Importance of Creativity In Advertising - Coursework Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Introduction In the world of marketing, creativity is considered as an element that can be used to solve multifaceted problems to the business’s benefit. Advertising creativity involves the development of original, memorable and attention catching ideas to strategically promote products and services. Runco and Pritzker (1999, p 23) point out that it is only in the field of advertising that the staff are referred to as creative; these are the individuals responsible for coming up with the concepts, ideas and executions that bring out creative inspirations and thoughts to life as advertisements. This is done with consideration to the strategy of the business, the needed originality and the impact of the creative advertisement on the marketers and the customers. This paper would look at the history of advertising creativity, its development and effectiveness in the field of marketing. Advertising creativity Creativity in advertising started coming out in the late stages of the 18th century. This was mainly in France where the revolutionaries used posters to promote their aspirations and ideals and generally promote the French revolution. Further use of the creative side of advertising was on show in the course of the two world wars. Nazi Germany and Russia under Stalin used creative advertising to further their propaganda during this period. At the turn of the 19th century, the international style of design was developed in Holland while the Bauhaus was developed in Germany. The Bauhaus style tried to fuse technology, diverse craftsmanship, design and art to develop unique advertisement features. In the 20th century, creativity advertising shifted from the creation of posters to mass media through the provision of visual imagery. However, posters were not extinct as they still could be found to be of use in societies that were politically controlled like Hungary. The development in different creative styles in developing posters lead to an era where strategies were laid down before an advert could be developed. Creativity was now recognized as a very powerful persuasive and salesmanship tool (Runco and Pritzker, 1999, p 23, 24). Creativity affects the impact the advertisement has on the general population. Bird (2004) points out that advertising depend on creativity. He argues that at times, agencies come up with very original ideas but lack in the creativity department. He is of the opinion that because companies invest a lot in the creation of advertisements, the development of a creative ad is viewed as a wise investment. Creativity in an advertisement catches the attention of the viewer and creates an awareness of the existence of the product or service being advertised. In the building of a new brand or in an attempt to market a struggling brand, a good strategy that is creative and well executed can play a critical role in its success. A good creative advert should be designed in such a way that it is able to touch the feelings or emotions of the consumer about the product being promoted. Bird (2004) feels that the correct use of creativity can be able to play an important role in the marketing plan of an organization. He argues that if utilized properly, this tool can be useful in setting the product, apart from copy cats by captivating the target audience or customer (Bird, 2004, p 135). Sasser and Koslow (2008) concur with the view that imagination and creativity is very important feature in the daily life of individuals. They point out that the future of human life lies in imaginative, exciting and challenging research. Marketers who aspire to get creative research turn on advertising agencies for their development. The marketers provide the environment in which the agency works and are in charge of monitoring, evaluating and reviewing the creative output of these agencies. They control the social environment of that the creative genius of the agency operates in. Marketing managers are therefore in charge of setting the directions which guide the creativity of the advertising personnel (Sasser and Koslow , 2008, p 81). Creativity is very important to marketing managers. This is evidenced in the way most businesses allow advertising agencies access to top management. This provides the agency with insightful information that can positively impact the creativity. Creativity has become so important to marketing managers that they hold the advertising agency accountable for the performance of their finished work. They view the creativity of the advert through factors such as sales and copy test scores. However copy testing has been found to hinder the creativity of the advertisement (Batra, 2009, p 476). Creativity is not only the attractiveness of the advert but also the originality and appropriateness of the content. Marketing personnel therefore call for an interaction and fusion of these features. Originality is known in some quarters as divergence (Kilgour & Koslow, 2009, p 298, 299; Sasser & Koslow, 2009, p 10). In analyzing the response of the customer to the advertising creativity, it is necessary to evaluate whether the customers are actually aware of creativity in the advertisement. Eisend et al (2012) carried out a research that showed that customers react differently to advertisements. They argue that customers have a notion that those brands that utilize creative media are more innovative hence tend to trust them. The perceptions of the customer that particular brand is of higher quality translates into better perceptions of the brand, its quality and its value (Eisend et al, 2012, p 349). However, consumer perceptions are not always positive to the creativity perceived in a particular advert. Bird points out that it would be wrong to assume that just because an advert is considered creative; it would result in higher sales for the product on advertisement. He points out that there are a lot of adverts that have been acclaimed for their creativity but have not lived up to expectations in increasing the sales as initially hoped for. He argues that the success of any advert should not be considered on the amount of sales made. Therefore, there is need for the advertising agency to find a balance between a reasonable amount of creativity and effective advertising. To do this, the advertising agency should carry out a research to incorporate the views of the consumer. This is because when consumers purchase items, they do because of the product benefits and not because of its features. Heath et al (2009) argue from a psychologist point of view that people do not pay as much attentions to advertisements. They argue that people do not have a lot of interest in advertisements. However, even with the statistics showing a drop in the involvement of viewers in advertisements, marketing managers can smile due to a study done by Binet and Fields which showed that the evidence suggesting a drop in the effectiveness of advertising was low. They argue that the creativity of the advert should lean more on the emotive side rather than the rational side. This is because advertisements with an emotive content have a higher chance of success at building products than those advertisements that are perceived to be rational (Heath et al, 2009, p 450). Creativity in an advert is aimed at the customer, it is therefore imperative to put the customer into consideration when carrying out design of an advert. The customer must feel a persuasion from the advert to check out the product. For a creative advert therefore, not only is the marketer pleased but so is the customer. Consumers are also intelligent and an advert should never insult the intelligence of its customers. This occurs when an adverts’ creativity goes overboard and promises the target audience things that it cannot deliver. Bird also argues that for a customer to perceive the creativity of the advertisement, it should be capable of breaking through other chatter surrounding the customer. As different advertisers compete for the attention of the same consumer, the creativity in the advert should be able to stand out from the rest (Bird, 2004, 136). Advertising Creativity has developed until it has found new avenues in social media and the general internet. Marketers are turning to social networking sites to promote their services and products. They have developed ways of connecting directly with the customer or the consumer of their products and services as well as developing interactive relationships with them. Twitter, P & G, Sun Microsystems are all utilized by various companies to effectively market their products (Pride and Ferrell, 2011, p 301). Conclusion Even though advertising creativity has been in existence for a long time, its actions begun being evident during the first and second world wars when governments used posters to drive their propaganda and agenda into their citizens. Since then, creative advertising has grown through posters to mass media and the current use of social media and the internet. Different people think differently on the effects of creativity in an advert. While some argue that there are no tangible results of advertising and that its effectiveness is diminishing, others are of the view that creativity in advertisement will continue pushing advertisements into the consumer’s considerations. They all agree however that in designing a creative advertisement, originality, rationality and emotiveness should be considered. However, as it is not yet conclusive of the effects of advertisement creativity, further research on the same is required to lay the matter to rest. References Kilgour, Mark and Scott Koslow (2009), “Why and How Do Creative Thinking Techniques Work?: Trading Off Originality and Appropriateness to Make More Creative Advertising,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37, 298-309. Sasser, Sheila L. and Scott Koslow (2008), “Desperately Seeking Advertising Creativity: Engaging an Imaginative ‘3Ps’ Research Agenda,” Journal of Advertising, 37, 4, 5-19. Koslow, Scott, Sheila L. Sasser and Edward A. Riordan (2006), “Do Marketers Get the Advertising They Need or the Advertising They Deserve?: Agency Views of How Clients Influence Creativity,” Journal of Advertising, 35, 3, 81-101. Runco, M. A. & Pritzker, S.R, 1999, Encyclopedia of creativity, Massachusetts: Academic Press Bird, M., 2004, Marketing communications, Butterworths: Juta and Company Ltd Batra, R., 2009, Advertising management, New Delhi: Pearson Education India Eisend, M., Langner, T. & Okazaki, S., 2012, Advances in Advertising Research (Vol. III):  Current Insights and Future Trends, New York: Springer HEATH, R. G., NAIRN, A. C. & - BOTTOMLEY, P., 2009, How Effective is Creativity? Emotive Content in TV Advertising Does Not Increase Attention, journal of advertising researchDecember 2009, available at < http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.leedsmet.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a3d8d653-b904-40d0-84fd-a6f275742cd2%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=3 > Read More