If you look at the successful companies out there right now, they are all about building a creative culture that breeds innovation and performance.
Amazon, for example, has an incubator that is entirely focused on innovation. Their ethos is to be customer-obsessed; so, the incubator thinks of far-fetched ideas that would make the customer experience better. No idea is too out there if it meets a customer need by making the experience frictionless. Later, they figure out how to make those ideas a reality. For example, drone delivery.
Creative Breakthrough
A few years ago, Proctor & Gamble completely disrupted the men’s grooming category by reviving a dying brand with breakthrough creative.
Old Spice was the brand young men saw as their dad’s or grandfather’s aftershave. Axe owned the young man, positioning their brand as having sex appeal for the every-guy. Then, in 2010, Old Spice came along with “The Man You Could Smell Like” campaign, featuring Isaiah Mustafa.
The video went nuts in the first week, getting over 40 million views and becoming the all-time highest viewed “branded” channel on YouTube. To keep the momentum, Procter & Gamble and the Old Spice team did something incredibly brave: they went live, responding to social media with 168 videos created over two days.
The brand kept expectation high while everyone waited for what the next great ad would be. Videos featuring Fabio as a challenger to Isaiah or former NFL player, Terry Crews, acting as a musical instrument in “Muscle Music”; all of them dominating YouTube and the conversation on social media. Everything Old Spice did went viral and completely stole the consumer’s attention in that category.
With that came product innovation and share of shelf with line extensions. Within the first six months, sales went up 27% and the first video made over 1.4 billion impressions. Sales more than doubled in the first year.
Looking Outside the Box
In the world of marketing, creativity is about taking fresh and imaginative ideas, then turning them into reality.
It’s solving problems in unexpected ways never considered before, and venturing beyond the familiar. It requires a brave heart and unwavering conviction.
You might be thinking, “That’s great for the big guys like P&G, Google or Amazon who have a gagillion dollars to play with…but I’m an entrepreneur, at time living on a hope and a prayer.”
The principles are the same: Innovate or die, out-think, don’t outspend and zig while everybody else is zagging. In short, be creative.
Challenge yourself to look at everything you do with these principles in mind. A more creative display ad often pulls more engagement, a more creative video will be less skipped, a better-designed package with great copy will drive on-shelf decisions, photography with a higher degree of creativity will build a stronger brand affinity, innovative distribution channels will increase sales, a smarter more intuitive user experience can build online sales and customer-centric insight-driven content will develop a following.
However, it’s not just the agency that should be creative. If creativity is a shared value, there will be a higher chance of success. If you think about it, Procter & Gamble had to put a lot of trust in their creative agency and hold hands in the process.
So, here are some things that you, as an entrepreneur, can do in your organization to encourage creativity. First, have fun. Try monthly screen-free innovation sessions that are like what digital startups call hack-a-thons. Pizza, chips and candy always go a long way to making them a success. Bring in people who make creativity their business like a chef, magician or a comedian and have them talk about their process. Get them to talk about your business. It may be unconventional, but it could dislodge some thinking blockages in your organization.
Better yet, ask your staff for ideas that would encourage creativity in the workplace with the purpose to grow your business. You’ll get the best out of your team when you involve them and value their insight. That’s the secret to creativity; great ideas can come from anywhere.