CREATIVITY OR EXPERIENCE? IT’S AN EASY CALL
July 13, 2009 by Jason
Filed under CONTRIBUTORS BLOG, JAY'S MARKETING VIEWS
by Jason Miletsky
I was recently involved in a debate with a small group of marketing people in which the following question was posed:
If you had to choose between two employee candidates, one of whom has experience but is not very creative and the other who is very creative but lacks experience, in general, which would you select?
There’s no question: go with the creative person every time.
Creative people see the world in a different way. They can provide solutions that may not always be obvious, and can push a brand in a direction that it may not have considered otherwise. Creativity can open doors, and get other people thinking more productively. In a brainstorming situation, they can take a bad idea and make something useful out of it.
What?!? Did I just dare say that someone in the world can actually have a bad idea? No, no, no – we don’t allow that here. There is no such thing as a bad idea!
Bullshit. One of the problems with marketing and one of the reasons why agencies have allowed themselves to become commodities is because they continue to buy into this PC fantasy that there is no such a thing as a bad idea, because heaven forbid we hurt anybody’s feelings. But the reality is that yes, there are bad ideas – plenty of them:
- Re-branding Tropicana OJ earlier this year – Peter Arnell thought it was time to take the image of the orange with the straw in it off the packaging, and build the brand around a very generic look and feel. Inside of two months, Tropicana’s sales dropped about 20%. Bad idea.
- Anyone remember mLife, from AT&T? They spent tens of millions trying to push that term into our vernacular, and failed. Bad idea.
- A few years ago, some cartoon decided to promote itself by placing Lite Brites with wires sticking out of them near bridges, tunnels and major buildings in and around Boston, causing a panic and shutting down the city. People at the agency were arrested, fines levied and the profile of the cartoon wasn’t raised nearly enough to make up for the damage. Bad idea.
- In 2005, Snapple tried to break the record for the world’s largest ice pop by erecting a 10 ton version in New York City. In the summer. During a heat wave. Apparently, nobody told them that ice melts in the heat, and Union Square had to be closed off by fireman after the streets turned into a sticky mess. Do I have to say it?
But creativity is funny that way. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and everyone wants to be a part of it. If I mention to people in mixed company that I’m working on the marketing for a certain brand, inevitably there will be one or two people that say, “hey, I’ve got a great idea for a commercial for them.” Like it’s just that easy. No knowledge of their audience, budgets, goals – as though anybody could be a creative director. Somehow, you don’t get a lot of people picking up a baseball mitt and thinking they could play shortstop for the Yankees. And you don’t see a lot of people rushing to the accountant’s office to try and help them balance the ledger. But when it comes to creative, everyone thinks they’re qualified for the job.
As long as we continue to promote the concept that everyone is creative, and that there are no bad idea, we’ll continue to devalue what true creatives bring to the table. Creativity isn’t just about coming up with ideas, it’s also about understanding how those ideas can be executed, whether they have legs and can be sustainable over a period of time, who the intended audience is (not just the end user, but also the individuals that will sign off on it), how it should be positioned, and how it relates to the overall brand.
Real creativity – the kind that is actually worth paying a salary for, is rare. Experience is wonderful, but given the option, I’ll take the truly creative candidate any day.
Popularity: unranked [?]
The problem with creatives is that are often egotistical and impossible to work with. Finding a real creative talent isn’t that hard, what’s hard is finding one without a chip on his or her shoulder.
Experience, on the other hand, can streamline processes. Personally, my own experience has paid off ten-fold, because I’ve been able to see pitfalls and roadblocks coming up that people with less experience would have blindsided by, saving us time, money and aggravation. Creative people often want to ignore any upcoming issues that would ultimately get in the way of their “vision.”