but all too often we get caught up in cross agency meetings, media schedules, budget issues and the new “must have” social media platform, that sometimes we forget what the end goal is.

Making an impact

Dave Trott wrote in 2014 that in the UK “£18.3 billion is spent on all forms of advertising and marketing every year. We know that 4% is remembered positively, 7% is remembered negatively, and 89% isn’t noticed or remembered. So that’s roughly £17 billion…” wasted.

Think about that. Only 4% of all marketing is working properly.  And only 11% is getting noticed at all. Marketers are not getting their bang for their buck. They’re falling at the first hurdle. They’re not getting noticed, or as Trott says, “If no one knows you're talking, how can anything happen?”

Trott breaks communication down into 3 stages:

1. Impact – make sure people see or hear you.

2. Communication – tell them what you do or want them to do.

3. Persuasion – convince them why they should do something about it.

The most important of these three is IMPACT. Get that right and you're giving your campaign the best possible chance of success. This is especially relevant nowadays, where so much work has the same message and looks the same.

This is all good news because is means that there's never been a bigger opportunity to stand out and say something impactful.

How to create lots of great work quickly

Even if you have long lead times it pays to work quickly. Patrick Collister, EMEA Creative Lead for Google's in-house think tank The ZOO, has developed over many years some really useful techniques that anyone in marketing should try, at least once.

But before you start thinking up executions, you have to have an agreed concept or message (e.g. Made of More). Then you can get cracking and luckily Patrick has come up with 7 executional guides to get the creative juices flowing.

1. The Presenter
Who could be the spokesperson for the campaign? A celeb, a dead celeb, a made up character, an animal, a cartoon, etc.

2. Problem/Solution
What’s the problem your audience has and how can your product or brand solve it.  Be creative not literal.

3. The demonstration
Show the effects or demonstrate how it feels.

4. The Analogy
What’s it like? What does it feel like? (The Guinness basketball wheelchair ad is an analogy. The guys are like Guinness, they have real depth of character. They are made of more.)

5. The Inversion
Take the concept and reverse it.  

6. Slice of Life
This can be very powerful. What real life observations can you leverage to dramatise the concept?

7. Borrowed Interest
Is there anything topical happening? Trump? Figdet spinners? Any events or sponsorships?

These 7 areas are worth trying out but there’s no guarantee you’ll come up with that killer execution.  You still have to think things up, that’s the hard bit. New exciting, impactful things. Nowadays you have to out-think your rivals to get an unfair advantage. But knowing how creativity works and how important it is to agree on the concept at the start will save time and garner more successful results in the end.

I hope this helps and if you want to chat about creativity and creative techniques further please don’t hesitate to contact me on tim@thecreed.ie