Right now, at this very moment, this book is changing your brain.
It is a small change, but as you continue to read, it will become a larger and lasting one.
Creativity is the quality that enables us to generate novel approaches to situations and to discover new and improved solutions to problems. Throughout history, creativity has been a powerful force for change. Compared to previous centuries, the pace of change has rapidly accelerated in the twenty-first century. Creative thinking provides us with the tools and skills needed to adapt and thrive in this fast-paced environment. Through creative thinking, we have the ability not only to understand change, but also to learn how to make it work for us. Better yet, we can even learn how to create the change that benefits us personally and professionally. When put into practice, creativity allows us to move beyond our accepted patterns of thinking and into the uncharted territory of new and innovative ideas. Creative thinking allows us to find solutions to problems—from what to serve for dinner at in impromptu get-together to how to eliminate abject poverty around the world. And, like any skill, the more it is used, the more exceptional, valuable and (dare we say) fun it becomes.
While creativity helps us individually, it also helps companies in the business environment. Simply maintaining a business is not enough to survive anymore—companies need to become more productive and, at the same time, stay competitive. Companies must embrace an active strategy to build and grow creativity, fostering it as an essential ingredient for obtaining success. For many companies, creative thinking has become not only a tool for strategy but also a key factor in discovering new ideas that will differentiate them from the competition, be it through product design, new services offered or something beyond.
The emphasis on creativity within industries such as film, entertainment, advertising, music, performing arts and architecture has allowed several experts to become leaders in creative thinking, and many are seeing a renaissance that has enabled them to weather economic turbulence. In recent years magazines have started to highlight creativity. Major trade publications, like Advertising Age and Creativity, as well as business magazines like Fast Company and INC, feature annual rankings of the most creative individuals and innovative organizations.
The advertising industry, in particular, has been the source of many research findings about creativity. Not exclusive to advertising, the growing need for applied creativity in all business environments makes the characteristics of creativity relevant to all forms of communication, from traditional marketing to interactive and social media. As a communication discipline, creativity has long been considered the driving force of the advertising industry. According to researchers, creativity is “arguably the most important aspect of advertising,”1 with some claiming that creativity is the mission of the entire advertising industry, its raison d’être. Industry magazines and conferences focusing on the practitioner’s point of view agree that creativity is a power that can save a whole industry from ruin (Iezzi, 2006). Creativity in advertising has been defined as “being new and relevant with your ideas.” Some argue that advertising creativity is a form of creativity different from the concept of creativity. Creativity in advertising is also regarded as creative problem solving, constrained by marketing objectives, competition and the organizational hierarchy, among other things.
This book is the result of a significant paradigm shift in the marketing and advertising industries. Creativity is no longer under the sole proprietorship of copywriters, art directors and designers. Susan Credle, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett in Chicago, describes this change by saying “if you’re going to do great creative [work], you can’t be a creative department. You have to be a creative agency. I think that’s asking every single person to do their job creatively.” Based on interviews conducted with top creative executives, every employee is expected to be visionary, brave, generous, confident and curious, independent of job description and discipline.
Thanks to rapid advances in technology and a liberated understanding of the benefits of how and where creativity can be applied, creativity has transcended the form of a quality applied to individuals or industries to become a highly sought-after skill, a corporate value and way of thinking that is driving innovation and businesses today. Within the marketing, communication and advertising industries, traditionally considered to be creative industries, the conversation regarding the need for creativity at all corporate levels has intensified. David Droga, founder of Droga5 knows that without creativity, society would lack innovation. “Creative intelligence is crucial … it’s the creative people who instigate everything,” says Droga. This innovation is becoming increasingly difficult. Mark Hunter former creative executive at Deutsch LA expressed the need for his agency to remain revolutionary instead of reactionary: “Everything needs to be interactive. Whether we like it or not, all other forms of communication are becoming two-way.”
Additional industry experts describe another shift. Edward Boches of Mullen in Boston says, “We’re not in the words-and-pictures business anymore; we’re in the business of building our client’s business, and creativity is the strongest asset you can have to do that.” The leading creative agencies in advertising and marketing in the United States are acknowledging that they are not just creating advertising anymore but are actively helping their clients to solve their business problems and create value through product development. According to Marshall Ross, chief creative officer at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago, it is important for agencies to recognize that the definition of creativity needs to be very open. “It isn’t just how you are putting words and pictures together. It is about how you are thinking about strategy; how you are thinking about measurement; it’s how you are thinking about where the intersections between this idea and audience lie.” He adds that it is also about influencing the client’s ability to develop products. “If we don’t bring creativity, we don’t bring surprise or novelty to readjust the positioning or product development.”
Changes in technology and advances in scientific research in the past decade have not increased our creativity per se, but rather have provided additional insights into how creativity can be improved. One of the most important findings of the past half century is that creative thinking is a skill. Like any skill, creativity is ours to possess, practice and master. Like any ability, it can be neglected or, through dedication and work, strengthened and honed into a powerful skill. This book is designed to help you do just that.
As the knowledge and benefits of how to enhance creativity have grown, the myths surrounding the creative process have been deconstructed. The democratization of technology and the fact that creativity can be learned and practiced have created a shift for creative thinking. It has moved from the domain of industries such as advertising or the fine arts to become a core discipline within mainstream education that can enhance both the learning process and the practitioner’s ability to think in new directions. With both industry and education converging and modernizing the concept of creative thinking, creativity has become known as a skill that is highly beneficial to all people and gives practitioners a competitive edge.
Compared to other academic disciplines, creative thinking has a relatively short documented history. From Alex Osborn’s initial exploration of the creative thinking process at the advertising agency BBDO in the early 1940s, to the current breadth and scope of academic courses, conferences and even dedicated higher education programs focused on creative thinking, our societal perceptions of creative thinking have undergone a very important change. The ability to think creatively, to develop ideas and to find solutions is beginning to receive universal recognition as a required skillthat will make world economies more competitive and students brighter and provide humankind with the answers for the challenges of the future.
While creativity, and the creative thinking that inspires it, is on a trajectory to become the quintessential component of success and customer connection in the future, the threat still exists that creative thinking is too playful to be taken seriously, too risky and too time-consuming to be invested in—especially in the minds of busy students, overwhelmed educators and cash-strapped companies. Hopefully together we can change their minds.
This book is a testament to the importance of creative thinking as a skill and as an investment in future economic and personal success. The goal of this book is to provide not only a complete understanding of creative thinking as a core discipline within the context of the current changes to the advertising, marketing and business industries, but also to connect academic knowledge and professional practice. The book will help readers to better understand and evaluate the quality of creative thinking as well as the creative process of transforming creative ideas and thoughts into effective business solutions. This book also teaches creative thinking habits and ways to communicate your ideas that strengthen your ability to succeed in competitive environments.
The market needs a holistic approach and a fresh perspective. While I understand that creativity is a broad and complex topic, twenty years of teaching creativity has confirmed that it is possible to study it, learn it and look at it holistically. Even though creativity is highly complex and influenced by many factors, this book uses a structured conceptual model called “The 4Ps of Creativity.” Based on extensive academic research, this model provides a lens with which we can look at the interconnected aspects of creativity, develop creative thinking techniques and habits, and apply them. When creativity is viewed through the multiple dimensions of the 4Ps—person, process, place and product—this complex subject, which cannot be understood via one dimension alone, can be addressed in a systematic way.
The book consists of three main parts. The first, and arguably the core of the work, represents theoretical frameworks and insights that examine what creativity is, how it works and how we can apply it in our daily lives. The second part represents the insights of experienced professionals; in most cases chief creative officers, founders and partners in some of the premier creative advertising agencies in the United States. These agency executives have won numerous awards for their outstanding creative work and are respected experts within the domain of advertising, marketing and communication. These award-winning agency executives share their knowledge, expertise and experience related to managing for creativity and mastering creativity in their respective organizations. The insights of these professionals help add a perspective we can apply in many situations and industries beyond advertising. Lastly, the third part of this book offers real-world cases from numerous former students who have taken an undergraduate or graduate course in creativity, creative thinking and problem solving. Through personal essays they share their opinions and experiences concerning how they have developed the thinking and problem-solving skills they practice regularly and how they use those skills in their personal lives and professional careers.
However, how you use this book and the knowledge in it is most important. Creativity is a broad and complex topic that cannot be achieved through one-time workshops or quick fixes. Mastering the skill of creative thinking takes time, dedication and practice. It involves an active mind that will become more and more open to fresh ideas and seeing new ways of doing things. One can achieve better creativity and creative thinking only by making behavioral changes within oneself and the organizations one works in regularly. The perspectives of advertising executives and former students illustrate how everyone can use and practice the various topics of this book in different and very individual ways. Since not only one path to success exists, the interviews with agency professionals, as well as the cases of former students, invite you to read the book in a nonlinear way. I invite you to jump from one topic to another based on its connectedness to each testimonial featured in the book or as it feels most appropriate to your individual situation. Each interview and case includes cross-references that connect to the 4Ps of Creativity. Hopefully, you will be inspired by the framework of the 4Ps as well as by the many examples you can apply to your own personal journey. Use this book as a framework to begin building one of the most valuable life and business skills there is. When applied, creative skills will take you much further than the classroom or the boardroom and into a world of infinite possibilities and opportunities. It is time to develop thinking habits that lead to breakthrough thinking!