Creativity is not garlic.

Published 02.01.2013

Ask a French chef what creativity is, and he’ll tell you, “it’s not Garlic”. It’s not about adding flavour. It’s about doing something new, different and compelling.

It’s about connecting the dots.

That’s what I was told in a great lecture with Rashad Tobaccowala. Great guy. Genius.

Rashad argued that creativity is joining the dots. I nearly agree completely. He says the dots 3 years ago were: Sound, Video, Pictures, Words and Places.

Today it’s the same dots with added layers of Social, Participation (co-creation), Mobile (and mobility) and API (connections).

Where I fully agree is that he argues that we are now in the phase of ‘next generation’ story telling’. Great phrase. He went on to argue some great points which are worth considering when creating…

1. No-one chooses by numbers. They choose with their hearts. FACT.

2. Numbers don’t win. Imagination wins.

On that I fully agree. Numbers and logic have their place in activating sales and getting customers over the line, or even at the beginning of a sales process drawing them in – but there’s no creativity in numbers. And a brand can always be beaten on price… the key is storytelling in a way that connects with the heart of viewer – whether it’s B2B or B2C. The rules are the same.

We live in challenging times. With new norms. We have to stop thinking the same way as everyone else. We have to face the facts that as agencies, our clients aren’t behind their competition any more. They’re behind their audience. The audience is driving the change. Brands are simply trying to keep up.

That segmentation is dead. And aggregation is king.

It was a very compelling discussion. But I still argue this. Creativity can be seen across many dots. Or just one brilliantly simple, compelling media or channel. It doesn’t have to be shared to be brilliant.

It just has to be brilliant.