Book review: The Case for Creativity
By Mike Hutcheson,
I lament the publication of James Hurman’s book, not because it isn’t
bloody good (it is), but because the eyes that should see it are blind
and the ears that should hear its message are deaf, if it does reach
those eyes and ears at all.
As Harry Potter knows, Muggles outnumber Wizards by about ten to one and, unfortunately, it’s the Muggles in the world who control the money and therefore have the power of life and death over investment in wizardly, if esoteric, things like creative advertising.
And that’s the problem. The ultimate controllers of advertising budgets are more concerned with ROI than cut-through, because their brains and training have taught them to measure what ‘is’ rather than what ‘might be’. They’re like sailors who chart their course by looking at the ship’s wake rather than the horizon.
Hurman has brought together compelling arguments, illustrated and supported with graphs and statistics, demonstrating the success of businesses that have shown creative courage and delivered not just improved sales performance, but improved share price too.
Already I can hear the Muggles saying “It’s OK for BMW or Nike, but we don’t have a budget that big!” Anticipating such responses, the author has used the success of some ad guys in Melbourne when selling a BMX bike on eBay. They bought it for $27.50 and sold it for five times as much after hyping it up with a bit of creative storytelling.
Again the Muggles will bray “But they spent $1000 of creative time to gain $100!”, which is a bit like finding a spelling mistake in a love-letter.
It’s the principle of the thing that’s important. In a competitive market of parity products, value can be added by applying thought and care that pings something out of the pack.
That’s good business and that’s the case for creativity. The trick is to get the message through.
Comments
Mark Graham
Mike - you had me right up until you used advertising agencies as your 'creative' example. Agencies are amongst the most inherently conservative organisations there are - witness their witless attempts at getting their heads around interactive marketing and the internet in particular.
David MacGregor
My view of the book is quite different to Mike's (on the Stoppress blog in full and abridged in this month's NZ Marketing magazine http://www.stoppress.co.nz/news/2011/06/on-the-bias-david-macgregor-reviews-the-case-for-creativity/). My view is that Jame's argument doesn't quite hold water.
The example of the BMX bike is a terrible one. The message is simply 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' - 'there's one born every minute'. This is the era of openness and transparency. Hyperbole and bullshit don't cut it it with people.
Using the 'Muggle' analogy seems to reinforce a view that the people who buy our clients' products are lesser beings than our magical selves as we conceive 'creative' executions from the towering spires of Hogwarts.
Mike's views seem to me to be antiquated thinking in the era of relevance, simplicity and utility. True creativity is to make yourself useful with products and services that delight by answering real world problems.
Creating aesthetically wonderful ads can sometimes result in disappointment and disaster. Nothing kills a bad product quicker than good advertising.
The Great Unwashed Joe Bloggs (Your Client)
Gosh Mike. We must really ruin your lovely creative day.
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