For marketing purists, there is something deeply romantic about the scenes in Mad Men where Don Draper is pitching one of his bold campaigns to a client, explaining each creative decision in evocative terms and leaving his audience in an entranced state.
Draper didn’t talk about the number of impressions an advertisement would produce. He talked about the lasting impression it would leave.
Producing memorable ads and content requires investing in creativity, and there are signs that financial decision makers aren't seeing enough value to allocate the necessary budget. Why is this happening, and how can marketers change the narrative? In our upcoming episode of Live with Marketers on January 28th, we’ll help you make the financial and data-driven case for creativity.
Is Marketing Creativity in Crisis?
So argues Peter Field in his investigative IPA report, The crisis in creative effectiveness, which is one of several pieces of research informing our premise. A similar case is put forth by Orlando Wood in his book Lemon, which we featured on this blog last year.
“In the last 15 years, advertising has become flatter, more abstract, more rhythmic, more self-conscious and more reliant on the word. It has become devitalised, dislocated from time and place,” Wood told us in a Q&A. “Advertising has become literal and didactic.”
Don Draper would be spinning in his fictional grave.
What has led to this troubling shift? There are a number of factors, each understandable enough on its own:
- Increasing short-termism, with performance marketers challenged to show fast results
- A shifting focus from traditional to digital media
- Continual difficulty measuring the true value and profitability of creativity
- Changing relationships between companies, agencies, and consumers
It makes sense that marketers in general have been pulled away from a creative focus, with all these trends converging and disrupting the discipline. But in doing so we are sacrificing some of the most enjoyable and fulfilling parts of the job, while also potentially doing a disservice to our bottom lines.
Consider this: Studies show that powerful creative can help businesses generate 10-20x more sales. Creative that falls on the low end of a five-star scale (1 ⭐ ads) have been shown to generate ~0.25% points of market share, compared to those on the high end (4-5 ⭐ ads) generating 2.5% points of market share. And just what defines high-scoring creative work? A combination of five characteristics working in unison:
- Characters
- Emotion
- Storyline
- Fluency
- Music
By joining us for next week’s show, you’ll learn how to maximize and monetize creativity by putting these characteristics into practice.
Join Us for Live with Marketers: Cashing in on Creativity
On Thursday, January 28th at 11:00 AM PT (2:00 PM ET), LinkedIn’s Tyrona Heath will be joined by two fellow leaders from the B2B Institute, Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg, for an in-depth and interactive discussion on our award-winning talk show, Live with Marketers. The host and panelists will unpack some of the research supporting the financial benefits of creativity, and share actionable guidance on realizing them.
You’ll come away from this episode ready to make a strong case to leadership for investments in creativity, as well as a practical strategy for making those investments count. You don’t want to miss this one.
Register now and we’ll see you next Thursday!
