Strategy Is the New Creative…

"Advertising looks fun and easy to do. So does playing the piano, Until you try it."
– Stavros Cosmopulos, Advertising Luminary

Strategy is the New Creative…

Perhaps the subject here is a bit of red herring (still love that term from Marketing 101 textbooks). Strategy may not be the new creative, but it drew you in the conversation! Then again, it’s 2010 and there are still some who would like to argue whether marketing is more art or more science. I’m straddling the fence on this one. It’s both.

A recent article in Newsweek entitled The Creativity Crisis is getting a lot of buzz. The authors state that American creativity is declining and there’s something we need to do about it. Perhaps – but what about strategic and critial thinking in a world where creativity alone just doesn’t cut it anymore. (and really, has it ever?)

As marketers, we all get exposed to A LOT of ideas. Some great, some not so great and all creative in their own right. Where creativity was once the hallmark of a great marketer, the next generation of super-marketer will be the strategist who knows how to employ creativity, and not the other way around.

In a world where we’re able to understand, define and target micro-audiences at any point in the revenue cycle across a growing myriad of channels we have not just an opportunity but an obligation to strategy. Creativity is now the price of entry. Sound strategy is the price of success.

Q&A | QUESTIONS & ACTIONS

Got a creative idea? What’s your strategy look like?