“…the study also shows that very few people nowadays (7%) are getting information from a single media platform. In fact, nearly half of Americans (46%) claim they get news from four to six media platforms on a typical day. And while TV is still the biggest source of news (78% of Americans say they get news from a local TV station), Internet sits at second place (61% of users get news online), ahead of radio and newspapers. Interestingly enough, relatively few people — only 17% — claim they read news in a national newspaper such as The New York Times or USA Today.”

These numbers show how important it is to create a diverse media strategy that will reach your target audience. Even when online exploded and everyone was rushing to move all of their budget to the web,  the better strategy would recognize all audience touchpoints, however small, and leverage them as advertising stepping stones to help drive the the audience to their final destination. Back in the day, you used radio to drive people to your print ad for more information. You used that print ad to drive people to your website or to order more information by mail.

It seems that whenever a new tool is introduced, whether that be the Internet, social media, or beyond, the corporate world rushes to capitalize on the technology of the moment, leaving the old trusted ways behind. It’s only after the dust settles that they re-evaluate their media strategy and realize it needs to be diversified.

The bottom line: don’t be swayed by new technology. Incorporate it if it makes sense, but don’t leave your trusted ad methods behind.

Increase intrinsic task motivation:

• Engage team in the project from the start
• Match individuals/team interests to specific projects
• Provided freedom on how creatives like to work
• Leverage multi-skilled, diverse teams as a means to share knowledge
• Encourage support, public recognition, value ideas regardless of where they come from, encourage collaboration and input at all levels and across levels
• Allow freedom in what to do, when to do and how to go about accomplishing it

Decrease the detrimental effects of extrinsic motivation:

• Reasonable deadlines to allow for Exit Five thinking
• Provide sufficient resources, including facilities, equipment, info, funds, people
• Make it safe to fail
• Promote experimentation
• Be appreciative of other’s opinions, ideas and contributions
• Know when to impose controls and when not to
• Create a mechanism for considering new ideas
• Give clear direction on a job
• Avoid inappropriate evaluation where everyone is a creative director

Producing a predictable response is quicker and costs the client less in terms of time spent. But where does a predictable idea get you? Not too far. It doesn’t serve the client nor the creative team who was forced to produce.

Think about it from your perspective as a consumer. How many commercials, ads or even marketing messages do you actually pay attention to? Out of those, how many do you remember the brand involved?

More importantly, as the creative person behind the predictable idea, how likely are you going to want to work on that client, or any other project, again if the results are going to be the same?

Now think about the ads you like, look forward to seeing again, and quote to your friends. This is the stuff of champions. The campaigns that grace the awards annuals show what this industry could be everywhere, instead of a chosen few agencies and clients who are willing to take the time to be better.

Stay tuned for the last blog in the series: Part 6: The Bottom Line

1. Identifying the job – what challenge are we trying to solve
2. Preparation/Research – do we have the info to proceed
3. Generating Ideas – have we minimized negative constraints
4. Validating your ideas – does the idea jive with what we know
5. Outcome – are you finished or do you have to restart the process?

I previously discussed the anatomy of creativity consisting of 3 main elements: domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills and task motivation.

Task motivation is your attitude towards the job. It plays a large role in job identification, specifically matching the project to a team’s interests and engaging them from the outset. It also plays into how much “play” you experience while generating ideas. The success of the project feeds back into your task motivation for next time.

Domain expertise includes knowledge about the subject/client you are working with, and technical skills in your particular craft. This expertise is particularly important at the beginning of the project, where you are using your market and client knowledge to determine strategy, branding, and messaging, and after brainstorming when you are validating your ideas.

Creative skills includes having a cognitive style and way of working that are conducive to idea generation, and an implicit/explicit knowledge of ways to come up with novel ideas. These skills are particularly important during the idea generation stage.

Social Context Influences

Social context plays a large role in your task motivation. The following chart outlines the positive and negative aspects in your organization and beyond.

Stay tuned to the next blog in the series: Part 5: Creative Outcomes

Domain expertise includes knowledge about the subject/client you are working with, and technical skills in your particular craft. This often depends on the cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities that you were born with, combined with the formal and informal education you have attained over the years.

Creative skills includes having a cognitive style and way of working that are conducive to idea generation, and an implicit/explicit knowledge of ways to come up with novel ideas. These skills are built through training, experience in generating ideas, and the personality to make it all work.

Task motivation includes your attitude towards the work itself. It is based upon your internal motivation, the presence or absence of extrinsic constraints, and one’s ability to cognitively minimize these limitations.

So what does that all  mean?

Think of intrinsic motivation as having those feelings of “play” and enjoyment while working on a given task. This ideal state tends to occur when:

• the project matches to your interests and preferences
• you enjoy the process as much as the outcome
• you are interested, involved, curious, and see it as a positive challenge
• you have freedom
• you can cognitively minimize external constraints
• you have the proper resources, encouragement and organizational support
• you have past successes to spur you on

Extrinsic motivation include factors that are intended to control performance, much like the Taylorism point of view. These factors are goal-focused and, ultimately, detrimental to creativity.

Stay tuned to the next blog in the series: Part 4: Framework of Creativity

Creativity, however, can only occur during a state of primary process thought, when the brain is calm and not aroused. One has to be able to defocus his/her attention and enter into a daydream-like state.

Today’s 24/7 world is constantly pushing our cortical activity towards the red zone of mental and physical collapse. Traditionally, people would resort to drinks after work as a way to cope and decompress.

Research shows that isolation from stimuli is more effective than trying to bury it with outside substances. According to research, creative people are particularly sensitive to irritating stimuli or physiological over-reactions, since they easily and freely move between the two modes of thought.

Less creative people, those with a much narrower focus, tend to get stuck in the middle of secondary process thought. Tests show that the company of a group during conceptualization (brainstorming) actually increases levels of cortical arousal due to the threat or presence of judgment, thus decreasing overall creativity.

Stay tuned for the next blog in the series: Part 3: The Anatomy of Creativity

This 6-part series will explore creative people, creativity and how best to manage both in the workplace.

Ask almost anyone in the ad biz about creatives and they’ll be quick to tell you that they are a breed onto themselves. I would have to agree. After all, I am one and have been for over a decade.

My years of experience in monitoring (and participating in) the clashes between suits and creatives in the workplace led me to research why these stereotypical dynamics exist. This series will let you in on what I found.

Why does it seem that creative people are different? Because they are. They aren’t different because they are creative. They are creative because they are different. (You may need to take a moment and read that last part again; it’s important.)

Creative people are often described as:

• Unpredictable
• Unreliable
• Morose
• Hostile
• Arrogant
• Know their worth
• Impulsive
• Think they’re always right
• Out of control
• Have extensive knowledge networks

How did we get here?

In the 19^th century, creativity was seen as a weakness in the brain, and was often likened to psychoticism. (Well that’s comforting.)

By the industrial age, the idea of scientific management (or Taylorism) was born. This concept, used extensively in factories, was based on increasing productivity by identifying and replicating the “one best way” of organizing the tasks involved in making a product.

This approach separated “thinking” from “doing”. Thinking jobs went to management, while the routinized or doing jobs went to the people on the factory floor. Subsequent management theories were all measured by time, efficiency, skills, units and other production-related measurements.

It wasn’t long before a new trend started to emerge. Dynamic Duos were popping up everywhere. Hewlett & Packard. Wozniak & Jobs. Lennon & McCartney. Weiden & Kennedy. Smith & Wesson. It seemed that two guys in a garage beat out multi-million-dollar corporations 99 times out of 100.

And so the ideas economy was born. Advertising agencies were the first real clash against traditional scientific management principles. How do you get more out of the human imagination?

Two types of ad agencies emerged:

The first, was the ideas-driven agency. They valued the unpredictable nature of creatives and soon found that the work attracted like-minded clients. It was a win-win.

The second type of agency was more focused on service, and didn’t stray far from the Taylorism point of view. This agency model de-skilled creative to improve speed, lower margins, and improve service to clients. These agencies tended to offer a menu of services to avoid, at all costs, the business of ideas.

Stay tuned for the next blog in this series: Part 2: What is Creativity?

These days, they are hit or miss. I remember the “Toronto – You belong here” jingle

it came out around the time that Toronto and surrounding areas lost power for 2-3 days. People were wandering the streets in the dark. That’s a miss.

Ontario Tourism’s jingle, on the other hand, makes me swell with pride and sing along. I like how they alternated each commercial with different singers and footage of Ontario. If I didn’t live here, I’d visit.

The recent Greenbin campaign in Ottawa leveraged the talents of a local group to come up with a song that encouraged O-towners to put it in the Greenbin. I like it. It’s catchy and informative. All I need now is my greenbin.

By far, my favourite jingle campaign has got to be Free Credit Reports. I think they are not only catchy, but tell you a little slice of life story each time that you can totally relate to. Here’s the one about the car:

But for now, the only tune I’m singing is Canada’s national anthem each and every time we win a medal. Go Canada go!

I think the difference lies in Google’s extraordinary reach. Who doesn’t already email through Google, search through Google, chat through Google, analyse their website traffic through Google, share documents through Google … shall I go on?

With so many different social media vehicles being born every month, users are being overwhelmed with how to aggregate it all. Google has the advantage of already being part of most people’s daily routines, and a reputation for smart technology. Not to mention, Google is one of the most powerful companies in the world.

If it’s from Google, it’s bound to be useful … right?