Duane B. Thomas, MBA
Marshall University / WV State University
CHAPTER 8
CREATIVE STRATEGY: PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
I.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most important components of an integrated marketing communications program is the
advertising message. It will be obvious to students that there are a myriad of ways to convey an
advertising message. However, underlying all of these messages is a creative strategy that involves
determining what the advertising message will say or communicate and creative tactics dealing with how
the message strategy will be implemented or executed. The focus of this chapter is on the development of
creative strategy while tactical issues are covered in Chapter 9. Attention is given to the creative strategy
development process and various approaches to developing the big idea that will be used as the central
theme of the advertising campaign and translated into messages.
II.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING
The creative side of advertising is one of its most interesting aspects. The creative strategy used to
communicate an advertising message is an integral part of the promotional process and is often critical to
the success or failure of the campaign. Numerous examples or cases can be cited of how a good creative
strategy was an important factor in determining the success of a product or service or reversing the
fortunes of a struggling brand. Of course there are also many situations where companies struggle to find
a creative formula that works effectively. These companies change their creative strategy frequently in
hopes of finding a campaign theme or tagline that strikes a responsive chord with consumers. Attention
must also be given to the issue of creative versus effective advertising as many ads may be critically
acclaimed from a creative perspective but fail to help the sales of the brand. Global Perspective 8-1
provides an interesting discussion of the Golden Lion awards given each year at the Cannes International
Advertising Film Festival for the most creative advertising in the world.
III.
ADVERTISING CREATIVITY
It is important to examine the concept of creativity, how it applies to advertising, and the challenge
marketers face in developing creative and effective advertising.
A.
B.
What Is Creativity?—Creativity is one of the most commonly used terms in advertising as those
who develop advertising messages are often referred to as “creative types” and agencies develop
reputations for their creativity. So much attention is focused on the concept of creativity because
the major challenge given to those who develop advertising messages is to be creative. Creativity
has been defined as “a quality possessed by persons that enables them to generate novel
approaches in situations, generally reflected in new and improved solutions to problems.”
Different Perspectives of Advertising Creativity—perspectives of what constitutes creativity in
advertising vary. At one extreme are the “suits” or “rationalists” who argue that advertising is
creative only if it sells the product or service. At the other end of the continuum are the “poets”
who judge creativity in terms of its artistic or aesthetic value and argue that creative advertising
must be novel, original and unique. The answer as to what constitutes creative in advertising is
probably somewhere between these two extreme positions.
We are concerned with advertising creativity, which refers to “the ability to generate fresh,
unique and appropriate ideas that can be used as solutions to communications problems.” This
perspective recognizes that creative advertising ideas are those that are novel, original and
appropriate. To be appropriate a creative idea must be relevant or have some importance to the
target audience. The “Universal Advertising Standards” (Figure 8-2) used by the former D’Arcy
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Duane B. Thomas, MBA
Marshall University / WV State University
Masius Benton & Bowles agency in assessing the creativity of the advertising created by the
agency should be reviewed as they provide an excellent check list for evaluating creative work.
IV.
PLANNING CREATIVE STRATEGY
Those who work on the creative side of advertising often face a major challenge. They must take all the
research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communication objectives and other inputs and transform
them into an advertising message. Their job is to write copy, design layouts and illustrations and produce
commercials that communicate effectively. Marketers usually hire advertising agencies to develop and
implement their advertising campaigns because they are specialists in the creative function of advertising.
However, it is important to point out that the development of creative strategy also involves
representatives from the client side and other people in the agency as well as the creative staff.
A.
B.
C.
V.
The Creative Challenge—The individuals who work on the creative side of advertising have the
responsibility of developing an effective way of communicating the marketer’s message to their
customers. The creative person or team is often provided with a great deal of input and
background information on the target audience, such as their demographics, needs and motives,
and communication objectives. However, every marketing situation is different and requires a
unique approach.
Taking Creative Risks—Many creative people in agencies argue that they often follow proven
approaches or formulas when creating ads because they are safe and less likely to fail. They note
that their clients are very often risk averse and feel uncomfortable with advertising that is too
different. It is important to note that companies who have very creative advertising are more
willing to assume some risk. However, many managers are more comfortable with advertising
that is straightforward in communicating with customers and gives them a reason to buy.
Examples of agencies known for taking creative risks, such as Wieden+Kennedy,
TBWA/Chiat/Day, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky might be noted. IMC Perspective 8-1 provides a
very interesting discussion of the debate over creative versus hard-sell advertising.
Creative Personnel—It is a fairly common perception that those individuals who work on the
creative side of advertising tend to be somewhat unique and different from those working on the
managerial or business side. It is worthwhile to discuss some of the characteristics of creative
personnel in advertising and the need to create an environment that fosters, and is conducive to,
the development of creative advertising.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
A number of advertising people have argued that creativity in advertising is best viewed as a process and
that creative success is most likely when some organized approach is followed. While most advertising
people reject and/or resist attempts to standardize creativity or develop rules or guidelines to follow, most
creative people do follow some type of process when approaching the task of developing an
advertisement. There are several models or approaches to the creative process including those of James
Webb Young, a former creative vice president at the J. Walter Thompson agency, which is similar to the
approach of English sociologist Graham Wallas. Young’s model of the creative process contains five
steps:
1. Immersion
2. Digestion
3. Incubation
4. Illumination
5. Reality or verification
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Duane B. Thomas, MBA
Marshall University / WV State University
Wallas suggests that creative thought evolves in four stages:
1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification
A.
B.
C.
Account Planning – To facilitate the creative process, many agencies now use account planning
which is a process that involves conducting research and gathering all relevant information about
a client’s product or service, brand, and consumers in the target audience. Account planning plays
an important role during creative strategy development by driving the process from the
customers’ point of view. Planners work with the client as well as agency personnel, such as the
creative team and media specialists, to discuss how information they have gathered can be used in
the development of the creative strategy as well as other aspects of the advertising campaign.
Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation/Incubation/Illumination—These models of the
creative process offer an organized way of approaching an advertising problem. Both models
stress the need for preparation or gathering of background information that is relevant to the
problem as the first step in the creative process. Various types of research and information can
provide input to the creative process of advertising at each stage. There are numerous ways the
creative specialist can acquire background information that is relevant to the advertising problem.
Some of those discussed in the text include:
1. Background research—informal fact-finding techniques and general preplanning input.
Various ways of gathering background information might be discussed.
2. Product/service specific research—this involves different types of studies such as attitude,
market structure and positioning, perceptual mapping and psychographic studies.
3. Qualitative research input—this type of input includes techniques such as in-depth interviews
focus groups, or ethnographic studies. Qualitative research can provide the creative team with
valuable input, particularly in the early stages of the creative process. IMC Perspective 8-2
discusses how creative personnel in agencies feel that their creativity can be stifled by
research techniques such as focus groups and consumer surveys. Many marketers and
agencies prefer to use observational or ethnographic research to gain insight into consumers.
Verification/Revision—The purpose of the verification/revision stage of the creative process is to
evaluate ideas that come from the illumination stage, reject any that may be inappropriate, and
refine those that remain and help give them final expression. Some of the techniques used at this
stage include:
 Directed focus groups
 Message communication studies
 Portfolio tests
 Pretesting of ads in storyboard or animatic form
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Duane B. Thomas, MBA
VI.
Marshall University / WV State University
CREATIVE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
The creative process of advertising is guided by specific goals and objectives and requires the
development of a creative strategy or plan of action for achieving the goal. Creative strategy development
actually begins with a thorough assessment of the marketing and promotional situation and a
determination of what needs to be communicated to the marketer’s target audience. Creative strategy
should, however, also be based on a number of other factors that are stated in the creative or copy
platform.
A.
B.
C.
Copy Platform—A copy platform provides a plan or checklist that is useful in guiding the
development of an advertising message or campaign. This document is prepared by the agency
team or group assigned to the account and may include creative personnel as well as the account
coordinator and representatives from media and research. The advertising manager and/or the
marketing and product manager from the client side will also be involved in the process and must
approve the copy platform. An example of a copy platform outline is shown in Figure 8-3 of the
text.
Advertising Campaigns—Most advertisements are part of a series of messages that make up an
IMC or advertising campaign, which consists of multiple messages, often in a variety of media
that center on a single theme or idea. The determination of a strong idea for the campaign theme
is very important as it is the central message that will be communicated in all of the advertising
and other promotional activities and thus sets the tone or direction for the development of the
individual ads that make up the campaign.
The Search for the Major Selling Idea—An important part of creative strategy development is
determining the central theme that will become the major selling idea or big idea for the ad
campaign. There are several different approaches that can be used for developing major selling
ideas and as the basis of creative strategy. Some of the best known and most discussed
approaches include:
1. The unique selling proposition—this concept was popularized by the famous copywriter
Rosser Reeve’s in his book Reality in Advertising. It’s three characteristics include:
 each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer
 the proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not offer
 the proposition must be strong enough to pull over new customers to your brand
2. Creating a brand image—some competing brands are so similar it is difficult to find or
create a unique attribute or benefit so the creative strategy is based on the development of a
strong, memorable identity for the brand through image advertising.
3. Finding the inherent drama—the famous ad man Leo Burnett, founder of the Leo Burnett
agency in Chicago, believed that advertising should be based on a foundation of consumer
benefits with an emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing these benefits. This type of
advertising bases the creative strategy on presenting the message in a warm and realistic way.
4. Positioning—the basic idea is that advertising is used to establish or “position” the product
or service in a particular place in the consumer’s mind. Various approaches to positioning a
brand were discussed in Chapter 2 (pp. 52-58) and might be reviewed again here. Many of
the top brands in various product or service categories have retained their leadership position
because they have established and maintained a strong position or identity in the minds of
consumers.
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Duane B. Thomas, MBA
Marshall University / WV State University
These approaches to determining the major selling ideas discussed above are very popular and are
often used as the basis of the creative strategy for advertising campaigns. These creative
approaches represent specific “creative styles” that have become associated with some of the
most successful advertising creative minds and their agencies. However, it should be pointed out
that many other creative approaches and styles are available and are often used in advertising.
Some of the creative styles associated with more contemporary advertising visionaries such as
Lee Clow of TBWA/Chiat/Day and Rich Silverstein of Goodby Silverstein & Partners are worth
noting. The challenge to the creative team is to find a major selling idea and use it as a guide to
the development of an effective creative strategy.
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