Why is creativity an important element in advertising?

The late, great advertising guru David Ogilvy observed that:

“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.”

This still holds true today. 

Unless what you put in any ‘advertising’ space captures the attention of, and engages with your target audience, it’s really a waste of time having it in the first place!

Despite this, there still seems to be an imbalance between the amount of time and effort invested in media and the content that goes in it.

Creativity in marketing is important, especially today when there is an endless supply of content and advertising vying for people’s attention. Finding an original, unusual or different way of tapping into the needs, wants and motivations of target audiences is critical in delivering results.

5 reasons why creativity is so important in marketing:

1. Standing out from the crowd

Creativity is crucial in helping differentiate your brand, product or service from competitors.

Original content is much more likely to capture the attention of potential customers. New creative ideas, and new content, when rooted in the needs, wants and motivations of the target audience, stand out and give you a competitive advantage.

It is also much more likely to be remembered by people who view/read/interact with it. This means customers will remember brands and their marketing messages for much longer, which is particularly important where a considered (rather than spontaneous) purchase is being made.

2. Building an emotional connection with customers

Emotions play an important part in persuading customers to make a purchasing decision and in building a connection with a company and its brand. When marketing content creatively taps into the emotions of customers, it is much more likely to be effective:

• Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman identified that 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious and that when marketing a product to a consumer, it's most effective to target the subconscious mind.
• Bruce Buchanan the CEO of ROKT, in an article in the Harvard Business Review, identified companies with strong brands (organisations that have good emotional connections with their customers) outperform weaker brands in the same industry by 3:1 in terms of customer acquisition costs.

Brands, products or services that find new, different ways of engaging with customers positively on an emotional level, will stand out in the minds of consumers and have a competitive edge.

3. It helps build brand awareness

Creative marketing helps to build brand awareness. Why is this important? Because numerous studies have shown that brand awareness leads to more customers and more sales.

In his book Managing Brand Equity, David A Aaker, a leading authority on branding, recognises that the most important assets of any business are intangible, including the company name, brands, symbols and slogans and their underlying association. He contends that these assets are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings.

The new, different, and interesting, when driven by the needs, wants and motivations of your target audience, is much more likely to get the attention of customers. It will help your company, product or service stand out in their minds, differentiate you from competitors and help develop a successful, enduring brand.

4. It’s cost-effective

Investing in good creative ensures that you get the best value from your ‘advertising’ space, and that you engage with your target audience in a way that will help them decide to buy from you.

In a recent study by Nielsen Catalina Solutions on advertising effectiveness, creative quality was determined to be the most important factor driving sales. 47% of people said that the quality of the advertising copy and 'creative' was the most important factor when choosing to engage with a brand’s advertising. 

An added advantage of good content is that is much more likely to be shared and spread organically.

Most people don’t mind sharing brand content when it’s engaging, innovative, or informative. This is especially true when it comes to social media marketing. Many brands have seen a relatively small investment in creative content spread far and wide. An added advantage of this is, that according to a study by Sprout Social, 9 in 10 consumers who follow a brand on social media purchase products and services from that brand.

5. It helps you reach your target market

The media being used for any marketing activity gives you ‘statistical’ reach. The content being used in it gives you ‘emotional’ reach.

Building an emotional connection with your audience, in a way that stands out from competitors, and which taps into their needs, wants and motivations, pays dividends. 

Relevant, engaging content helps you win hearts and minds of customers and moves you to the top of their shopping list.

Research carried out by Adlucent, found that consumers want an advertising experience personalised to their interests. 71% of respondents in their study preferred ads tailored to interests and shopping habits. It also found that personalised ads boost engagement, with people almost twice as likely to clickthrough for an ad featuring an unknown brand if the ad was tailored to their preferences.

Combining unique and creative messages, that really engage with your target audience, with personalisation, helps give brands a competitive edge.

Summary

Marketers and business can often be preoccupied with the channels they use to target potential customers. The need to be on ‘social media’, run a Google Ads or Pay Per Click advertising campaign, use email marketing or other media types tends to be foremost in our minds.

All of us at some point will have witnessed the cry that we need to use a specific channel, for example Facebook advertising, Google Ads etc for our business to be successful.

Few of us will have heard the call to find an original, unusual or different way of tapping into the needs, wants and motivations of our target audiences.

If what really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of our advertising, not its form, then surely we should be devoting more time and effort to the creativity that goes into it?

By Chron Contributor Updated September 10, 2020

Creativity is the soul of advertising and branding. It is what gives life to messages about products and services that may otherwise be boring or insignificant in the hearts and minds of target customers. Advertisers often turn to advertising agencies for the design and development of ad campaigns and take a gamble on what will work best.

More than ever before, creativity provides lifeblood to an organization. Harvard Business Review suggests that creative ways of engaging consumers rather than simply programming to them are the wave of the future. Companies that rely solely on traditional advertising methods will struggle in the digital age.

The advertising creative team consists of people at an ad agency who collaborate on the creative concept for an advertising campaign and calculate advertising effectiveness. Typically, this includes copywriters, art directors or designers, and account planners. Account planners convey the needs and interests of the clients to the ad designers so they understand the objectives before and during the creative process. Copywriters provide the text or verbal copy for the ad, while art direction provides the visual elements, such as illustrations and design. Copy and visual components must be in synch for creative cohesion in the message.

Prior to developing ads, the copy team formulates a creative concept or strategy. This is the theme of a campaign that will carry through all executions and serve as the foundation of the message you want to get across to target customers.

Internet service provider GoDaddy.com demonstrated creativity online by using a strategy of sensual messages to attract attention and drive customers to the company's website where they learn about products and services. Progressive insurance has relied on a character named "Flo" for several years to explain its products and services to audiences.

For most businesses, innovation and agility are vital to sustainability in a time of unparalled change in an interconnected world, according to Business Insider India. Creative approaches to advertising plan should be grounded in an assumption that strategy may need to change in response to shifting and unknowable environmental press.

Creativity can give meaning to brands in many ways. A prominent example of the impact of creativity is Kohler. A leading provider of bathroom and kitchen products, including faucets, showers, sinks and toilet bowls, Kohler has relied on extremely abstract magazine ads created by professional artists and very creative television commercials to create its "bold" image.

The company's magazine ads normally depict a product in an abstract setting with no copy other than the tagline "The bold look of Kohler." The company has managed to use creativity to turn uninspiring products into a reputation for sophistication and luxury.

The creative team develops thumbnail sketches and rough layouts to present to the advertiser before following through on ideas. While advertisers turn to creative professionals for fresh ideas and talent, they may express reluctance at overly abstract or hyper-creative messages.

Creatives often have to persuade executives to buy in to a creative concept, often with the support of test market research. The line between being too obvious and going beyond subtlety to an unclear message is very fine. Tension is normal and expected in the production of advertising.