A MarkLives column by Odette van der Haar (@odette_roper), CEO, Association for Communication and Advertising
Is creativity and effectiveness mutually exclusive, what is the relationship and can it be defined? This question was put to a number of captains of industry who served on the 2013 APEX awards jury and this is what they had to say…
Vice Chairperson of the APEX awards jury and Chief Executive Office of award-winning agency, TBWA – Ivan Moroke said that the relationship between creativity and effectiveness has been debated by marketing moguls and advertising gurus for decades and agrees that creativity and effectiveness are indeed linked. He added that the impression that creativity is only relevant if one talks about producing brilliant, ground-breaking adverts, is false.
Applying creativity is intrinsic to delivering effective advertising – one needs merely to broaden how we define and apply creativity. And, 
likewise, effectiveness shouldn’t just be associated with the kind of advertising that delivers business results. Effectiveness should be measured alongside creativity. Moroke provided a good example – “Even if the central idea is not driven by explicit creativity – these days creativity is often applied somewhere else in the communication mix in order to deliver the message effectively to the audience. The Apple brand is a typical example of this.”
This comes as little surprise. With innovations in mobile devices, the fragmentation of media channels and tsunami of social media that has changed the way we interact – little wonder that advertising agencies have had to apply creativity in ways beyond a pretty picture.
Boniswa Pezisa, Chief Executive Officer of Net#work BBDO and member of the 2013 APEX awards jury summed it up nicely when she said, “The idea that creativity is defined by pretty pictures, art direction or any of these elements is a limiting approach. Creativity is innovative, new, fresh thinking built on a human truth, product or human insight. The creativity needs to be rooted somewhere significant. That is where creativity thrives.”
The essence of creativity is coming up with something that has never been done or re-innovating what has been done before. The world over, ideas are very fragile and many concepts have been done in a variety of ways, where creativity comes in, is taking what has been done before, turning it on its head with fresh tone, fresh approach, in fresh manner.
This is the big take-out for all of us in the advertising sector. It is not about whether creativity and effectiveness are linked. It is more that the way in which we think about creativity has changed. It is broader than just the creative idea. It is about being creative in every aspect of the advertising mix. It is about being effective in every aspect of what we do. The last word goes to Festus Masekwameng, a highly respected Creative Director and 2013 APEX awards judge who said: “Creativity for its own sake – is called art. What we do is produce a creative solution to solve a complex business problem. How and where we apply that creativity to deliver the result we need is part of our job.”
“Creativity is no longer a luxury if campaigns want to achieve business success” says Peter Field in the latest IPA/Gunn report: The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness. Over the period 1994 to 2002 creatively-awarded campaigns were around 3 times as efficient as non-awarded ones, and this number rises to 12 times more for the period 2003-2010. The report states that “due to the rapidly expanding multichannel environment new opportunities have been created for brands to engage with consumers. Creativity feeds the motivation for consumers to share campaigns amongst their social networks, and drives much greater buzz effects, with buzz being the key driver in effectiveness.”
The 2010 report analysed 257 campaigns over a ten year period (1998-2008). The new 2011 analysis has been expanded to examine 435 campaigns over a sixteen year period (1994-2010). Undertaken by independent marketing consultant Peter Field, both reports build on the findings from an earlier study by the IPA Marketing in The Era of Accountability (2007). The analysis examines both effectiveness (a campaign’s ability to drive business effects such as share, sales, profit and loyalty) and the efficiency (share growth per point of Extra Share of Voice) of creatively awarded and non-awarded campaigns.
The evidence is clear – creativity and effectiveness are irrevocably linked. Creativity or effectiveness independently will not be enough to sustain brands long-term. Effective, creative solutions are required to address clients’ business problems and challenges through advertising and communications campaigns and ultimately deliver a return on investment or objectives.
Creativity + Effectiveness = More bang for buck!
– Odette van der Haar (nee Roper) is the CEO of the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) which is the recognised industry body of the advertising and communications profession in South Africa.