Wednesday 28 March 2012

BETA is supporting creativity

Research is killing creativity. At least that's what I'm told and honestly also sometimes what I experience.

Overall I salute research used the right way, because it will add new knowledge to your work. At Advance we have over and over again been sitting and watching consumers or decision makers talk about a topic or evaluate products or ideas in focus groups. And almost every time  we end up with a crucial insight that can help us create even better solutions. Most creatives at advance appreciate this and they are the first to participate and I have seen great campaigns created with inspiration from a focus group.

The challenge with research is that it very often becomes the conclusion that dictates the direction of the creative work or even worse the specific solution. And it almost becomes the formula that creativity is based on. And even though I believe we need to make solid results and deliver effect I believe rigid formulas will kill creativity. Not a surprising stand point from an advertising guy, I know.

Fortunately the digital era has introduced the concept of being in BETA - making a solution and then launch it and see what the reaction is and then adjust and correct. It's possible in a digital world, because the cost a of launching is small and the time it takes to get feed-back and adjust is short. And to me it's a gift to creativity, because it allows you to try your best idea(s) and see the reaction - live and in the real environment and context.

BETA is in my mind also a way for clever marketeers to run a risk without jeopardizing the entire marketing investment - 20 years in advertising tells me that you need to run a risk to make truly inventive ideas. And the way I know creatives through 20 years - they all want to make ideas that will have an impact and effect, so BETA is a way of optimizing the impact of their ideas, without killing it. But it also requires an ability to kill your darlings if nobody is reacting to it - save that piece for the art club.

So, in my mind BETA is a gift to creatives and marketeers alike and I'm looking forward to get more BETA experience at Advance and in the industry.