Creativity involves thinking then producing.
Intelligence has been defined as “one’s capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, planning, creativity, and problem-solving.”
Being creative doesn’t require the intellectual capacity to THINK. But THINKING CREATIVELY is required to devise an innovative business strategy, solve a problem with a client, or brainstorm new ideas. Creative thinking means that your brain is designed in a way that helps you solve problems, think up new ideas and experience those “a-ha” moments.
Use Creativity to Create Emotion
Albert Einstein understood the basics of how the world works. Not only at the molecular level but at the human level. And that is what advertising is about. Advertisers appreciate that people make purchases based on emotion. Therefore, emotion must be INVOKED in order for a consumer to transform into a customer.
Acquiring knowledge through one’s advertising is undoubtedly a necessity. Consumers want to make informed purchasing decisions. However, knowledge is NOT a replacement for the anticipated customer experience/feeling a product or service may provide.
At Invoke. Media, we are in the creative-ideas business. If advertising was more like mathematics and there was a simple and predictable flow to it, that would be remarkable. In mathematics, a couple of multiplication signs and the occasional square root, consumers can come to an absolute answer. But that just isn’t how advertising works.
Advertising works on understanding who your target market is, and appealing to their emotions.
Market research is performed, followed by the development of a persona, to which a business will position their product or service as the solution to a need. A persona is a fictional representation rooted in behavioral data and knowledge gained from getting to know your consumers on a personal level.
I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious. – Albert Einstein
Individuals who have a lot of questions make for a great advertising expert.
Curious people are those who FIND the important things that people who have all the answers tend to miss. Being curious increases your ability to see opportunities around you, to connect and combine ideas, to challenge assumptions, and to re-frame problems. These are KEY elements to creating an effective marketing strategy. One needs to know/appreciate what might move individuals into action.
Intelligence and Creativity Combined
Having said that, intelligence matters too. Intelligence demonstrates your ability to gather knowledge and effectively use it. Creativity is the ability to go beyond the intelligence frame and capitalize on seemingly random connections of concepts – by bringing them all together.
At Invoke, we pursue knowledge for the sake of understanding. It is what makes us so unique. Our collective brains function in such a way as to visualize any given situation from every possible angle. Our ability to “see” is why we are able to forge viable solutions. We envision YOUR vision. We then work backward from the solution to the need, allowing your targeted consumers to not only discover, but understand your solution to their need.