3 - Creativity is King
While the importance of creativity in advertising is generally recognized, there is very little agreement on what the term "creativity" really means, except as an abstract emotional reaction to an advertisement. While the denotation of creativity is "the use of imagination" what most people mean by "creative" is that they find it appealing, original, or clever for reasons they cannot quite articulate.
Furthermore, it is generally assumed that what one person finds to be creative will also be appealing to others. In the worst of cases, an executive assumes his customers will like what he likes, or assumes that they will like. Even in the best of cases, where adverts are tested with a sample of individuals who are similar to their intended target market, there remains the assumption that what is appealing to one person will be appealing to another of the same general characteristics (not all Caucasian professional women in their mid-twenties are impressed by the same things).
Bad advertising can cost lots of money
Firms are primarily concerned with the response rate of advertising, but are indifferent to the large proportion of the audience who do not respond - and assume that they are neutral, which overlooks the possibility that an advertisement might have been repugnant to them and made them less likely to choose the brand in future.
The negative impression created by bad advertising is highly speculative, but is a plausible explanation for the diminishing success rates of advertising campaigns. Where the sales level out, it is assumed that the market has been exhausted of potential buyers when, in reality, the campaign might have convinced potential buyers to select a different brand.
In that sense, the loss that a company takes on bad advertising is not merely in failure to generate sales, but in a more long-term loss of prospects who have developed a negative impression of the brand, and who will not soon be regained.
(EN: I did a little digging on this, and the phenomenon does not seem to be well studied. There's general opinion that patently offensive advertising may turn people off of a brand, as well as case studies in which purchasing decreased during an ad campaign, but the connection seems rather tenuous and the details are scant.)
Creative advertising enhances (only) brand recall
It has been observed that creative advertising calls attention to itself, but draws attention away from the brand. That is, people recall details about a clever commercial but cannot remember the brand that was advertised.
The author speaks to research (Pieters 2002) which used eye-tracking and memory tests on subjects shown advertisements in a laboratory experiment, and it was demonstrated that more clever advertisements has positive effects: the customer devotes more attention to the brand in the advertisement and is better able to recall the brand at a later time. The author concedes that this has to do with recognition and memory, and does not necessarily translate into the attitude toward a brand or any associations made by virtue of the creativity of the ad.
A separate series of experiments (Till 2005) are mentioned in which the results above are echoed (clever adverts are more often recalled), and extended to asking questions about viewers' impressions of the brand and their intent to buy, which showed no statistically significant difference between creative and humdrum advertisements. Of course, the stated impression/intent is not reflective of actual behavior, and it's suggested that a single viewing of an advertising may not be sufficient.
(EN: Case studies, however, are a bit more convincing - but they are mixed. There are a number of well-known clever advertising campaigns [Taco Bell's Chihuahua, Joe Isuzu, and the California Raison claymation commercials] that produced no positive impact on sales over a long period of time, but other examples of clever advertisements that correlated to dramatic increases in demand. So the results are inconclusive as to whether clever/creative advertising is effective.)
Divergent or relevant?
The author mentions an article (Yang 2009) in which the notion of creativity was explored, and which suggested that divergence and relevance were key factors.
Divergence was defined in terms of five dimensions:
- Original - Containing elements that are rare, surprising, or unusual
- Flexible - The advertisement contains different ideas or an unconventional perspective
- Elaborate - Is relatively complex or sophisticated and contains unexpected details
- Synthesizing - Brings together ideas and objects that are not usually associated
- Artistic - Makes clever or impressive use of wording, colors, and shapes
A follow-up study is mentioned (Reinhart 2013) that considered these qualities in terms of their effectiveness in advertising and agreed that they were significant in creating a memorable impression. The study also noted that the most common qualities of advertising is flexible-elaborate whereas the most effective pairing (with almost double the impact) is original-elaborate.
Relevance is based on the degree to which the message is meaningful, appropriate, and valuable to the recipient.
(EN: And that's all he has to say on that topic - whether he expects it is self-evident or is unable to elaborate further. Relevance is a very significant topic in customer experience and likely deserves more attention - but in marketing, relevance is effected in one of two ways: it may mean starting with the message and asking "who might find this relevant?" or it may start with the target segment and ask "what might be relevant to them?")
Ultimately, advertising must be both divergent (to take attention) and relevant (to lead to action) in order to be successful. In psychological terms, divergence is equated to emotional impact and relevance to cognitive evaluation. It is not sufficient to do one or the other (a divergent ad catches attention but does not lead to action, and a relevant one would lead to action except that it fails to capture attention).
It's also suggested that the emotional reaction influences the way in which a message will be logically interpreted - in general, people look for correlation and filter information according to their initial impression. If the two are not in synch, few will attempt to resolve the conflict but will instead consider the advertisement to be irrelevant. (EN: This is a generalization, which varies by channel. A person might not pause to sort out conflicting information in a television advertisement but would be more inclined to do so in a printed advertisement because they are able to pause to reflect upon what they have seen.)
A third factor is also important: credibility. An advertisement gains greater attention when it is supported by previous experience - whether the viewer saw the product in real life (in use by someone else or in a store) or the advertising is multi-channel (television and print are more credible because people recognize that the company undertook significant expense, and is therefore assumed to be an established firm rather than a fly-by-night operation).
There's a final note about advertising leading people to "adopt a less defensive attitude" - meaning that while they are not motivated to purchase the brand right away, they will be more receptive to future overtures. This of course requires the advert to provoke a positive, rather than negative, emotional response.
Sidebar: What makes an advertisement a viral success?
The author suggests that 100 million views is the "magic barrier" in considering whether an advertising campaign using internet video (YouTube) can be considered to have gone viral, and provides a list of those that have done so.
What these videos seem to have in common is portraying a captivating, memorable, unusual, and creative concept such that it not only takes the attention of the viewer, but strikes him as something that other people might enjoy and would support the image of himself he wishes to project to other people.
Creativity and Effectiveness
Comparing the emotional impact of successful versus unsuccessful advertising campaigns indicates that it is primarily the emotional component that is responsible for the success of the advertising campaign. Though it may be noted that, per the discussion above, an emotional appeal without logical backing results in an advertisement that gets buzz but no buyers.
A later study considered 435 advertising campaigns over a 16-year period (1994-2010) and concluded that advertisements that win industry awards are also highly effective in getting "excess share of voice" - which represents the number of people who are talking about a brand but who are not purchasing it - at about twelve times the rate of non-award-winning campaigns. However, this excess share of voice is influential as a form of word-of-mouth advertising, such that award winners generate roughly twice as much growth in market share. And to go a step further, an advertisement that has won an award gets additional "buzz" after the award is conferred.
Sidebar: Qualities of Creative Campaigns
While "creative" remains vaguely defined, an evaluative study (Mazursky 1999) attempted to define some of the specific qualities that are demonstrated by award-winning creative ads:
- Symbolism - A pictorial analogy is used to emphasize the value of the product
- Exaggeration - Extreme and unrealistic scenarios are used
- Consequence - A demonstration (often exaggerated) of the negative results that will occur of the product is not purchased
- Competition - Demonstrating the strength of a product by showing it in comparison with another
- Experiment - Encourages the viewer to experience the benefits on the basis of an interactive or depicted experiment
- Dimension Shift - Playing with the dimensions of a product in relationship, in terms of its qualities or contextual relation in terms of time and space
Case Study: Snickers "You're Not You"
The author suggests that Snickers campaign is an example of how creativity works. In this campaign, a recognized celebrity is inserted into a normal situation and behaves in an exaggerated and irrational manner (and when given a candy bar, they are replaced by a normal person who acts in a typical manner).
The playful and humorous aspect of the advertisement contributes to divergence (evokes emotion and grabs attention) while the core message that being hungry is detrimental contributes to relevance (it seems logically plausible).
The author lists a few awards that the campaign won in the industry and cites and increase in buzz about the commercials as well as video sharing online. Moreover, it re-established the brand as the world's best-selling candy bar.