Creativity in Advertising and Marketing

By Sydney Maxwell
​
As a Marketing major with a minor in Advertising, skills such as
creativity, innovation, and strategic thinking are vital to my success within
my course of education as well as my career after graduation. I have always
had a passion for coming up with new and unique solutions for every
problem I face; these competencies are what drove me to my current
education and career path. However, when I started my education, I was not
fully aware just how important the skills of creativity and innovation are in
the various fields of the business industry. While I assumed that advertising
required a lot of creative thinking, I did not understand the deep reach
creative thinking has in each of the other branches.

I am currently in a Marketing Communications and Strategy course and
each day we dive deeper in what it means to be successful in Marketing. My
professor, prior to teaching, worked with various major advertising,
marketing, and communications companies. Due to his strong creative
background he understands the best way for students to learn this
information is through the assignment of a semester long project. In this
assignment, we are taking on an individual company and repositioning some
aspect of their brand. Creative problem solving is essential for this task as
we are forced to think about a pre-existing company in a new and innovative
way. Throughout this project and various lectures, he pushes us to think
deeply through new processes to find the most innovative and creative
solutions. I have learned that creative thinking can solve even the most
difficult of problems, including budget and production issues. This has further
piqued my interest in the field and has made me excited for finding a career
in this industry after graduation.

Over the summer, I partook in a series of online Zoom lectures by
executives from a health and wellness company, Havas Health & You, in
place of a marketing strategy internship I was supposed to attend during the
Summer. Havas Health & You is a branch of Havas, a multinational
advertising and public relations company, and one of the largest global
advertising and communications group in the world. One of the key values of
this brand is creativity and innovation. I distinctly remember that their
opening seminar included a discussion on what types of people are most
successful within their company’s workforce-- creative, innovative, and
strategic thinkers. This ideal was further emphasized during each separate
lecture as the importance of these traits was necessary for every task and
position each executive discussed.

As we are progressing through this class and learning the various
methods of brainstorming and the creative process, I am reminded of the
similar processes the company uses when creating marketing strategies.
They discussed group brainstorming sessions where marketing strategists
and art directors would sit down together and fire out idea on how they could
best accomplish the task at hand using various modes of media while under
the restrictions of the tools and budgets they were given. Their ideas were
then researched before being evaluated by the company they were working
with. After this initial evaluation, the company would implement and execute
their plans and then reevaluate their successes and losses. If unsuccessful,
they would go back to the drawing board and begin all over with their
brainstorming techniques.

A couple of these lectures were held by executives that manage their
international brands and shared how when operating business in a different
country, there are cultural obstacles that their creative departments have to
overcome in order to effectively and appropriately communicate their
messages. This affects the channel of media chosen to convey the message
as well as details as precise as colors and fonts. The creatives in these
situations have to best educate themselves on the culture around them and
familiarize themselves with the way people from that specific country think
to best replicate what is considered creative. This innovative way of
conducting international business has given their company a huge leg up on
the global scale and has led to large successes within the global
marketplace.

Within the month I have been in this class, I have been challenged to
think in new ways and face new situations that I would have previously been
uncomfortable in. I am a very shy person and being thrown into class
activities where I have to think using creative problem-solving strategies
with a group of random students has greatly brought me out of my comfort
zone. It has shown me the importance of getting multiple opinions and
thoughts to give diverse perspectives on the problem at hand. It has also
shown me that creative thinking is a great way to get to know a group of
people and can ease tensions. I look forward to this class each day as I know
it will be a lighthearted and happy environment, making the perfect
atmosphere for creativity.