When it comes to "creativity", some investors and clients can suddenly believe that they're facing intuitive people with beautiful and crazy tactics, but that it's not "real" marketing. This is probably the consequence of a century of client/advertising agency relationship: on one side, you had the account executives, the serious guys, who sometimes invited the funny guys aka the creatives, to pitch ideas and better entertain the decision-makers.
But this time is dead. Fun is not really enough in tense markets, and in the meantime, the traditional rational guys actively look for new ways to convince and reinsure. Using Social Media is naturally a great step forward: listening is a support activity for diverse marketing objectives (understanding a dynamic consumer journey, following communities and getting some insights related to a brand or to an interest); whereas "engaging" is one of the most sought action for companies. At the end, Social Media allows us to measure, because we now leave digital footprints anywhere.
So what?
The connection between "out of the box thinking" and "providing rational argument" can be more and more structured, thanks to creativity marketing practice. The idea is not to oppose 2 groups of people, but to apprehend an objective in a wider perspective. Social Media broke static tools; for instance, market studies are worth it if they're used as a simple snapshop, but they need to be extended with online conversations' analysis, online test groups, to better refine and "get" what really matters: cultures. Engagement programmes are fantastic dynamic compasses, but they sometimes need to be plugged in to real life, handled by people who are not all corporate marketers but great experts in their fields.
How to better sell creative ideas then? Well, we had a conversation with ESCP Europe MMK students last Friday based on this presentation:
Join the debate and let's talk about this 5-step methodology!