Creativity in advertising
Whenitworksandwhenitdoesn’t
Havardbusinessarticle
Key to success in advertising
“Nothing is more efficient than
creative advertising. It is more
memorable, longer lasting, works
with less media spending, and
builds a fan community faster.”
- Success mantra by
Stephen Vogel
CCO of Ogilvy & Mather Germany
Are creative ads more effective
in inspiring people?
Creativeadsgetmoreattention
Creativeadsleadtopositiveattitude
towardsproduct
Creativeadvertisingismorememorable,
longerlasting,Workswithlessmedia
spendingandbuildsafancommunityfaster
What is creativity?
Creativityisadivergentthinking
Theabilitytofindunusualandnon-
obvioussolutiontoaproblem.
Dimensions of creativity
Flexibility
Elaboration
Originality
Synthesis
Artisticvalue
Originality
•Itmeasureshowuncommonoruniquethe
responsesare
•Addingelementsthatarerare,or
surprisingorthatmoveawayfromthe
obviousandcommonplace
•Istheadoutoftheordinary?
•Doesitdepartfromstereotypical
thinking?
•Isitauniquead?
Flexibility
•Theabilitytodevelopdiversepossibilities
orideasacrossdifferentlinesofthoughts
•Anadscoringhighonflexibilitysmoothly
linkstheproducttoarangeofdifferent
usesorideas
•Doestheadcontainsideathatmovefrom
onesubjecttoanother?
•Doesitcontaindifferentidea?
Elaboration
•Unexpecteddetailsorextendsimpleideas
sothattheybecomemoreintricateand
complicated
•Doestheadcontainnumerous
details?
•Doesitextendbasicideaand
makethemmoreintricate?
•Doesitcontainmoredetailsthan
expected?
Synthesis
•Blendingorconnectingnormallyunrelated
objectsorideas
•Doestheadconnectobjectsthatareusually
unrelated?
•Doesitcontainunusualconnections?
•Doesitbringunusualitemstogether?
Artistic value
•Aestheticallyappealingverbal,visualor
soundelements
•Customersoftenviewtheadsasalmostasa
pieceofartratherthantheblatantsales
pitch
•Istheadvisuallyorverbally
distinctive?
•Doesitmakeideacometolife
graphicallyorverbally?
•Isitartisticinitsproduction?
Quantification of each dimensions
(relative to the overall average
creativity of 1.0)
• Elaboration-1.32
• Artisticvalue-1.19
• Originality-1.06
• Flexibility-1.03
• Synthesis-0.45
Creativity combination that
work best
Application of creative
advertising in Indian market
Some examples
Airtel “Har ek friend” ad campaign
• Itwasoneofthemostcatchyviral-ad-
campaign
• Theadwasabletogathermore-thanthe
expectedfanfollowing
• Sopopularisthejingle,Harekfriendjaroori
hotahai
•Thebrandwasablestrikeachordwiththe
urbanyouth-amajorchunkoftheirtarget
customers
•Massivenumberofdownloads,status
updates,airtelsongsharinginsocialmedia
Amul Print ad campaign
•Amulhasmadeitselfthelongestrunning
printad-campaignintheworld
•Itfeaturesachubbyangelicmoppetwho
hasbeengracingIndianhoardingssince
1967
•Fromthepoliticalandsporty,tospicy
bollywoodscams,thebrandcreativelycovered
themall
•TheUSPoftheirproductinfittedinasubtle
sarcasticmanner
•Itkeepsconsumershookedandaskingfor
more
Vodafone Zoozoos
•Vodafonecreatedalieniccreatureszoozoos
whichwerecuteandhumorous
• theydeliveredmessagesaboutoneVAS
daily
• Waslaunchedin2009
•Adshelpedtoincreasebrand
consciousness,brandimageandsales
•Theycameupastreattomillionsoftheir
facebookfans
Flipkart
•Theonlinemarketingforumhadcomeup
withaninteresting,neverseenbefore
concept
•Itwasinordertocutacrossthefraudonline
marketingclutterandestablishtheirbrand
asareliableplatformforonlinesales
•Theconceptofkids
walkinginadults’shoes
•Kidsareshownin
variousset-upsand
discussingeasyshopping
attributesofflipkart
Pepsi
•Mainlytargetedyouths
•Itusesyouthicons-youngactors,
sportspersonasbrandambassador
•Usestaglines-“Hinglishtaglines”,to
createayouthfulbrand
Market analysis
Do creative advertisements
increases the sales of the product?
•Thelongerthecreativeadsareairedthe
moreimpactthecreativityhasonthesales
•Morecreativecampaignsaremoreeffective
•Arupeeinvestedinhighlycreativead
campaigns,onanaverage,nearlydoubles
thesalesimpactofarupeespentonnon-
creativecampaign
•Effectofcreativitydifferswithproduct
category.Itmayhavenoeffectoreven
decreasesalesinsomecases
Disclaimer
CreatedbySmritiMishra,
G.E.CRewa

Creativity in advertising