RESEARCH IN ADVERTISING CREATIVITY IN THE JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING
(1972-2006)
Jorge del Río Pérez.
jrio@unav.es
PhD in Communication. Lecturer at the University of Navarra. Professor of Advertising
Creativity and Advertising Projects. Faculty of Communication at the University of
Navarra. Professor of Creativity II at the University of Montevideo (Uruguay) and at the
University of the Istmo (Guatemala).
Department of Informative Enterprise. University of Navarra. 31080. Pamplona. Spain.
Summary: This paper points out the low level of interest accorded to advertising
creativity arises within the academic field. This study examines some of the
reasons for this neglect and the main studies that have dealt with this issue in
the Journal of Advertising are analysed. The objective is to foster the future
interest in the study of advertising creativity by approaching the issue from a
multi-disciplinary and practical perspective.
Key words: Advertising, advertising creativity, creative process, creative
personality, creative product, ideation.
1. Introduction
It is clear that creativity plays a key role in advertising and constitutes an essential part
in the advertising process. The great creative idea -winning creative idea-, the idea that
outdoes the others and is memorable, provides a variety of benefits for both client and
advertising agency. ‘Researchers –West1 notes with regard to the work of Buzzell’s2,
Blair3 and Rossiter and Percy4 - have estimated that a creative idea may increase a
product’s sales by five times (…)’. And from this agency’s point of view, creative ideas
attract new accounts, help win new awards in festivals of creativity, and strengthen the
existing ties between the most successful employees and the agency5.
Yet, the importance of the role that creativity plays in the field of advertising is not
adequately reflected in the field of advertising research6. The reasons for this are not
clear.
1
WEST, Douglas C., 360 of Creative Risk, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 39, No. 1,
January/February 1999, p. 39.
2
Cf BUZZELL, R. D, Predicting Short-Term Changes in Market Shares as a Function of Advertising
Strategy, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. I, No. 3, 1964, pp. 27-31.
3
Cf BLAIR, M. H., An Empirical Investigation of Advertising Wearing and Wearout, Journal of
Advertising Research, Vol. XXVIII, No. 6, November/December 1998, pp. 45-50.
4
Cf ROSSITER, John R. and PERCY, Larry, Advertising Communications & Promotion Management,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997.
5
Cf WACKMAN, Daniel B., SALMON, C. T., and SALMON, C., Developing an Advertising AgencyClient Relationship, Journal of Adverting Research, Vol. XXVI, No. 6, December 1986, pp. 21-28; cf
MICHELL, P. C. N. and CATAQUET, H., Establishing the Causes of Disaffection in Agency Client
Relations, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. XXXII, No. 2, March/April 1992, pp. 41-48; cf
HELGESEN, Thorolf, Advertising Awards and Advertising Agency Performance Criteria, Journal of
Advertising Research, Vol. XXXIV, No. 4, July/August 1994, pp. 43-53.
6
Cf REID, Leonard N. and MORIARTY, Sandra E., Ideation: A Review of Research, Current Issues and
Research in Advertising, No. 1, 1983, pp.119-134; Cf KLEBBA and TIERNEY, op. cit., pp. 33-52; Cf
JOANNIS, Henri, El proceso de creación publicitaria, Deusto, Bilbao, 1996.
1
Klebba and Tierney argue that the lack of advertising research derives from ‘the
difficulty of defining the term7, the nature of the creative act itself8, the variety of
creative products9, and from the complex context of advertising creativity’10.
Reid and Moriarty believe that the reason for this lack of interest is rooted in the
fact that many advertising professionals and scholars tend to believe that ideas come
‘by act of magic’ and relegate ideation (creativity) to the realm of ‘mystery’11.
Other authors, such as Reid, King and DeLorme have commented on the interest that
certain lines of research have in the field of advertising, such as message content, or
the efficacy of these messages, whereas empirical studies of advertising creativity are
given little critical attention12.
Zinkhan, in his analysis of the articles published on advertising creativity in the Journal
of Advertising, finds that the interest has changed considerably: in this prestigious
publication’s first five years, 10% of the articles focused on creativity, whereas in the
next 15 years, the percentage decreased to 1% (five articles). Zinkhan blames the
difficulty in addressing and defining the idea of advertising creativity for this very
limiting lack of research.13.
In this context, the following questions should be asked: how have researchers
approached the phenomenon of advertising creativity? What are the main studies that
have been carried out? Why does the study of this phenomenon inspire so little
interest, given that such a large part of the commercial communication business
depends on creativity?
In order to address all these questions, the main studies on advertising
creativity published in the Journal of Advertising from 1972 to 2006 are reviewed.
2. Little impact.
Of the 920 articles published in the Journal of Advertising over the course of 35
years, only 1.41% focused on advertising creativity. The conclusion to be drawn is
obvious: advertising creativity, despite its importance in education and the profession,
has never been an issue of priority interest in research on advertising. Thus, the two
graphics point out that the up-and-downs in general production of the magazine have
little to do with production on creativity. –The last five years in the seventies and the
entire decade of the eighties are the most significant regarding articles about creativity,
but this meaning is not clear–.
The thirteen chapters published are centred on the four classic areas of the
study of creativity: person, product, process and environment.14. Two innovative
proposals that open a new line of research stand out.
7
Cf MUMFORD, M. D. and GUSTAFSON, S. B., Creativity syndrome: Integration, application, and
innovation, Psychological Bulletin, No. 103, 1987, pp. 27-43.
8
Cf VanGUNDY, A. B., Organizational Creativity and Innovation. In S.G. Isaken (Ed.), Frontiers of
Creativity Research: Beyond the Basis, Bearly Limited, Buffalo, 1987.
9
Cf HOCEVAR, Dennis and BACHELOR, Patricia A. Bachelor (1989). Taxonomy and Critique of
Measurements Used in the Study of Creativity, in Handbook of Creativity, Plenum, New York, 1989.
10
KLEBBA, Joanne M. and TIERNEY, Pamela, Advertising Creativity: A review and Empirical
Investigation of External Evaluation, Cognitive Style and Self-Perceptions of Creativity, Journal of
Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 1995, p. 33.
11
REID, Leonard N. and MORIARTY, Sandra E., op.cit., p.119.
12
REID, Leonard N., KING, Karen W., and DeLORME, Denise E., Top-Level Agency Creatives Look at
Advertising Creativity Then and Now, Journal of Advertising, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, 1998, p.119.
13
Cf ZINKHAN, George M., Creativity in Advertising: Creativity in the Journal of Advertising, Journal
of Advertising, Vol.XXII, No. 3, 1993, pp. 1-3.
14
Studies on the creative and environmental situation –the situational and contextual aspects that may
determine creativity- have aimed at creating a series of creative techniques to foster and maximize the
benefit of creative people.
2
3. Copywriter’s personality features
Researchers in advertising creativity have tried to determine the features of the
copywriter’s personality. In the seventies, studies focused on the copywriter’s personal
qualities: Politz discussed the importance of imagination in the development of
advertising and related it to the concept of ideation.15.
Thus, several empirical research studies of the creative person focus on the
dimensions of personality and cognitive skills. The creative subject has been studied in
the school and university setting. Auer found that creative students in writing
advertising texts were ‘significantly’ different from ‘non-creative’ students in a business
degree program.16 This distinction was established on the factor of empathy, a
characteristic that was extremely developed in creative students. Reid and Rotfeld,
through psychometric tests, found positive correlations between the associative ability,
attitude towards tasks and creativity in students17. Studies done in Reid’s classrooms
showed a positive correlation between the students’ associative ability and the
assessment of their creativity18.
Several studies have examined the creative subject from a social perspective,
analysing the kind of interrelationships established in the human sphere surrounding
their functions. The creative individual establishes free and reciprocal relationships with
the creative team, supervisors, clients, production experts, consultants, among others.
This wide range of interpersonal contact gives range to numerous occasions when
influence may be exerted on the creative process and on creativity. Therefore, social
contacts, those that do have an influence on creativity, have been examined by
researchers in the field of advertising and they have mainly focused on the conflicts
that take place within the process and organization.
Hotz, Ryans and Shanklin identified four potentially troublesome areas between
clients and agencies19:
1)
2)
3)
4)
High turnover rate in the agencies’ employees.
Client’s help to the agency.
Inefficiency in client’s organization
Confusion concerning the agency’s role.
This study showed the agreement and disagreement areas between agency’s
executives and the client with regard to these factors.
On the other hand, Hunt and Chonko analyzed the agencies’ executives’ ethical
problems when contacting clients, by carrying out a series of 300 interviews20. Conflicts
were mainly about the means of payment for the services delivered by the agency, the
honesty of the created messages, and account management for clients whose
products or services were hazardous, unnecessary, non-ethical. For the authors, it is
essential that the agency’s management executives deal with their employees’ specific
15
POLITZ, Alfred, Creativeness and Imagination, Journal of Advertising, Vol. IV, No. 3, 1975, pp. 1114.
16
AUER, Emma, Creative advertising Students: How Different?, Journal of Advertising, Vol. V, No. 3,
1976, pp. 5-10.
17
REID, Leonard N. and ROTFELD Herbert J., Toward an Associative Model of Advertising Creativity,
Journal of Advertising, Vol. V, No. 4, 1976, pp. 24-29.
18
Veáse REID, Leonard N., Are Advertising Educators Good Judges of Creative Talent?, Journal of
Advertising, Vol. VI, September 1977, pp. 41-43; REID, Leonard N., Factors Affecting Creativity in
Generation of Advertising, Journalism Quarterly, Vol. LV, No. 4, Winter 1978, pp. 781-785.
19
HOTZ, Mary R., RYANS, John K., and SHANKLIN, William, Agency/Client Relationships as Seen
by Influential on Both Sides, Journal of Advertising, Vol. XI, March, 1982, pp. 37-34.
20
HUNT, Shelby D. and CHONKO, Lawrence B., Ethical Problems of Advertising Agency Executives,
Journal of Advertising, Vol. XVI, No. 4, 1987, pp. 16-24.
3
ethical problems, accommodating policies and procedures to help work those problems
out.
4. The creative product.
Creativity in advertising is aimed at trying to persuade the receiver, by devising and
elaborating messages that give a real form and format to the advertiser’s
communication objectives21. Therefore, the reason for which advertising creativity is
measured is to try to guess the extent to which the objectives why it was designed are
achieved. In other words, its effectiveness. Does the designed advertising message
work or not? As de los Ángeles states, advertising communication is ‘biased
communication, seeking profitability and efficacy’22.
Advertising researchers have shown interest in assessing the messages’
advertising creativity quality in order to determine the capacity of products to achieve
their communication goals23. Studies have sought to discern patterns in the creation of
effective advertising messages. The objective to be achieved is to establish criteria on
what works in advertising, the best ways of communicating and connecting with the
receiver, those elements in the message –texts, visual aids, etc.- that are easy and
understandable for the audience24.
Blasko and Mokwa suggested that the inclusion of contradictory and opposed
elements in the advertising message would lead to an increased effectiveness of the
message25. Their conclusions are based on the psychiatrist Albert Rothenberg’s26
work, who chose the Roman god Janus (a mythical image depicted with two faces that
simultaneously look in opposit directions) to symbolize the complex process of thought
and expression that he observed in a convincing way in his studies on the creative
process and the creative person in art, literature, music, the sciences and mathematics.
The term Janusian thinking has come to symbolize and describe the mind
process which simultaneously performs (originates, comprehends, solves and
expresses) with naturalness and harmony apparently opposed forms of thought.
Rothenberg suggests that when the Janusian thought encompasses strong opposition
or logical antithesis, it has a power to surprise or shock; this provides a greater
sensation of novelty; and it can communicate a greater deal of truth as well. The
psychologist defines creativity in terms of creative products. Novelty and the value of
creative products are a social construct shared by both the producer and the receiver.
For Blasko and Mokwa the presence and importance of the Janusian thinking in
advertising cannot be ignored, and it is the basis of many issues in advertising
campaigns, both in the press and in broadcasting.
It is, therefore, a reliable way to approach problems creatively. It provides
copywriters and advertising art directors with a guide to generate creative products,
and then, with a form of assessment to rate them as ‘creative’.
The researchers are in favour of advertising messages where opposed
elements appear, and in order to corroborate their theory, they carried out a review of
21
Cf de los ÁNGELES, op. cit.; cf MOLINÉ, Marçal, La comunicación activa, Deusto, Bilbao, 1988; cf
RICARTE, José María, Creatividad y Comunicación Persuasiva, Aldea Global, Barcelona, 1998; cf
McNAMARA, Jay, Advertising Agency Management, Dow Jones-Irwin, USA, 1990; cf JOANNIS, H,
op. cit.
22
de los ÁNGELES, Juan, op. cit., p. 44.
23
Cf KLEBBA, Joanne M. and TIERNEY, Pamela, op. cit.
24
Cf de los ÁNGELES, Juan, op. cit.
25
BLASKO, Vicent J. and MOKWA, Michael P., Creativity in Advertising: A Janusian Perspective,
Journal of Advertising, Vol. XV, December 1986, pp. 43-50.
26
ROTHENBERG, Albert, The Process of Janusian Thinking in Creativity, Archives of General
Psychiatry, Vol. XXIV, 1971, pp. 24-29.
4
some printed advertisement headlines considered to be ‘creative’ by creative directors
and where opposing sentences and words appeared27.
5. The creative process.
The creative process comprises activities and cognitive features employed in the
production of new solutions to problems. For many researchers, the creative process,
the process by which the conception of the idea is realized in practice –through a
series of clearly defined steps-, is the same in all disciplines: Science, Art or
Advertising28.
The vast majority of the most interesting studies that deal with advertising
creativity from the perspective of its process are influenced by cognitive psychology,
especially by the school of thought started division established by Wallas in 1926.
Wallas divided the process of creative work into four phases: preparation,
incubation, epiphany and exposure. This division into four stages is the most
widespread conception in use among researchers. As de los Ángeles explains, most of
the authors coincide in that the creative process follows the path Wallas outlined,
although some ‘specify more clearly the content of some phases, split them into two
new ones, give them new names, add new ones, etc.’29.
5.1. Incubating and epiphany: G. E. White.
The work carried out by White focuses on the description of the phases of incubating
and epiphany30. These stages are given a vital importance in the creative process in
advertising. To him, the core of advertising is the function of thinking persuasively new
ways to establish sales proposals, and this function is ‘inevitably creative’, a function in
advertising he refers to as the ‘x factor’31.
White starts from the idea that the creative process in advertising is identical to
any other process developed in other disciplines; although advertising has some
features that makes it different from the others: it is creativity ‘on demand’, with strict
parameters and a deadline32.
White considers the state of relaxation as essential to the stage of incubating.
Through this attitude, the unconscious rests until at an unspecified moment the
lightning flash, the insight, comes, which is, according to this author, the main
characteristic of the creative work and distinguishes it from the solving of ordinary
problems. Another attitude that is remarkable in his view is patience.
The author explains the stage of incubating through different examples provided
by great creative people not related to advertising and, eventually, through David
Ogilvy’s words, redirects his research:
I am unable to develop the logical thinking, but I have put into practice some
techniques to keep a telephone line with my subconscious open, just in case it has
something to say. I listen to a great deal of music. I have a friendship with John
Barleycorn. I take long hot baths. I spend much of my time gardening. I go birdwatching. I go for long walks in the countryside. I give myself frequent holidays, so
that my mind remains idle. No golf, no cocktails, no tennis, no bridge, no
concentration. Only cycling.
27
Cf BLASKO, Vicent J. and MOKWA, Michael P., op. cit., p. 47.
Cf WHITE, Gordon E., Creativity: The X Factor in Advertising Theory, Journal of Advertising, Vol. I,
No. 1, 1972, pp. 24-25; cf REID, Leonard N. and MORIARTY, Sandra E., op. cit.; cf ECHEVERRÍA,
Miguel Ángel, Creatividad & Comunicación, GTE, Madrid, 1995; cf RICARTE, José María, op. cit..
29
de los ÁNGELES, Juan, op. cit., p. 28.
30
Cf WHITE, Gordon, E., op. cit.
31
Ibid., p. 28.
32
Ibid., p. 29.
28
5
While I am like this, doing nothing, I receive a constant flow of telegrams from my
subconscious, and these telegrams become the primary source of my
advertisements. But something more is still necessary: hard work, an open mind
and limitless curiosity33.
In order to get to the bottom of what happens within the stage of epiphany,
White continues to use the method of including descriptions of relevant people –
mathematicians, poets, architects, writers-, as was the case in the previous stage,
although in this part White includes many examples of copywriters and of the habits
they have to find the moment of insight. Thus, White explains different ways of working
towards inspiration, that range from frequenting places he has never been to, to having
a look at photography yearbooks, or to breaking the accepted rules34.
However, in this last part of his research, and in order to be closer to the
process of incubation and epiphany, White puts aside the analysis of the creative
process and focuses on the copywriter’s features and their motivation. Even though, to
White, neither the analysis of the creative process, especially the incubation and
epiphany stages, nor the description of copywriters’ skills and their motivations, can
wholly explain the moment of ideation or how an advertising idea comes out.:
(...) It escapes the scientific probe of the researcher and the decision-marker. And
thank Heaven for it. It may not be amazing new but it is, indeed, a miracle product
of human nature35
5.2. Reid and Rotfeld: Mednick’s Associative Theory
Reid and Rotfeld develop an advertising creativity model by applying to it the
associationist theories studied by Mednick in 1962. This theory primarily considers
creativity as the process of putting together associations of facts that previously have
no obvious relationship. In other words ‘the ability or tendency that helps bring together
remote ideas that will enable the creative solution’36. Thus, the highly creative individual
has an associative ability that the less creative individual does not.
To Mednick, creativity has to be steered to find safe and specific resources or to
the solution of a particular problem, in other words, creating consists of doing new
combinations of associated elements which are useful37. Through this theory,
Mendelsohn and Griswold have shown that the highly creative individual is highly
sensitive to the signals their environment sends them and a great ability to make use of
these signals in problem-solving38. In a nutshell, Reid and Rotfeld continue, highly
creative individuals can keep the stimuli of their experience in a way that these stimuli
can show up in their associative process and in problem-solving; but this does not
mean that the faculty of memory in these individuals is superior39.
As Reid and Rotfeld state, advertising agents have also admitted that the
associative process is essential in advertising creativity. To illustrate this statement,
they present one of the most famous copywriters in the profession as an example, Leo
Burnett, who defines creativity as ‘the art of establishing new and significant ties
33
OGILVY, David, Confesiones de un publicitario, Oikos-Tau, Barcelona, 1967, pp. 20-21.
WHITE, Gordon, E., op. cit., p. 31.
35
Ibid., p. 32.
36
REID Leonard N. and ROTFELD, Herbert J., op. cit., p. 25.
37
Véase, MEDNICK, S. A., The Associative Basis of the Creative Process, Psychological Review, Vol.
69, 1962.
38
Véase, MENDELSOHN, G. A. and GISWOLD, B. B., Differential Use of Incidental Stimuli in
Problem-solving as a Function of Creativity, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology Vol. 68, 1964.
39
Cf REID Leonard N. and ROTFELD, Herbert J., op. cit.
34
6
between things that previously have no relation in a way that is relevant, credible and in
good taste, but that somehow presents the product in a new and fresh light’40.
The copywriter’s work is therefore, the design of messages that provide a
solution to the problems presented by the client. That is, the fact that creative work is
defined by consumer needs is acknowledged. And thus, the more the copywriter knows
about the client’s perception of the problem and how they are going to solve it, the
greater chances they will have to create the advertisement or advertisements that
match the desired expectations. Information is a basic tool for the creative subject.41.
However, the authors point out, data does not create effective advertising on its
own: the interpretation of data and the copywriter’s associative ability are the main
foundations for effective advertising42.
Once the relation between advertising and Mednick’s theory has been
established, the authors describe the conceptual model that synthesizes the former
knowledge into a conceptual model of the process of advertising creativity.
Every advertising campaign is essentially an attempt to support the other
elements in the marketing mix in market problem-solving. If communication problems
like these exist, such as lack of knowledge of a product on the client’s part, or the
existence of an undesirable image, advertising may play an important role in the
company’s marketing strategy in order to create and deliver the pertinent messages
that solve the problem.
The research department is traditionally responsible for collecting and providing
all the data relevant to the market, product and consumer. These data are then
analyzed by means of the established marketing principles. In this model, the people
who are responsible serve as the defining source of the problem and pass on the
information collected (market, product, etc.) to the copywriters, who, as pointed out by
the authors, are in their turn responsible for creating effective advertising messages to
solve the problem.
It is in this part of the whole process where according to Reid and Rotfeld, the
copywriter’s associative ability becomes ‘supreme’. That is, given the definition of the
problem and the research data, copywriters depend on their own ability to associate
the data within a creative idea. This idea may have three major characteristics –
functional, physical, and emotional- that define the advertising campaign’s concept as
well. This concept determines the performance of actual advertising messages. The
copywriter’s attitudinal component fits into the model because it allows the copywriter
to approach the act of creating with an open mind.
Reid and Rotfeld assume this model’s imperfection, because other variables
that have an influence on the process of creation are not present. They note
exogenous variables (motivation, confidence, etc.) that might have an influence on the
creative process.
The associative ability, the creative ability and the attitude are elements of great
importance in the presented creative process. Reid and Rotfeld carry out a study
among 71 students to observe the relation between these three variables. The findings
they obtain are the following:
1) The higher the subject’s associative ability, the higher their creative ability.
2) The higher the subject’s associative ability, the more favorable their attitude will
be regarding the act of creating a commercial or an advertisement.
3) The higher the subject’s creative ability, the more favorable their attitude will be
regarding the act of creating an advertisement.
40
Ibid., p. 25.
Ibid., p. 26.
42
Ibid.
41
7
These findings clearly show a strong relationship between the three elements of
the creative model: attitude, associative ability and creative ability. Favourable attitude
and high creative associative ability are important as requisites for good copywriting
and it is possible that the professional’s attitudes and abilities are mutually reinforced43.
5.3. T. A. Bengtson and criticism of the traditional model
At this point in the discussion, the article published by Bengtson, which offers a critical
point of view on the perspective on the process of creative advertising work, is of
particular interest. According to the author, the model presented by Young44 –and all
the subsequent papers that follow this framework -simplify creativity and the creative
process. His critical review focuses on three aspects45:
1) Ingestion and digestion stages
2) Progressive and closed sequencing of the creative process.
3) Incubation.
For Blasko and Mokwa, Bengston’s challenging article establishes ‘an additional
springboard to understand creativity’, a new perspective on the advertising creative
process where ideas may come in the ‘most unexpected, frivolous and difficult to
explain’ ways 46. Thus, this approach, which runs contrary to the traditional way of
conceiving ideas in advertising, provides us with greater knowledge and or better
understanding of the creative process47.
5.3.1. Ingestion and digestion stages
‘Information collecting and synthesizing –Bengston claims- may be sometimes two
essential processes in problem-solving, but they are not an indispensable condition for
creative success’48.
The campaigns carried out by Hopkins for Johnson Soap Co. or for Quaker
Oats support what Young stated. Yet, like a sword, the insight cut both ways. Where
knowledge may produce great results, the acquisition and assimilation of knowledge
may, paradoxically, jeopardize the creative process itself.
According to Bengston, the search for information may be dangerous when knowledge
is treated as an end in itself, instead of as a resource or aid to problem-solving49. A
conclusion that he illustrates through Draper Daniela, where he complains that many
43
Ibid., p. 28.
One of the most respected treatises on the advertising creative working process was written by James
Webb Young in the late 1930s. James Webb Young expounded his theories in the Graduate School of
Business at the University of Chicago, during a lecture for the class Business History. As a consequence
of this lecture and given the great reception his theories had, he wrote the advertising classic A Technique
for Producing Ideas. The postulates collected in a bit more than 70 pages have had an enormous influence
on advertising professionals, professors and students. Young’s model consists of five steps: ingestion,
digestion, incubation, epiphany and exposure. The author builds this technique for producing ideas on
two basic principles that explain the origin of ideas. The first states that an idea is a combination of old
elements. The second principle points out the creative indidivual’s ability or talent to find relationships.
Yet, Young says that in order to achieve the creation of ideas the five steps must be followed in a given
order –ingestion, digestion, incubation, epiphany and exposure- and that no step can be taken without
having completed the preceding one.
45
Cf BENGTSON, Timothy, op. cit.
46
BLASKO, Vicent J. and MOKWA, Michael P., Paradox, Advertising and…, op. cit., p. 352.
47
Cf Ibid.
48
BENGTSON, Timothy, op. cit. p. 4.
49
Ibid., p. 5.
44
8
copywriters and artists spend so much time immersed in information, that they have too
little time to actually develop the significant concepts50.
Bengtson basically believes that goal of copywriters and artists is not to find out
the whole truth but to create powerful advertising within set deadlines. He is also
doubtful about the idea that perfect information about the problem automatically
equates to advertising success.
After all, even perfect knowledge may not be able to produce a simple
advertisement.51.
In the critical review of the ingestion and digestion stages, other additional
problems emerge. The first problems calls attention to the difficulties of these two
stages in terms of meticulousness and tediousness. That is, the creative individual may
feel overwhelmed and discouraged by excessive research and data. Knowledge may
also contaminate creativity. To constantly keep information in one’s mind makes it hard
to elaborate different ideas, and these ideas may then be in conflict with the data
collected during the two first stages:
Few ideas that do not coincide with the established truth will be able to spark in
one’s imagination52.
The third danger associated with preparation is a condition he refers to as
‘expertitis’, which means being slave to a given model of thinking. Bengston believes
that only the better informed individual may experience this difficulty: it is the price the
expert pays for spending a great amount of time and energy in study.
According to the model proposed by Young, the experts, those who have
completed the first two stages, are ideally placed to produce creative concepts. It is in
this very moment when, according to the author, expertitis may arise. The creative
person has intimately assimilated and synthesized a system and approach built with
the information that has been accumulated and thus, every new opinion or experience
constantly reinforces their own system of thought. Along with all these reinforcements
comes mental rigidity and, after a brief period of time, if any at all, very limited flexibility,
and creative ideas are lost.
5.3.2. Progressive and closed sequencing of the creative process
According to Young’s model, the creative individual has to follow a straight and narrow
way through all the stages of the process to arrive at a creative solution:
(...) the mind goes through these five stages in a predetermined way, and if an idea
is to be produced, no further step can be taken before the preceding stage has
been completed53.
Yet, Bengston admits, many brilliant concepts are not always the result of
following Young’s model of preorganized stages; nor are they usually a consequence
of a diligent and constant effort54.
To confirm this thesis, the author gives the example of the halitosis campaign
for Listerine –included among last century’s best -created in 1922 by Gerald Lambert,
who by chance read an article in the British Lancet, in which the term ‘halitosis’ was
50
Cf DANIELS, Draper, Giants, Pigmies, and Other Advertising People, Crain Communications,
Chicago, 1974, p. 132.
51
BENGTSON, Timothy, op. cit. p. 5.
52
Ibid.
53
YOUNG, James B., A Tecnique for Producing Ideas, Crain Books, Chicago, 1960, p. 30.
54
BENGTSON, Timothy, op. cit. p. 7.
9
used to name bad breath. David Ogilvy also designed the campaign with the man with
the patch for Hathaway’s shirts while he was seated in his bathroom reading an article
in a magazine, which was illustrated with a photograph of a diplomat wearing a patch
over his damaged eye.
This and many other examples show that not all creative concepts are
subproducts of a predetermined model such as Young’s. They show that major models
–like the ones seen above– of the creative process may be exceptions rather than
rules.
Spontaneous inventions and accidental discoveries make one reflect on the
inherent injustice of creative activities. Bengtson discuss the apparent inequality of the
creative process, which rewards some individuals who ‘without much apparent effort,
discover creative concepts, while others are stuck in their libraries, labours and offices
seeking answers that may never come’55. This unfairness, concludes the author,
pervades each and every creative enterprise.
Creative ideas show up in many cases regardless of place or moment, and they
are ephemeral in their duration. They may spring to life at odd hours and thus, one has
always to adopt some precautions such as the ones suggested by Ogilvy:
I have a drawer in my office where I keep things, and beside my bed I have a
notebook where I write the ideas that come into my mind in the middle of the
night56.
5.3.3. Incubation
Finally, the last criticism of Young’s model focuses on the time period of inaction,
where great works appear. Bengtson is convinced that advertising agents are
extremely impatient. Deadlines are set and accelerate the course of the creative
process. Because of the circumstances in which an advertising agency operates,
copywriters produce quick solutions to problems presented by the client. Yet, a time
period of inaction would be beneficial for the production of an adequate idea. At the
same time, the author points out that incubation does not guarantee success.
6. Ideation: Creative techniques
Ideation –techniques and theories that may help stimulate creative skills– is closely
linked to advertising creativity57. A substantial part of research on advertising creativity
has focused on the generation of ideas through different methods58 that help break
through the creative individual’s mental blocks59.
Since the first studies on creativity, Politz championed the generation of many
ideas as an essential way of working to produce a unique and significant idea60.
Vanden Bergh, Reid and Schorin empirically examined ideation with students
and noted that the greater the creative expectations, the higher the probabilities of
achieving an effective campaign61.
In my opinion, research on ideation has focused exclusively on offering a great
deal of techniques that foster the stimulation of creative thought in advertising and help
surpass creative blocks. It is true, though, as Echeverria points out, that copywriters
55
Ibid.
OGILVY, David, Confesiones de un publicitario, Oikos-Tau, Barcelona, 1967, p. 93.
57
Cf REID and MORIARTY, op. cit.
58
Cf KLEBBA and TIERNEY, op. cit.
59
Cf MARRA, J. L., Advertising Creativity: Tecniques for generating ideas, Prentice Hall, New Jersey,
1990;
60
Cf POLITZ, Alfred, op. cit.
61
Cf VANDEN BERGH, Brush G., REID, Leonard N. and SCHORIN, Gerald A, 2How Many Creative
Alternatives to Generate, Journal of Advertising, Vol. XII. No.12, No. 4, 1983, pp. 46-49.
56
10
are suspicious of the ‘methodisation of work’62 and in many cases, they ignore the
existence of theories and techniques –except for, maybe, the popular technique of
brainstorming- which may help them in their everyday work.
7. New approaches to the study of advertising creativity
Within the field of psychology, several authors have concluded that no approach to the
study of the phenomenon of creativity can, on its own, encompass and explain this
concept63. Because of this, they suggest a combination of different lines of study to
achieve a rounded research position. These reflections, in my opinion, are also true for
the advertising domain.
For instance, when studying advertising creativity from the individual’s
perspective, it has been noted that there are some external features of the copywriter’s
role that have an influence on the generation of creative ideas, such as conflicts
between professionals working in creative and account departments64 or the
copywriter’s relation to different aspects of the agency’s internal functioning65.
The approach that is proposed from the product, seems to be, without further
discussion, the most isolated one. However it has been proven that the introduction of
the pretest is a destabilizing factor, as is for instance, the budget the client wants to
spend. Berstong’s criticism of Young’s closed process has determined that this
approach is not guided by an aseptic analysis66 and this statement is confirmed by
Reid and Rotfeld when they note exogenous and intermediate variables forming part of
the process of the generation of creative ideas67.
There are very few contributions that study the creative process in advertising
from a wide and multidimensional perspective, where the agency’s organizational and
functional elements are considered relevant to creativity and problem-solving. They are
characteristic because their goal is mainly a practical one and they try to improve the
process of creative work. The methodology of study used by these researchers is also
the same: through questionnaires and observation they closely follow the creation of an
advertising campaign.
7.1. Hirschman: An analysis from the perspective of the ‘production of culture’
Hirschman holds that researchers have usually ignored the social process by which
advertising and, therefore, the generation of creative ideas is produced68. From this
situation flows the isolation in participants’ functions and interactions, the agencies’ and
departments’ philosophies and ways of acting, and all the procedural policies that
surround the stages of generation have caused a unilateral approach to this
phenomenon and have neglected the significant influence they have on the creation of
commercial communication.
Hirschman points out that these aspects of the process have received detailed
attention in the sociological tradition called production of culture69. This is an approach
62
ECHEVERRÍA, Miguel A., op. cit., p. 11.
Cf AMABILE, T. M., Creativity in context: Update to The Social Psychology of Creativity, Boulder,
Westview, 1996; cf CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, Mihaly, Creatividad. El fluir y la psicología del
descubrimiento y la invención, Ediciones Paidós Ibérica, Barcelona, 1996.
64
Cf WICKS, Jan L., SMITH, Sandra J. and VANDEN BERGH, Brush G., op. cit.
65
Cf HOTZ, Mary R., RYANS, John K., and SHANKLIN, William, op. cit.
66
Cf BENGTSON, Timothy, op. cit.
67
REID, Leonard N. and ROTFELD Herbert J., op. cit., p. 27.
68
HIRSCHMAN, Elizabeth C., Role-Based Models of Advertising Creation and Production, Journal of
Advertising, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, 1989, p. 42.
69
Cf PETERSON, Richard A., The Production of Culture, Sage Publication, Berverly Hills, 1976; cf
PETERSON, Richard A., Revitalizing the Culture Concept, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. V, 1979,
pp. 137-166.
63
11
in which the process of collaboration between people and the institutions that are
necessary to create and deliver ‘cultural products’ is explored70. The repercussion of
the trend of production of culture, the author points out, has been applied to such
varied areas as women’s fashion, country music, news scheduling on television
channels and photography.
Therefore, the approach proposed by Hirschman is to examine the social
relationships that affect the process of creating advertising messages. According to
her, clients and advertising agencies’ professionals have to work together on an
institutional level, while the individuals within these institutions –enterprises,
companies, agencies, etc.- have to collectively contribute to the work. In other words,
and more specifically the advertising domain, clients in their roles as sponsors provide
funding and the strategic leadership for the creation of advertising messages that are
produced by the individuals who constitute the agency’s working staff. The relationship
between both institutions, as shown by the author, is a whole that affects the creative
process in various complex ways.
The first variable has already been studied when this paper discussed
advertising creativity from the perspective of the product. The raison d’être of
advertising means that creation and the advertising product, as a way of commercial
communication, is the generation of symbolic messages that are valued because of
their effectiveness in achieving and fostering the goals set by the client. –Specially
increase in sales and the reinforcement of the consumer’s attitude towards that service
or product-.
Her research basically reflects the nature of collaboration in the advertising
process and the participants’ perception of it. But, in my opinion, Hirschman has also
managed to develop multifaceted approach to the process of generation of creative
ideas and its subsequent development in commercial messages.
Hirschman expresses the various influences that affect advertising creativity in
the agency’s everyday work and that add an interesting perspective to the study of
advertising creativity: conflicts among the participants, control exerted by the
participants on the process, budget, deadlines, the assessment criteria of each
participant, personal motivations, power struggles, mistrust, etc.
7.2. Johar, Holbrook and Stern: how does the creative team generate an advertisement?
Taking into account the fact that the process of creation of an advertisement takes
place in the context of external restrictions such as budget, deadlines, client strategy
and satisfaction, Johar, Holbrook and Stern analyzed how a creative team composed
of a copywriter and an art director created an advertisement71. The chosen
methodology is similar to the one used by Kover. However, the difference lies in the
fact that these authors elicited participants’ statements in real time, whereas Kover
registered retrospective opinions from copywriters concerning internal communication
about the project72.
Five creative teams from a New York advertising agency volunteered to
participate in the study and received money in return. Each team consisted of a
copywriter and an art director who were based to working together in the design of
advertisements. The specific materials for this test were used on a marketing case
called Sodaburst. The task was to create an advertisement for a new and imaginary
product, a sort of soda ice-cream, with the brand-name Icy Soda.
70
HIRSCHMAN, Elizabeth C., op. cit., p. 42.
JOHAR, Gita Venkatarami, HOLBROOK, Morris B. and STERN, Barbara B., The Role of Myth in
Creative Advertising Design: Theory, Process and Outcome, Journal of Advertising, Vol. XXX, No. 2,
2001, pp. 1-25.
72
Cf KOVER, Arthur J., op. cit.
71
12
Through the system used by Johar, Holbrook and Stern, how teams generated
ideas could be observed. Thus, every participant began by reading the documents
given to them and, at the same time, some ideas began to emerge. At this point, the
creative effort focused on the advantages this product had. Both art directors and
copywriters also tended to work on some preliminary ideas, both verbal and visual.
During the second phase, when they were again together, participants shared
and assessed their creative proposals. In some cases, they develop an idea together
and both designed the verbal and visual elements. Some new ideas also appeared
during this second stage when the participants began to draw outlines and write some
possible texts. At the end of this stage, teams would write down other additional ideas
for future consideration.
Again, in the third stage, there was no clear division of tasks. Both art directors
and copywriters dealt with visual and verbal elements and generated headings, texts,
etc. Some new ideas emerged during this stage, and only at that moment did the team
select an advertisement. Finally, when the teams came back to work together in the
fourth stage, they briefly discussed all the ideas that have been individually taken into
account, although they continued to look for an idea to work on exclusively.
The final advertisement was chosen in the first stage by three of the teams, by
only one team in the third stage, and by one team in the fourth one. Four of the
advertisements that were selected at the end were designed by copywriters, and only
one of them by art directors. Both members of the team constantly discussed not only
the visual elements, but also the textual elements and the final outline. Sometimes
elements coming from previously discarded ideas were adapted and used in the text of
the final advertisement.
Another general remark made by Johar, Holbrook and Stern is that creative
people seemed to share mental patterns. In other words, all the teams chose certain
elements from the creative briefing and several themes appeared in all the products.
The authors admit that their research results were subject to the influence of the
methodology they used. At the end of this test, retrospective interviews were carried
out and it was shown that some of the participants felt constrained when having to
simultaneously work with a partner. Besides, deadlines, the absence of the product, the
non-existent relationship with the client to settle clarifications, the lack of a computer
and the nature of the product were regarded as detrimental to creativity.
8. Conclusions
This paper is a review of all the research done on advertising creativity throughout the
publishing history of the Journal of Advertising. The material presented here leads to
the conclusion that there is much to be done within this field of study, because, as
Zinkhan stated in the introduction above, and as has been shown, the study of
advertising creativity has not provoked sufficient research interest.
From my point of view and based on the new trends in the observation of
creativity, it is the lack of interest in the professional environment which has limited the
scope of research: agencies need to know how to improve their creativity, but from the
academic world we do not know how to provide them with answers.
In terms of psychology, new trends have emerged to address creativity from a
multidisciplinary perspective and, for example, organizations where innovation is a
value take advantage of its conclusions. Therefore, considerable work remains to be
done to bring about a closer integration of both academic and professional domains in
terms of advertising creativity. And it is because of this that I think that it has to be
advanced from lines of research that deal with creativity as an interactive process
which responds to several factors.
It is obvious that there is no magic solution, or a perfect formula, that positively
solves the problems associated with to the study of advertising creativity. However, the
proliferation of studies where the goal is to include the different variables that have an
13
impact on the agency’s advertising creativity, along with an objective which takes into
account the interests of both the academic and professional worlds, will help shed
more light on this phenomenon and perhaps increase critical interest in research on
advertising creativity.
14
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17
Evolution of Articles on Creativity in Journal of Advertising
Scientific Production on Advertising Vs. Production on Creativity
18