Creativity Makes Advertising Effective Essay

This essay aims at exploring the impact of creativity in advertising and how creative advertisements are more effective in communicating to a target audience. It looks at how creative ads have more impact and how consumers react when the message is delivered in a unique and new way. It particularly focuses on the value that a creative ad can imply for a brand or a product and how it can contribute to strengthen corporate brand image. How a creative ad can build consumer brand loyalty and change his or her mentality towards the firm and strengthen brand loyalty. The first part of essay talks about creativity in advertising. What is creativity in advertising and how does it impact the corporation and how it impacts a consumer. The second part of the essay deals with the investment strategies that different corporations employ in making a creative commercial. the different approaches and marketing strategies employed with the funds available . We also try and understand if it is justified if the clients need to invest their resources and faith in the creation of a â€Å"Big Idea‘ . Does a creative ad guarantee success of a product and how it affects sales of a product or brand. Lastly the negative implications of creativity in advertising as to how it sometimes can be misinterpreted and mis communicated. Creativity in advertising In the advertising industry, the use of creativity is to define a solution to a problem, being new and relevant with your ideas. It is a tool to develop a message which will influence the attitudes and behavior in a persuasive or imaginative way (Bell J, International Journal of Advertising 1992). Creativity in advertising makes advertising more presentable to a consumer. It is a more approachable method of getting the message across to the consumer. On a day to day basis the consumer is bombarded with communication messages throughout the day. Most of the advertising gets filtered out or ignored as they do not communicate the message in a persuasive manner. Its mainly happens when the advertising is mainly used as a tool to educate the consumer about the product. An audio or visual form of media is used to explain about the product, the product features and promotions. When the advertising is not presented in a exciting form to the consumer it is obvious that the consumer will not be excited about the product. This leads to a stagnation of commercials as most of them deliver the same message for similar products and that ends up being presented as a clutter effect to the viewer. Impact of creativity Communicating in a unique message, is virtually impossible, as markets are crowded with the similar products therefore execution and use of creativity become powerful marketing signals. As most brands in a product line would have similar characteristics and product features it becomes very important to present the brand in a new and different manner. Creativity makes advertising more powerful that’s results in immediate effects on brand perceptions (Dahlen M , Rosengren S and Torn F, Journal of Advertising Research 2008) . Creative advertising makes the brand more interesting and exciting, which enhances the consumers perceptions of brand quality (Stockholm School of Economics, Dahlen M , Rosengren S and Torn F, Journal of Advertising Research 2008). It can be argued that creativity differs from person to person and depends on , the individuals lifestyle , mentality and perceptions . Therefore for a commercial to be creative it has to firstly be original or novel and the second fact is that creativity has to be multifaceted The degree of creativity that is expressed in the ad builds the image of the brand in the minds of the consumer (Koslow S , Sasser S , Riordan E , Perceptions in Advertising Agencies , 2003 ) . Often the most provocative and controversial commercials can catch the attention of the consumer and makes the consumer inquisitive about the product or the service and would be influenced by the social critique to experience the brand . Unless the commercial has a unique presentation the consumer will not invest time in completing the commercial. The visual representation of the brand in a advertisement expresses one form of emotion by which consumer is influenced pre purchase and can associate with the brand post purchase . It builds brand equity among consumers which provides a physiological value to customers by enhancing their interpretation about the product and influences future purchase decisions and satisfaction . Creative advertising campaigns provide international brands to sustain market strength and internationality. Creative ads give imagination and substance to the product. Often there is a tug of war between the clients and creative’s with the use of creativity in a commercial. As clients make huge investments for a campaign they expect the commercials to be educative and persuasive. As there is no real form or method of measuring the degree of creativity or the impact of creativity most clients which have limited budgets set for a campaign do not expect the agency to make a creative and innovative ad(Charnock W, The End of ‘Think Global, Act Local’: Big Ideas Are Global , 2007) . As not all corporations or brands can afford to make huge investments in advertising by constantly using media forms to build brand retention and awareness among their consumers therefore it is vital that there is line drawn as to what kind of creativity sells and what does not . As the flipside of an creative ad is that it may not make any sense to the consumer. The commercial may not have a connection between the creative idea and the utility and features of the product. A international master brand like Coke cola had a annual budget of $2. 6 billion in the year 2006 (Coke-Cola Company ,2010) . They have the liberty to bombard consumers with commercials to sustain brand retention and loyalty throughout the year whereas the same cannot be said for a smaller organization which would have a limited budget for marketing and advertising purposes. Smaller agencies who work with clients with limited budgets or clients that are under the radar are the ones who can work on creative ideas as taking risks is acceptable when compared to other competitors in the market . They have a need to influence the consumer in building apperception about the product or service. Creativity can also become unfashionable when the reliance on novelty and originality at the expense of relevance makes the advertisement vulnerable to perceptual filtering of the message, which may actually reduce effectiveness (Bottomley P , Heath R , Nairn A, How Effective is Creativity?  Emotive Content in TV Advertising Does Not Increase Attention, 2009 ) . Especially for international campaign creativity has to be restrained and controlled as different regions with different cultural and religious backgrounds may not interpret the message in a similar way . As advertising plays with people’s emotions and perceptions, advertisers must be very shrude not to hurt the sentiments of the consumer. Also at times the creative team in a advertising agency tries to be too clever by making commercials where the message and connection towards the product is either irrelevant or makes no sense at all. This can have a negative impact on the brand and the corporate image of the organization. Conclusion Creativity does not ensure the success of the product in terms of sales and neither does it add any value to the product. However creativity is a powerful tool to entice consumers and mould a positive attitude and mentality towards a brand or a service. Very often it’s not the message, but the way that the message is delivered makes a lasting impact on the viewer which affects his perceptions and beliefs towards the Brand. From an agency’s perspective creativity is advertising is beneficial to both the client and the consumer . Creative advertising helps build brand loyalty , a positive perspective in the minds of the consumer towards the organization . Creativity enhances the utility and value of a product in the eyes of a consumer. Most creative commercials influence the consumers’ mentality to make emotional responses compared to a rational approach when evaluating a product. This is vital for any brand to grow, sustain itself for a period of time and also influence new target audiences. Not too many clients approach ad agencies with a open mind about the use of creativity in advertising. The more the use of creativity in advertising the more value we get as advertising professionals. The more the use of creativity in commercial the better the results in adding value to the product and building a brand . Creativity gives product a brand image, a sense of uniqueness. The choice offered to consumers in terms of brands for a product is endless; therefore it is essential that your brand or product stands apart from the competition. This can only be achieved by using creativity in advertising.