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When you think of an agency, you know creativity is a part of everything they do. It’s a must-have, else why engage with them?
But the creative journey or process is one that could differ from agency to agency or partner to partner.
Whether you’re looking for an innovative way to solve a problem, finding a new way to improve your brand’s messaging or designing new visuals; we all get thrown into the creative journey looking for these answers.
But the “creative process” is much more than a process, and it can only be understood if everyone is heading in the same direction.
To get a full insight into our creative journey when it comes to our in-house studio, we sat down with our Creative Director, Martin Lovegrove, to see just how it plays out according to our team of designers…
Martin comments: “At CWA, we’ve been lucky enough to work on all kinds of projects from large European shows to social media campaigns to international competitions; and each one of them has their own creative journey to achieve that show-stopping look and feel.
“Nearly every initial brief starts out the same… “We want something different.” But different rarely ever means different, it means different but familiar”.
Which is of course very hard to do and throws our creative team into the ‘incubation’ zone, or as Einstein would say ‘combinatory play’. The art of opening up one’s mental channel whilst dabbling in another.
Martin continues: “The best ideas often find you when you’re not actively searching for them. It’s when you are in the explorative stage when something completely irrelevant brings the idea you need straight to the front of your mind. Ironically, although our own values promote collaboration, this part is best-done solo.”
Taking on what Martin has said, with long-standing clients that you know on a deeper level, it’s hard not to just keep producing ideas that you know they like, but the comfort zone is not somewhere you want to be in an agency, ever.
Alternate campaigns and events provide our creative team with the motivation they need to keep producing out-of-the-box ideas. This motivation gives them the pride to create something that feels fulfilling personally.
When it comes to the creative team, it’s clearly important to establish a safe space for them to push and support each other to allow them to be ambitious with their suggestions.
When we pitched for Volvo Truck’s exhibition at the IAA (International Motor Show) back last year, the creative solution was bold, assertive and inventive. It combined creative flow with digital solutions and delivered a show-stopping space that perfectly demonstrated their brand messages around being net zero in emissions. You can read our case study around our IAA project here.
All of this was achieved through the knowledge of the client, understanding the brief, and our creative team knowing the trust they had to push themselves. And so, the creative process was thoroughly enjoyable but also more effective.
This is where collaboration comes into the mix. Everyone sings off the same hymn sheet, from our client services team to our media & communication department – interacting all the way through to the client’s internal team.
When you have established relationships with clients, there is already that trust in your abilities, but for new clients, it is vital that they understand how the creative team got from A to B.
Most people are nervous about change, so telling that story with a clear, creative strategy, using a layered approach makes it easy to understand and also for clients to be able to sell internally.
As we said at the top, creativity is everything we do at CWA – it’s in our DNA. Everywhere you look, that spark is needed.
A digital solution is achieved through creativity. A key message landing with a brand’s customers is achieved through creativity. Even our office manager getting the right biscuits in and pleasing everyone is a difficult task but achieved through creativity.
Blurring the lines between a chocolate bar and a biscuit is creative – it pleases everyone when someone wants a KitKat and someone wants a Digestive… it’s all a creative process.
Anyway, a Jaffa Cake… a biscuit or cake?
Have you got a project kicking off soon and need some help on the creative journey? Get in touch and see how we can support you.
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