The importance (and danger) of good creative

There is a certain amount of strain between clients and creative. Creative often want to win awards by having a great concept, clients want to make sales, and often feel that great creative only gets in the way. On the surface, it can probably be argued either way, depending on a myriad of variables, but here is a trend I’ve been noticing on the polar extremes.

A tendency towards joke ads:

These ads are great, and they have a great gag or concept to them, but realistically, they do not represent a brand, and they could be used for the competition, or even another category, equally as well as for the product.

One of my favourite ads of all time is from TBWA\Paris. Creative Wonders Link Great idea, great viral campaign concept (to beef up the frequency, true), great song (anyone know who does it?), but it’s a good example of this. Creative like this will win awards, but what brand is it building?


A disturbing trend toward Pure Branding

Just sticking up a logo might work at a baseball game, or on the side of a plastic bag, and sure enough, it does keep the brand top of mind, but as a means of 1. Introducing a new product 2. Generating a need or 3. Priming an existing psychological mindset 4. Conjuring emotional appeal – it does not work. That is the emphasis of the creative. And often this creative is what drives sales, but THAT is very hard to measure.

A beautiful marriage between strategy and creative is when the single minded proposition about a brand is synonymous with an everyday word.

Volvo = safety
Levis = personalized
Nike = athleticism

And then there is the Holy Grail, where the name of the brand becomes the same as the product category

Qtips
Kleenex
Coke

And then the holy grail of Holy Grails – when the brand becomes incorporated into the language and becomes used as a verb

Google
Hoover
Xerox