Creativity, the soul of advertising and branding – experts
By Felicia Nwosu
Advertising professionals have charged practitioners in the industry to harness and hone their advertising craft through creative ingenuity to help achieve a memorable and enduring impression in the mind of the audiences. They argued that advertisers are now seeking other alternatives and perspective to win bigger market share through creativity as a catalyst to change consumer’s negative perceptions towards a brand.
Marketing communication expert, Yinka Adebayo, Director, Buying Services, MediaReach OMD, stated that what innovation is to industry is what creativity is to advertising as well. He noted that advertising serves as a stepping stone to progress.
Mr. Adebayo charged creative agencies to ensure they come up with materials that are enduring, emotive and consumer-oriented.
Hear him: “You need to find a way to engage your audience; you need to find a way to connect with them emotionally because that is the only way they will begin to see value in your offering. And when they are paying for value, all other things become secondary.”
Similarly, another industry expert, Felix King, CEO at Oracle Experience said that creativity helps to embellish ideas. He noted that stories are not complete if the consumer cannot see himself in it, adding that this can only be achieved through creativity.
Mr. King went down memory lane, recalling a popular Guinness Extra Stout, tagline, “my friend Udeme was a great man”.
“The fact that both consumers and non-consumers of Guinness Extra Stout became so familiar with the advert due to the creativity imbedded in the message made it a masterstroke. The advert received a standing ovation, and became a winning campaign as the brand lost its original name to it when consumers nicked-named the product as “Udeme”, instead of Guinness Extra Stout. While others jokingly admonished their peers with the slogan, ‘there’s no drop of greatness in you’, teasingly to mimic the advert.”
This, according to these media experts, is one of the ways for an agency to know it has a winning advert, especially when the society and the target audience appropriate lines from the advertising message for their daily use.
On his part, Otis Ojeikhoa, Managing Director/CEO of Brands Optimal, who believes that creativity is the soul of advertising and branding, highlighted that creativity gives life to messages about products and services that may otherwise be boring or insignificant in the heart and mind of target audience.
His word: “Our industry is founded on the pillars and blocks of creativity; that is the core, the heart, and soul of our industry.”
He emphasised that without creativity, it is difficult to survive in the industry. He also added that beyond the product and brand, creativity is the wheel of the endeavour called advertising. Mr. Ojeikhoa encouraged agencies to weave creativity around their ideas so as to continue to attract creative resources.
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