What is Creative Strategy?
Geeta Sundaram
Ex-Ogilvy, Brand Strategist & Creative Director/writer, over 20 years in the business; open to relocating anywhere
The idea for this article was triggered by posts I have been seeing on LinkedIn about creative strategy. In these posts, they invite “expert answers” from industry professionals on various aspects of creative strategy. It is amazing that many people in the advertising, brand communications and marketing industries seem to think that it is a separate discipline like account or brand planning. I think that’s because LinkedIn itself seems to treat it as a discipline or a function, from the kinds of questions that are posed to members. I did write a post on LinkedIn to clarify the matter, but I think a longer and fuller explanation might be necessary.
Then, there are others who think it is that part of advertising and brand strategy that deals with brand personality, tone and manner, and even creative ideas. And still others who probably think that it is a capability that requires creative as well as strategic skills. They are perhaps close to the answer, but not for the reasons they think.
The best way to think about creative strategy is as the last link in the long chain of strategies that finally connects directly with the consumer in advertising communication. By long chain of strategies, I mean the marketing strategy that flows from the business strategy, the brand strategy that flows from the marketing strategy and the advertising strategy that flows from the brand strategy. Creative strategy is the way a business communicates about its products and brands to the consumer.
Therefore, another good way to think about creative strategy is as an integral part of advertising strategy, the other part being media strategy. Within the advertising strategy therefore, creative strategy sets the direction and vision for how advertising and brand communications will build the brand in consumers’ minds. A typical creative strategy will have target audience, brand positioning and brand promise or proposition as the three cornerstones, and will articulate how advertising and brand communications will build the brand in the target audience’s minds in creative communications terms.
At Ogilvy Advertising, we had a section in the OMI strategy blueprint format that said exactly this: How advertising will build the brand. This is what creative strategy is.
Of course, creative strategy will depend on all the other strategies that lead to the advertising strategy and it would vary depending on where the brand/company is in the business/industry and what the communication objectives, therefore are. Just so that readers understand clearly, I shall share a few examples from my long career and experience in the advertising industry in India as well as from brand strategies and campaign ideas that I have been sharing on my blog.
In the early 1990s, Seagram the world’s second largest wines and spirits company set up business in India. Nobody knew of the company, though everyone knew of some of their iconic brands, such as Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, The Glenlivet, Martell Cognac, Mumm Champagne, etc. Our strategic advice at Ogilvy Delhi was that Seagram ought to present and build its credentials in India through its best-known international brands, even though they were not being introduced in the Indian market just yet. This was the advertising strategy of a corporate campaign and the creative strategy was to connect Seagram with those iconic brands in as compelling a way as possible. This creative strategy was meant to make Seagram stand for something unique and special in India, since all the whiskies they were launching in the Indian market were prefixed with Seagram in their brand names.
In another case, from a completely different industry, we had Modi Xerox as a client at Ogilvy Delhi. Here, the marketing and communication task itself was different, in that the company and the brand required concept-selling of photocopying as an office automation tool that will enhance business efficiency and productivity. The marketing strategy was to grow the market from scratch almost, and the creative strategy part of the advertising strategy was to communicate with key decision makers in companies, using situations and examples from their daily business routines to convince them of the superiority of photocopying documents vs cyclostyling in those days! Convince through comparing what is with what it could be, with Modi Xerox in the office.
In my brand strategy recommendations for Pernod Ricard (who acquired most of Seagram’s business at the turn of the century) which I have shared on my blog, the creative strategy is that Pernod Ricard builds its corporate brand by helping consumers become more knowledgeable and discerning about the wines and spirits they consume. Pernod Ricard becomes a sort of guide to consumers as it shares its “savoir faire in fine living”. And part of this is also continuing with the responsible drinking message that Seagram had made a tradition of, worldwide.
Below, you can see these and some other examples telegraphed for a clearer understanding.
From the few examples above, it is clear that creative strategy being part of advertising strategy depends hugely on what the marketing strategy of the company or brand is, and its standing in the market. In the case of JLR, I would like to add that it has remained a separate company and division owned by Tata Motors and ought to therefore fall in line with what Tata Motors and the larger Tata Group themselves stand for. JLR ought to build its corporate brand on the positioning of ushering in cleaner, connected and shared mobility, which in creative terms I have expressed as “arriving future perfect”.
In the case of Rolex and Sony too, a little explanation might be in order. Rolex is already a leader in the Swiss wristwatch industry and the time has come for it to play a much larger role in the industry and in Swiss business itself. The creative strategy for Rolex which is to connect Rolex, the tradition of time-keeping, and Switzerland into one cohesive whole will help it assume that larger role and become a champion of Switzerland itself, while still being a global wristwatch market leader.
As far as Sony is concerned, I have shared my brand strategy and idea recommendations for them on my blog which requires a big shift in the way the company sees itself. In my opinion, the company has focused for too long on their consumer electronics business alone, when the world has moved so far ahead into the realm of online entertainment and news content consumption and streaming. For decades, Sony has been sitting on a goldmine of music and movies content as well as news and sports that they have neglected; my recommendation is to integrate all these offerings to reposition Sony as the media and entertainment giant of the world that helps make magic.
I am sure many readers will wonder who should work on creative strategy. Is it the job of account/brand planning, or the creative department? In the old days at Ogilvy or indeed at most other large and established advertising agencies I worked for in India, there was no account or brand planning department at the time. Creative strategy and all of advertising strategy used to be a collaborative team effort between account management and the creative heads on the business. I would think that this is how it ought to be, because it does need to reflect the creative direction or vision for the brand in its communication. Therefore, even in advertising agencies with account planning, the creative strategy ought to be the responsibility of the creative director. It helps to think of advertising and creative strategy as the step that leads to the creative brief, which is a sort of springboard for the creative team to be able to take a creative leap in terms of ideas.
There will also be readers who might wonder where marketing-related data and an understanding of the market features within creative strategy. I would say that most of the market-related data regarding industry, competitors, and consumers would already be factored in at the marketing and brand strategy stages. This is because the main strategic decisions regarding market size, consumer segments, pricing, target share, etc. are made during these stages of strategy. Therefore, the advertising strategy being distilled from the brand strategy ought to have incorporated all the relevant details. Advertising and creative strategies are about communication at this last and final stage and ought to have the relevant market understanding factored in, to the extent necessary.
After all, if one were asked to defend a creative strategy recommendation, one would have to cite all the relevant market information and understanding in order to convince marketers that it’s the best way forward.
Does creative strategy change from year to year? No, ideally it ought to remain the same for at least five to six years, maybe longer, depending on the particular brand/company and its position in the market as well as in its own brand lifecycle. Companies don’t change their marketing and brand strategies for years on end, and it ought to be the same with advertising and creative strategies. Consistency pays, especially when you’re still getting the brand established in consumers’ minds and lives.
That said, the same creative strategy can lend itself to different creative ideas and campaigns. Should the need arise, say, due to fatigue factor or any change in the competitive scenario, one can refresh the advertising idea or campaign while still sticking to the same creative strategy. This is often how car brands advertise their vehicle models: within the same strategy for a particular car model, campaigns are revised or refreshed every year or two, or with every new generation of the vehicle that is launched.
To sum up, what creative strategy is
To clarify, what creative strategy is not
The next time anyone says something about creative strategy or asks you about it, always clarify the question for yourselves first: You mean, how advertising will build the brand?
The featured image at the start of this post of a ladder reaching into the sky and directing us, is from Pixabay.
This article was first published on my blog on August 8, 2024.