What Clients want - Post 4

Back after a refreshing weekend of rain (c’mon, its good for the grass), and onto Insight 4

Insight 4 - Creativity comes from anywhere and everywhere

The communications industry is the only industry I can think of that has a specific “creative department”.  I find this an incredibly narrow and restrictive shackle on our industry as by definition, what comes out of this department is “creative” and what the rest of an agency does is merely to support this; ergo every other department is not “creative” in itself or its output.

Digital as we know is not simply about communications; it is merely a platform which all departments within a Client have to deal with, be this marketing, sales or operations. To solve business problems, you have to be creative.  As I mentioned in earlier posts, I feel that in the digital world Agencies have to get closer to, and address, business problems rather than simply communication problems.  This is why for an Agency, defining a department which deals primarily with communications as being the only “creative” department in their set up is plainly misguided.  Its a factor of digital companies following traditional agency structures rather than building a business around solving the Client problems themselves.

When I worked at heresy, we had a simple idea that marketing was simply about the removal of barriers along the customer journey to make a purchase/repeat a purchase.  Only some of these barriers were communication issues.  If we could remove a barrier - any barrier and not just a communications issue - we saw this as a way of helping buyers buy.  The opportunity to remove a barrier was a creative opportunity.  Which is why it wasn’t just the creatives who came up with ways to remove barriers - it was the planners, the account men and the receptionists who were creative as well.

An example in digital would be that whilst I get hundreds of Agencies talking to me about flash ads, only one that I can remember has asked me about improving my shopping cart experience and looking at abandoned carts.  This is all about immediate lost sales, its a big business problem, a big barrier to purchase.  But digital agencies are too immersed in traditional communications models to recognise this.  Which is why creativity must come not just from a creative department, but also from anywhere and everywhere in an Agency to help solve the Client’s business problems.