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Abstract
Creativity has been an important factor in communication over the past few decades, still limited research has been conducted that focused on the aesthetical part of the creative aspect of the industry. Through an initial phase of expert interviews, and a second phase of
comparing two of the main advertising award shows in Europe, Eurobest and Euro Effies, the study aimed to understand the effect and role creative trends have on advertising
effectiveness. This was done in an attempt to further bridge the academic-practitioner in advertising research, meanwhile providing in-depth understanding of the creativity vs. effectiveness debate in the practical field. The study was able to provide an up-to-date definition creative trends. It also was able to bring to light a few factors in-depth that are integral in the advertising world and creative trends; mainly the artistic and social trends effect on advertising, the role of client relations and corporate guidelines, the risk of doing creative work and the conflict of interest in the communication industry structure. Using the award analysis, the study was able to find that although an overlap of brands winning both effectiveness and creativity awards exists, it is not highly common. It also was able to indicate, through analyzing grand prix winners of both awards, that winning campaigns have at least one or more creative innovative techniques in producing their work. However for the grand prix winners, the available samples were too little to make any definitive conclusions.
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Although creativity could be considered the most important aspect of advertising, it still remains to be the least scientific (Reid, King, and DeLorme, 1998; El-Murad, and West, 2004). Creativity in advertising has even been considered in different disciplines in several sections of the advertising world, such as creativity in media choice for example (Dahlen, 2005; Dahlen, Friberg and Nilsson, 2009). However, this study focuses on the development of the central creative idea (El-Murad and West, 2004), and its production for TV.
Ad creativity has been defined differently throughout the years, whether with originality and appropriateness (Amabile, 1996; Kilgour, Sasser, and Koslow, 2013),
divergence and relevance (Smith, MacKenzie, Yang, Buccholz, and Darley, 2007) or novelty and usefulness (El-Murad, and West, 2004), yet most definitions carry the same notions; the balance between an original or imaginative idea, and delivering the effective target of being also useful or relevant (Smith, et al. 2007; El-Murad and West, 2004). This balance, to an extent, represents the struggle in ad agenices between advertising being both creative and effective (Kover, Goldberg, and James, 1995).
For the purpose of this study, however, the definition of ad creativity that will be used is one that is used by Reid, et al. (1998) in a study on advertising creativity, as "original and imaginative thought designed to produce goal-directed and problem-solving advertisements and commercials" (Reid, et al., 1998). While originality and imagination are attributes associated with other artistic practices, such as music or art (Reid, et al., 1998), ad creativity differs from art, in that it is usually aims to achieve objectives set by others (El-Murad, and West, 2004). This where the notion of effectiveness comes along, here described as goal-directing or problem solving. It might seem like creativity and effectiveness should be complimenting each other, yet the balance between creativity and effectiveness has been referred to as a "never-ending struggle" that at points can "seem almost antipathetic" (Kover, et. al., 1995).
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As part of studies on ad creativity, a single study by Kelly and Duke (1962)
highlighted the aspect of trends in print advertising copywriting, with an initial reference to styles and formats. This notion of trends was referred to as "fashion cycles", directly
explained as "jumping on the band wagon" by advertisers (Kelly, and Duke, 1962). However, the study only focused on copywriting in print advertising, through content analysis of print ads. The notion of trends in the creative part of advertising hasn't been discussed in research since then, to the author's best knowledge. However, trends in ad creativity could also arguably be transferred to other aspects of advertising that are constructed through artistic aesthetical elements, including TV advertising, which leads expenditure with 40% (Horsky, 2006).
The concepts of trends in general is not foreign to advertising practitioners (Kelly, and Duke, 1962). Even recently, Shutterstock, a leading provider of digital imagery licensing for commercial industries with over 350 million downloads so far (Black, 2014), started issuing an annual research on design trends. The company uses its downloads data to predict trends in photography, design, typography and even video trends (Black, 2014). These trends in creativity, could also have an impact on all parts that require creativity in advertising TV production, not only the central idea. This can include cinematography, music scoring, and other aesthetical parts of the advertising TV production process. Each part of these fields has its own artistic trends, with its own complex multi-levelled elements. This can be the
prominence of a certain music genre such as classic rock or a increase in a use of a certain cinematography technique such as the mockumentary technique.
As explained by Kelly & Duke (1962), advertising practitioners have recognized that notion, and observation of advertising over time can indicate the existence of trends in creative advertising. In order to understand these trends, it is important to understand the concept from the views of advertising practitioners, since they are the ones who are most
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familiar with the process of ad creation and what it entails.
According to previous studies, the experts of a certain domain in creativity are the ones that can indicate the value of an idea in that domain (Czikszentmihalyi, 1999), meaning that the experts in a certain creative field should be the most capable in judging it. This premise supports looking into advertising awards for reference for example, which use advertising practitioners as judges (e.g. Eurobest, 2013; Effies, 2014). Several of these awards have been used in studies to study concepts of advertising creativity (Smith et al., 2007; Kover et.al, 1995; Verbeke, Franses, Le Blanc and van Ruiten, 2008). On a separate note, other studies interviewed advertising professionals directly in order to get insights on the industry (Taylor, Hoy and Haley, 1996; Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009; Reid, et. al, 1998; Kover, 1995).
Collecting data from the professional field also addresses what has been referred to as the academic-practitioner gap that can be found in advertising (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2007; Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009; Gabriel, Kottasz, and Bennett, 2006). This notion addresses the gap between what academics researches and what is being practiced by professionals, suggesting that practitioners could have their own theories as well, that is autonomous in the practical field (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2007). Accordingly, addressing the practical world could bring academia closer to practice by understanding practitioner's knowledge through empirical studies (Rossiter, 2001).
The study therefore aimed to provide an up-to-date professional definition for what 'creative trends' should refer to in an advertising context, aimed to understand the roots of these trends and how they have an influence on advertising effectiveness. This was done through an initial phase of interviews of advertising practitioners to get insights on creative trends from professionals directly. The second phase was through qualitative content analysis of, and comparison between, winners of both types of advertising awards, effective and
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creative (Kilgour, et al., 2013), in order to provide real-life examples for the abstract notion of creative trends in an advertising context. This was done through an initial comparison of seeing if there is an overlap between effective and creative awards winners, and then seeing if grand prix winners of both adopt creative trends or attempt to break through the market's mould by diverging from the creativity in the market in at least one of the TV production aesthetical parts, which will be defined later.
Theoretical Framework
Understanding trends in creative work requires understanding both the creative process and how ads are created in the first place. The nature of the industry in general could itself be a contributor to the development and sustainment of these trends, so several aspects need to be highlighted in the beginning from previous research that can give an indication of why creative trends start and persist. Factors such as the associative nature of creative work (Reid, and Rotfeld, 1976; Mednick, 1962), the politics of ad agencies (Hackley, 2003a; Verbeke et al., 2008; Hirschman, 1989), and the risk of doing creative work (El-Murad, and West, 2003; Wang, Dou, Li, and Zhou, 2013) could all be possible contributors. Another aspect that could be influential is the impact of marketers, referred to as the client in the advertising world (Koslow, Sasser, and Riordan, 2006), on the advertising creative process. Another part of the client's influence that could be influential are corporate visual identity guidelines, provided by the client, that provide visual guidelines for advertising professionals for creating their work (Melewar, and Saunders, 1999).
The creative process and association
Research in creativity has focused on either of four premises, the creative person, process, product or finally, the creative press, namely the environment where the creative work is created (El-Murad, and West, 2004). To provide an example in an advertising
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context, the creative person is the creative director, copywriter or graphic designer. The
process is the ad creation process, whether ideation or production. The product is the ad itself. The press can be the ad agency, the city where the ad was created, the cultural context or any other environment that might have cues that can affect the work.
Since this research provides an initial view to the concept of creative trends in the modern advertising world, it needed first to provide an inclusive overview that provides a structure for advertising creativity research in general. The study then focused on the creative process, the effects of trends mainly, through asking the creative person, the advertising professionals, while examining the creative product, the content analysed through the advertising awards. The study also addressed the press notion, by sampling the experts for creative interview from different culture, something that is known to have an effect on advertising (Taylor, et al., 1996).
Advertising creativity differs from creativity in the arts because it is usually created to achieve objects set by others (El-Murad, and West, 2004). Yet, it is abides by the same structures of creativity that apply when it to originality and imaginative thinking (Reid, et al., 1998). Creativity, in a theoretical basis, has usually been discussed on as an associative activity (El-Murad, and West, 2004). Initially, The associative theory of creativity namely discusses creativity as the process of bringing together facts that might have seemed unrelated beforehand. (Mednick, 1962). That premise of association in creativity has also recognized by advertisers as being in the centre of ad creativity (Reit, and Rotfeld, 1976). The concept of associative hierarchies, which refers to the ability to bring remote ideas to provide a creative solution (El-Murad, and West, 2004), also has been a part of research in creative advertising.
In that manner, creativity has association in its core, which is the combining of elements in an associative forms to create new meanings through connections. According to
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Mednick (1962), ad creativity depends on the number of facts available to draw associations from. This could provide an explanation for trends, in the sense that if a certain advertising group works in the same environment, whether a certain agency or even city, they might draw connections and associations from the same elements. This also could be drawn to artistic points, if they follow a certain type of art, music, or tend to watch each other's work for references. This continuous work flow might therefore manifest as a trend.In that manifestation, TV ads use artistic elements, such as typography and music.
However, at a point, a repetition in a trend can lead to a kind of artistic saturation, which can easily transfer from the communication to the brand. Other than the initial point of the brand might become perceived as unoriginal, it can also lead to a saturation in the brand's image, making it harder for the brand to differentiate and position itself in the market.
Ad agency politics
In a complex creative business environments such as advertising, conflicts are bound to happen. This might happen whether dealing with clients (Koslow, et al., 2006), or working with a creative who is emotionally attached to his, or her, work (Kover, 1995). Furthermore, advertising is a business that tries to employ artistic elements to achieve business objectives. Although there has been a focus on expanding the role of research to be more effective in ad agencies since JWT's London office introduced the 'account planning' department in 1968 (Hackley, 2003b), there is still a debate on what advertising effectiveness means, since each department might have different goals to what being effective as an advertiser is (Wright-isak, and Faber, 1996).
The different goals could also differ from just being opinionated, but it could come from the structure of the agency itself (Hirschman, 1989), where each department aims to work on different factors. Creatives might aim to work on the aesthetical parts for example, while account managers might to deliver the businesses objectives. Without forgetting the
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role of the client, who has the final decision on what gets published at the end (Koslow, et al., 2006). This client might be driven by short term sales goals or be affected by their own management's expectations, considering the financial investment that goes into advertising.
Another part that is generally referred to by the client are corporate guidelines. Corporate guidelines provide the rules for the visual identity of brands (Melewar, and Saunders, 1999). This can include logo colours by code, font to be used for text and similar other visual attributes (e.g. Apple, 2013; KFC, 2010). All these guidelines derive on the notion of consistency to build brand equity (Farquhar, 1989), which is understandable from a marketer's point of view. However, this rule book, for a creative department that strives for only one rule; "there are no rules" (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009) can easily lead to conflicts between the client side, and the creative part of the agency.
These conflicts could be one of the reasons that could lead to creative trends, since as noted in previous research, advertising is a world that is fast-paced and where whatever works can "get copied by other agencies" (Brierley, 1998). In time of conflict, agencies could be able to resolve the conflicts through repeating work which has others have done and was successful, to avoid perception of risk by the client.. This continuation of copying over time could manifest as a creative trend, and then at a certain point lead to creative saturation in the market if the copying continues.
The risk of creative work
Risk in creative advertising has been a recurring subject in advertising research (Verbeke et al., 2008; El-Murad, and West, 2003; Wang, et al., 2013). It can be attributed to when the point creatives have to present ideas that they feel emotionally attached to (Kover, 1995), or where the client perceives the risk that he, or she, holds in supporting a creative concept (Koslow, et al., 2006).
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This concept of risk in creative work is easily understandable from the definition of creative advertising in the first place, being original and imaginative (Reid, et al., 1998). That means that being creative in advertising means going into uncharted territory, which can either be accepted or rejected by the client, or the consumers. On the opposing side, following a creative trend can mean following something that has been considered successful before to decrease perceived risk.
The academic-practitioner gap
A topic that have arisen in advertising research in recent years has been the gap between advertising academic research and the way advertising professionals work (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2007). This in constructed on the notion that advertisers might perceive academic research as detached from the advertising world, and doesn't include all the necessary variables to make decisions that can be practically implemented (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009).. On a separate note, previous research have built on the notion of "knowledge autonomy" among practitioners which adopts from practice what can be considered as practical theories (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2007; Kover, 1995).
In order to bridge the gap between advertising research and practice, several
researches have conducted qualitative research, or analyzed professional content, to get the practitioner's perspective on topics (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009; Kover, 1995; Smith et al., 2007, Reid, et al., 1998). This builds on the notion that academic researchers could learn the
practices and opinions of practitioner's to provide academics with frameworks drawn from the practical world (Rossiter, 2001).
This study addresses this notion in the topic that has been considered least scientific, creativity in advertising (Reid, et al., 1998), yet perceived at times to be the most important factor for practitioners (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009). In this study, this was done in the initial process through qualitative interviews, a form that has been suggested to collect practitioner's
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knowledge in advertising (Nyilsay, and Reid, 2009). However, unlike several studies that focused on creative professionals alone (Kover 1995; Reid, et al., 1998), this study aimed to draw on the knowledge of strategic planners as well, as recommended by a previous study, to include the role of advertising effectiveness (Reid, et al, 1998).
The use of advertising awards in this study, the Euro Effies and Eurobest, will also both provide measurement units from the practitioner's world, as opposed to academic, to provide a real-life practicap view of the topic. For example, the criteria of effectiveness in Euro Effies (Effie awards judging, 2014), although precise, is flexible to campaign
objectives, thus applying to the notion of "it all depends" (Nyilsay, and Reid, 2009). In comparison, academic research has the tendency to address advertising effects instead, such as recall (Till, and Baack, 2005) or attitude (Ang, and Low, 2000). These terms have been of advertising effects and effectiveness may have sometimes been interchangeably used, still the distinction between practitioner's view of effectiveness and academic's view of advertising effects has been highlighted in previous research (Wright-isak, and Faber, 1996). Being one of the leading awards in advertising effectiveness (Wright-isak, and Faber, 1996; Kilgour, et al., 2013; Kover, et al., 1995), the Effies provide factors that have been deemed credible for the advertising agency. In the same manner, Eurobest offers also a direct comparison for an award that addresses creativity only (Verbeke, et al., 2008) and also provides precise units to analyzing the aesthetical parts of film production in their 'Craft - Film' category (Eurobest, 2013).
Method
Since the study focused on creative trends, especially in TV ads, and understanding a new topic in advertising, qualitative research was conducted to get explanations and industry insights, as recommended by previous research (Heyink, and Tymstra, 1993; Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009). This was conducted through two phases, an initial phase of qualitative
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interviews with advertising professionals, from both the creative and strategic planning departments, and a second phase of qualitative content analysis. The second phase analyzed winners for TV categories from two awards, Euro effies, for effectiveness, and Eurobest, for creativity. The comparison was done to see if there is an overlap between effective and creative award winners; if there are brands that are successful in achieving both, and if so, which percentage of the winning brands were able to do so. This provided initial empirical analysis for the "creativity vs. effectiveness" debate (Kover, et al., 1995), seeing if that achievement of being both creative and effective is possible, and the level of frequency of that possibility.
The second phase will also include qualitative content analysis of the grand prix winners of both awards, and seeing if the winning TV ad diverge from creative trends or do they tend to follow them. This will provide a clearer example of what creative trends mean on an aesthetical level, while using professional criteria; the Eurobest 'Craft-Film' judging critera (Eurobest, 2013).
The combination of these methods provided an insight from the industry from both the creator and the content being created. While the interviews highlighted ideas and concepts that are part of the process that might not be visible to outsiders, the study of the content itself is important since the ad is the final intended product. The analysis of the ads also added a realistic understanding of what is intended by the product, added grounded examples to the abstract concept of creative trends, and provided further discussion points in the creativity and effectiveness debate. Although the study might focus on aesthetical creative elements, it still analyzed it from an advertising effectiveness perspective, therefore the award
comparison added real material examples to the topic, with award winning ads that are already deemed by professionals as creative or effective.
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Phase 1 - Expert interviews
This initial phase will be conducted through interviewing professionals, discussing creative trends, along with what could be considered as the causes; association in the creative process, creative risk, ad agency politics, and the influence of the client, especially in terms of corporate guidelines.
Sample
Since the research was aiming to address the academic-practitioners gap (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2007), the study aimed to gather information from professionals to understand what they think about the concept. Initially, the study aimed to get different views, therefore the sample was split between creative and strategic planners, to get a representation on both sides of the creative and effective debate (Kover, et al., 1995) as suggested by previous research (Reid, et al., 1998).
Another part of the initial literature review showed that advertising gets affected by cultural history and identity, and is culturally inspired (Taylor, et al., 1996). However, most creative advertising research that aimed to focus on diversity usually studied cultures that have similar contexts, such as West (1993) which focused on the U.S., U.K. and Canada. While these cultures seems dissimilar, they still share a common language, English, and might all be considered as individualistic cultures. Another cultural study that aimed to compare between different cultures compared France with the U.S. (Taylor, et al., 1996), which also might be considered similar, when compared with other cultures such as African or Asian cultures. Therefore the study aimed to cover more diverse areas that might have more dissimilar cultures, to get a wider scope of the industry, regardless of culture.
Accordingly the sample was chosen from Egypt, and the Netherlands; two countries that are dissimilar in cultural orientation and industry climate. Another part of that selection includes Egypt's prominence in TV advertising. For example, Dubai Lynx could be
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considered one of the leading advertising creativity awards in the Middle East (Dubai Lynx, 2014). Although the awards are based in Dubai, Egyptian agencies have won every single grand prix for both 'Film' and 'Craft - Film' categories since the awards inauguration in 2008 (Dubai Lynx, 2014). Due to the dominance of Arabic in the Middle East, Egypt also has the advantage of creating TV campaigns that can broadcast to neighbouring countries, a luxury that the Netherlands does not afford due to the language diversity in Europe.
On the other side, the Netherlands includes a strong independent agency climate. Other than including agencies that produce ads for Dutch brands, there are several agencies in the Netherlands that cater to international accounts and produce TV ads for international accounts, such as Wieden & Kennedy, AKQA and 72andSunny (Parekh, 2009). These differences also doesn't include the difference in language between the Netherlands and Egypt, which could have an impact on association, due to its relation with language (Reid, and Rotfeld, 1976; Mednick, 1962).
Participants
29 key figures, either creative or strategic planning professionals, were identified, according to the prominence of their work, to be contacted for expert interviews from both Egypt and the Netherlands. Also 2 agencies were contacted directly to request the
participation of their employees. 11 professionals responded, and only 9 were able to find the time for an interview (n = 9).
6 advertising professionals were interviewed from Egypt, 4 were either creative directors ,or commercial directors whom had experience as creative directors. 2 strategy professionals, with one whom had recently moved to the client side of the industry, as a marketing director at a leading fast food company, thus was able to provide a view from the client side as well. The Egyptian interviews were all conducted through Skype, and were recorded for accuracy and transcribing later on. They were conducted in a cross between
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Arabic and English, and were later fully translated to English.
As for the Netherlands, 3 communication professionals were interviewed, 1 from a creative background and 2 from a strategic background. The Dutch interviews were all conducted in person, and were recorded as well. They were conducted fully in English.
Table 1
List of Interviewed respondents
Number Position Years of Experience
1 Creative Director at leading ad agency in Egypt, also worked as commercial director
10+
2 Executive Creative Director at leading ad agency in Egypt 10+ 3 Strategic Planning Supervisor at leading ad agency in
Egypt
4+
4 Marketing Director at leading fast food brand in Egypt, Ex-Senior Strategy Director in leading ad agency
7+
5 Copywriter in leading ad agency in Netherlands 4
6 Strategy & client servicing director at local ad agency in Netherlands, Ex-Head of strategy at multinational agency
in the Netherlands
20+
7 Commercial Director in Egypt, Also runs own advertising agency that created work for several multinational clients
10+
8 Commercial Director, Ex-creative director at leading agency in Egypt.
8+
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The interviewees had different ranges of experience, the least having 4 years of experience, and then ranging with other candidates to 10, 13 and up to 20 years of experience. The interviews ranged from 20 to 90 minutes, depending on the type of discussion that was conducted and the time constraints of the respondents.
The interviews were semi-structured in a manner accustomed with grounded theory (Glaser, and Strauss, 1967), with several main topics that were introduced throughout discussion that gave the respondents the freedom to provide information in a comfortable manner.
Analysis
The interviews were analyzed through partial transcription and constant revise of the recordings to find common views and opinions between the respondents. The data was openly coded for constant themes and views, in a process of constant comparison, until the point of saturation (LaRossa, 2005) in accordance with grounded theory (Glaser, and Strauss, 1967). Then the data was axial coded and then selected coded in order to represent indicators for the topic, creative trends. Although initial research highlighted concepts for the topic, the analysis was deductive, due to the nature of the topic and how the expertise of the
respondents contributed to understanding the concept (LaRossa, 2005; Glaser, and Strauss, 1967). Still the topic list was decided in accordance with data collected in the literature review, as presented in the theoretical framework.
Table 2.
Interview Topic List What are creative trends? The cause of creative trends
17 Client relations and role of corporate guidelines The risk of being creative
Phase 2 - Award Comparison and Qualitative Analysis
The second phase of research included the analysis of Euro Effie winners and
Eurobest winners over a span of 11 years, from 2003 to 2013 (Adforum, 2013). Initially, the Effies was decided as the main award for effectiveness after initial research (Kilgour, et al., 2013; Kover, et al., 1995). Although the Effies are available in different regions, there were still several criteria to be considered when picking the awards. The awards needed to span for a long time to provide the biggest amount of cases to compare, and needed to have an
equivalent award for creativity running for the same territory and the same time to provide a comparable ground that awarded ads from the same region. This criteria was best met by Euro Effies and Eurobest, which also added to the notion of the sample being culturally diverse, since both cover the whole European region (Eurobest, 2013; Effies, 2014).
There were similar approaches to awarding campaigns also which provided an easier ground for analyzing results. Both awarded their winners through 4 set levels; grand prix, gold, silver, and bronze. However, there was a difference in both awards. The Effies provided awards for a campaign on each level, while Eurobest provided an award for each creative category. For example, while the Effies just award a golden Effie for a campaign's
effectiveness, Eurobest awards for outdoor, film, print, branded content and so on. (Eurobest, 2013; Effies, 2014).
To neutralize this effect, a measure was taken to make the comparison more focused on TV advertising, and make the awards comparable. Initially, for Eurobest, the creative category 'Craft - Film' was chosen since it provided the aesthetical judging criteria that was used while analyzing the aesthetical part of the ad.
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However, 'Craft - Film' category was only introduced in 2013, therefore the most accurate replacement would be 'Film' from 2013 and years before, which focused on TV advertising in general, without awarding each aesthetical part separately. With this, the data collection provided a sample of the awarded TV ads at Eurobest that most focused on the aesthetical parts when possible, the rest on TV ads in general. As for Euro Effies, all the awarded campaigns were viewed, and all the ads that didn't include any type of TV
production was excluded. These 2 processes provided a list of cases spanning over 11 years that provided a comparable list of campaigns that won while being lead by TV ads.
The judging criteria for each of the awards was also reviewed, to make sure what is the criteria considered by the awards as effective or creative. For the Effies, the campaigns were judged through 4 criteria, that were later calculated to a score of a 100; Creative strategy '20 points', Strategic challenge including campaign objectives '20 points', Bringing the idea to life '20 points' and Effectiveness/Evidence of results '40 points' (Effies, 2014).
As for the judging criteria of Eurobest, the criteria used for their 'Craft - Film'
category was used as the criteria to categorize the aesthetical elements of TV advertising. The criteria included Animation, Visual Effects, Art Direction/Production Design,
Cinematography, Direction, Sound Design, Script, Editing, Best Use of Music, Best Production Value and Casting. (Eurobest, 2013)
In the initial phase of the award analysis, all the cases studies that were chosen were compared according to their brands. All the winning brand names from both awards were collected, amounting to 358 brands whom won at least one award from either of the selected awards. They were later categorized to see if there is an overlap in the awards, and the frequency, in percentage, of brands that overlap. The point was to see if there are brands that are able to win both effectiveness and creativity, and if so, how often does that occur. It is important to highlight that the result doesn't provide a definitive result on an ad being creative
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or effective, since an ad can still be effective or creative without applying for the award. This should provide an initial empirical result for the creativity vs. effectiveness debate (Kover, et al., 1995) and whether or not this balance occurs frequently or is it actually a rare occurrence or even non-existent.
The second phase of the award analysis was analyzing the TV ads of the campaigns that have won grand prix levels for both awards, according to the criteria of 'Craft - Film' (Eurobest, 2013). Each TV ad was looked at according to this criteria, to see if the winning ads, considered the most successful of the year for the region, follow regular creative trends or usually diverge from the norm by being creative (Smith, et al., 2007) and therefore not following creative trends in at least one aesthetical elements of TV production. This will provide also a case to see if the most successful ads tend to be creative or not. This is an important question for both creative and effective awards. In this consideration, it can see for creative professionals whether being creative applies to the aesthetical parts of TV
production. It also applies for strategic professionals to see if the most effective ads do diverge from creative ads or not.
These points, while might seem unrelated, all provided material results that provide answers to questions usually posed by professionals, and see if creativity in aesthetical parts tend to make ads more effective or not. If so, this can be understood that following creative trends in all aspects of TV production can lead to an ad not being the most effective as it can be, since it might need to be creative in its production in order to be efficient. Although the sample for both phases are not strong enough to find empirical answers for the creativity vs. effectiveness debate (Kover, et al., 1995), it provides initial indicators that adds to the topic's understanding and provide a new view to analyzing and comparing advertising campaigns, and TV advertising especially.
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Results
Through both phases of the interview, the results were constructed to give an
understanding of how the data appeared. Although the interviews provided the insights about the advertising industry and how practitioners view creative trends, the award analysis provided a further practical understanding to the 'creative vs. effectiveness debate' (Kover, et al., 1995). This provided a wider scope in understanding how the creativity and effectiveness dynamic functions in the practical field.
Through analyzing the interviews, several indicators were detected as the contributors to how and why creative trends might occur in the field; artistic and social trends, conflict of interest in the advertising agency environment and process, risk of creative work, and agency client relations. Agency client relations also include corporate guidelines, which in turn could have an effect on inducing trends.
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Since updating the definition of 'creative trends' was an initial part of the research, the respondents were asked about what they think creative trends and then given the
understanding of the topic by the interviewer. Through a comparison of the responses and adopting the structure from Kelly & Duke's (1962) definition, the result was 'a prevalence of an artistic style in the creative aesthetical elements of communication, in the form of a vogue'.
Creative trends according to creatives
Through asking our respondents, several practical elaborate explanations to the concept were given, with several examples provided. Respondent No.2 described trends by saying "I don't want to set a specific time period, but more or less, every 4 or 5 years, comes a whole new trend of how a TV commercial should look like. Exactly like music, cinema, fashion and all that". (Respondent # 2). He also explained further by setting examples "At some points, everyone was doing jingles, then after that all ads were coloured with a yellow tone" (Respondent # 2).
However, Respondent No. 8 gave the most elaborate understanding of the concept of creative trends, by referencing the trends in TV commercials in Egypt since he started his career " I started (working) and jingles were dying. That was the beginning. After that, there was this phase were all ads looked really modern, very white colours", (Respondent # 8). he even gave very specific points on the aesthetical part as saying "As for colour grading at the time, things had to seem very shiny" (Respondent # 8), and then continued to dissect trends overtime, and referring to certain figures such as art directors, creative directors or others that had a very strong influence in the work being issued at different times (Respondent # 8).
Roots of Creative Trends - Artistic and Social Trends
Through the interview process, it seemed that creatives had a stronger, more solid, understanding of the concept of creative trends. Strategic planners were able to talk about the
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process's effect on advertising and possible motivations behind it, yet, creatives discussed more the intricate details of how creative trends happen in regards to their creative
experience, and what are the probable underlying causes.
An initial indicator that was raised the concept of artistic trends, which was built on the idea that copying is in the heart of creative work in general. This agrees to an extent with the concept of association as indicated previously (Mednick, 1962), yet on more complex levels. In seeing work, through mere observation of being part of the industry or work that a creative admires, associations are made that could result in a style that imitates a combination of copies at times. For example, seeing a cinematographic style in ad 'A' with hearing the music in ad 'B', could result in the combination of the 2 styles in ad C, creating a new
combination. However, the issue's complexities is that each one of these elements has its own levels, whether several instruments used in music, or lighting techniques and camera angles in cinematography for example. This consistent associative process in industries that are exposed to the same media, culture, entertainment, and so on, can lead to what can seem as a creative trend, since the elements that are being associated together creatively can be the same elements others in the market are exposed to.
As for copying, respondent no.2 gave a more in-depth explanation for the motivations behind artistic trends and copying "..unfortunately I have to refer to this negatively, but what I'm referring to is what we do in art in general, called 'hidden plagiarism'. We call it
inspiration, but still to a great extent it is, or could be, plagiarism. Because in art, sometimes in a way or another, the artist aspires to people that he thinks are better than he is. The artist copies whom are better than him, or whom he thinks are better than him, yet some people know how to do that in a slick manner". He even says that it is not restricted to art, "Still a director can copy another director, a TK operator can copy a colour grading reference from another operator's work. Sometimes it happens from being influenced by someone else's work
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unintentionally, but the influence can be a bit much at times., and at other times, unfortunately, it can be intentional" (Respondent # 2).
A different respondent also affirmed the concept of copying in art, and how
associations play a role in that development, by saying "No one reinvents from scratch really. The style I work with I didn't really invent myself. I saw it in a lot of places, and liked it in specific movies like Wes Anderson work and stuff, so I took a bit from that. Took a bit from art, so it is all taking and recycling." (Respondent # 7).
Another angle of that discussion was the indication of social trends that occur in society, which could in turn could have an effect on the creatives themselves or even on the motivation of the consumers. Creatives usually gave an artistic analysis of that concept, talking about how trends integrate. " I don't agree with the idea of creative trends if you remove it from trends in the world in general. I believe that all these trends are all connected, whether fashion, music, filming, technology, philosophy and a lot of other stuff that are connected together. If we are talking about creative trends in term of advertising industry, it is effected definitely by the trends that are happening around the world, as power of social media, power of technology.." (Respondent # 1).
This understanding puts factors together, such as music and filming, which could agree with artistic trends and associations as previously mentioned. Still the respondents refers to the integration of philosophy and power of social media for example, things that might seem irrelevant at first sight. However, these factors also have an effect on the motivations of the creatives to do work they feel emotionally attached with (Kover, 1995). An example that could easily explain that concept of social trend, and its artistic influences, could be the hippie movement in the 1960s in the United States (Howard, 1969). The
movement had a specific type of music, art, lifestyle and other factors associated with it. This is an extreme version of what respondents have referred to on a smaller level, which is what
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societies and the world are going through does have an effect on the artistic expression of the creatives working in advertising, establishing a trend where creatives have a certain world view work with.
It also in turn could have an effect on the consumer's motivations and aspirations, which advertising might aim to address, and studied by strategic planners as part of their consumer insight understanding (Hackley, 2003b). Respondent no. 6 gave a strategic
understanding from the consumer side here, making a distinction between artistic trends and social trends, and seeing how a brand should work with these different trends. . "Showing men with beards in your ads because they are so trendy is not the way to go, you have to translate it into how your brand would view it". Also another example was given to explain how social aspirations change, and could have an effect on advertising, from the respondent's personal experience in the market. "We entered this age of a social aspect, so setting and casting and where the brand lived wasn't an island anymore. You were drinking beer with your friends, not on your own in a hammock" (Respondent # 6).
Conflict of interest within advertising
A factor that was repeated through the research, especially by strategist planners, was the different goals both the agency and industry individuals aim to achieve. For example, that creatives might aim to produce an ad that is creative, while account managers aim to focus on creating ad that is effective, which agrees with previous research done on advertising
structures (Hirschman, 1989). This can happen within the agency, but it can also happen from external factors. This can also happen from the client side; while the client is the actual one responsible for the brand, pressure from sales for example can push for a client to create an add that deteriorates the brand equity for short term goals. This was referred to by respondent no.9, whom mentioned several successful brands he has worked with and have encountered that problem.
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The notion of advertising agency politics is not new to advertising research either (Hackley, 2003a; Verbeke et al., 2008), it seems to have been a generated a field of interest. However the conflict or political part of the industry is not suprising, if it is considered, for example, how creatives get emotionally attached to their work (Kover, 1995).
Understanding how the agency worked through the interviews also helped uncover a few issues. Accordingly, the topic of conflict of interest and roles within agencies was discussed. The respondents gave answers that confirmed the concept in quite an interesting angle. According to respondent no.1, a creative, account managers may focus on a financial target than an actual campaign. According to respondent no.1, a client and previous strategic planner, creatives might focus on creating creative work that might help advance their
careers, rather than putting the brand's interest first. According to respondent no.9, a strategic planner, a client may sacrifice long term brand equity for short term sales goals.
The aforementioned answers do not only provide explanations from within the
industry about the different goals in the field, but it shows respondents that are quite aware of the interest of the person whom they are working with. However, ideally the client, along with all the elements of the agency, should be working for the benefits of product and brand, by achieving the objectives of the campaign.
With the combination of these different interests, creative trends can occur or be followed as a easy solution in a fast paced environment such as advertising. This was indicated by previous research that talked about how whatever that works in advertising might copied by other advertisers (Brierley, 1998). This notion, which also includes the concept of copying previously mentioned by creatives, could also be done from a different angle by the client, to reduce perceived risk as explained by one of the respondents. "If an ad follows a creative trend, it is not the fault of the creative alone, and not the fault of the advertiser (client) alone, because the advertiser wants to do as the brand next to him is
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doing. Even if they don't say it in that manner directly, they may say in 500 different ways." (Respondent no. 2). Hypothetically then, following a creative trend at times can provide fast solutions that fulfils individual interests of people working on the project, but not might have the best interest of the brand or product at heart.
Another part of that conflict, especially in TV production, is that TV advertising is usually produced and created by a 3rd party entity commissioned by the agency to film the project. The agency works with film or commercial directors, directors of photography, musicians and so on through external production houses. These individuals that create the final ad are not part of the communication strategic process. Their influence can be put into context in considering that at the end of the day, the consumer sees the final TV ad for example, not the marketing strategy set by the client or the communication strategy established by the agency.
For that reason, a commercial director needs to work differently than a film director. While a film director interprets a script written by a screenwriter for a movie, a commercial director should let the advertising creative director have enough control to make sure the communicational factors are included in the ad. This type of conflict was apparently much more obvious in Egypt, than it was in the Netherlands. It seemed that certain individuals in the field had been more successful than others, thus causing a type of shift, through a process of copying due to artistic envy, as mentioned before. Still, in the Egyptian market, it seems, the shift has gone to an extend where the control of the brand can
sometimes go away from the control of the agency and client even, and going to the commercial director. According to the respondents, that has been a shift of a generation of advertising creatives whom aimed to move into commercial directing.
Respondent no.8 explained that process, which was also referred to by all the other respondents in Egypt, by saying that "When creative directors in Egypt started seeing how it
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worked out for a few people that have went into commercial directing from advertising, they decide "let's be directors". So you had a lot of creatives whom were trend setters in an area, decided to move and be trend setters in another area. So you have now a lot of ads that are based on the type of directors you get, and not the other way around". (Respondent # 8). He continues to name a director whom gets picked by name by the client and that his work at this point became a brand of itself, therefore brands aim to work with the director.
The respondent even tells a story, of where a commercial director would change the creative work they get, disregarding the creative strategy and concept that was developed by the agency, but creating his own advertising concept, and because of the success and
reputation they have in the market, clients might approve such an approach. "The trend in Egypt is shifting in a very weird way, it is not brand driven, but it is becoming now director driven. That is why people are imitating these people". He continues with naming examples and saying "most of the superstars left the (advertising) game and are now directing" (Respondent # 8).
That was apparent in the sample as well, where 4 creative directors from Egypt were approached for their advertising work as creative directors, 2 had already shifted primarily to commercial directing and 1 has already directed his first commercial and has expressed intent of shifting fully to commercial directing.
Client relations and corporate guidelines
A substantial section of the discussion conducted with the respondents focused on something that could induce conflicts sometimes between creatives whom feel that they only rule they have which is "there are no rules" (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009), and what is essentially a rule book issued by the client; corporate guidelines. It is no surprise that most global brands develop corporate guidelines for their brands (e.g. Apple, 2013; KFC, 2010). This is created to make sure that the brand personality and identity are consistent throughout the different
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markets the company operates in, and throughout different campaigns the company issues. When asked about the usage of corporate guidelines in general, all respondents showed an understanding of the necessity of having corporate guidelines, creatives and strategists alike. The variation in answers was to what extent do guidelines have restrictions on the work. Respondent no.2 gives the most direct response for the opinion most creatives had, saying "When it comes to guidelines. I agree with the term. I do respect guidelines, but what kind of guidelines?" (Respondent # 2).
When asked about guidelines, even over the aesthetical parts, respondent no.7
responded by saying, " Yes. It pays off at the end. It is important that the ad has the same look and same grading. So that not every ad you issue has a different grading, or a different colouring" (Respondent # 7). The same response of the effect of guidelines was given by several other respondents, especially whom come from a strategic background.
Yet several respondents gave examples of times they felt guidelines could be
unnecessary or irrational at times, doing more harm than good. Both respondent 7 & 8 talked about the same soft drink and mobile brands as having a restriction such as not using a certain colour in a TV ad because it is association with the competitor. "They told me they don't want red or green in the ad, so I was like "Can't I even show a tree?" A tree is green. So they said 'No, no green, red or purple, because we don't like it.' So I told them, you just left me one colour in the colour wheel. I feel that is ridiculous at times. Not to this extent, not literally" (Respondent # 7). Respondent no. 8 also made the same point about a brand that prohibited the use of the colour blue "How can that even work? The sky is blue" (Respondent # 8). This love-hate perception of corporate guidelines was consistent among most of our respondents,
This was all discussed to suggest solutions where guidelines, which generally focus on consumption shots, colour codes and other measures that could be quantified ( e.g. Apple, 2013; KFC, 2010)., be extended to creative elements as usual, such as music style,
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cinematography and so on. This was suggested to minimize the effect of creative trends from diverting the brand from its essence. However, according to the responses given, it seems that the point was understood but not generally agreed upon by most of the respondents. They still acknowledged the rule of "there are no rules" and how "it all depends" (Nyilasy, and Reid, 2009), thus creating further rules might not be the solution to address this problem.
The risk of creative work
A point that was repeatedly referred to on developing creative work was the risk of producing creative work, a point that had been widely discussed in advertising research as well (e.g. El-Murad, and West, 2003; Wang, Dou, Li, and Zhou, 2013). Respondent no.8 gives the simplest explanation on that point by saying "the moment that you make a creative (ad) that is actually good, or different, probably most people won't like it, or a lot of people won't like it. Any creative that stands out will generate a debate about whether it is good or not" (Respondent # 8). He compares that with doing a campaign that is traditional and uses regular formats, such as demonstration formats in detergent ads for examples. The respondent explained "The only risk you would get from that is someone will say 'oh, this crap again' and that's it" (Respondent # 8).
Opinions on whether that risk is worthy for a brand to take have been mixed, and depended on the respondent's view. For example respondent no.1 said " The brands that take risks are the brands that stand out. The brands that get out of their guidelines, are the brands that win" (Respondent # 1). While others have shown understanding of why this is
considered risky for brands "Clients get scared, and it's understandable why they are scared, and we (as advertisers) have to understand why they are scared, so accordingly they don't wanna go out of a direction they know that is good, and has seen it with his own eyes, and he knows if he does this, or works with this formula, it is going to work" (Respondent # 2). The effect of this risk can also be attributed to why clients could actually prefer following a trend
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if they see it already works in the market, as referenced previously (Brierley, 1998). On the other hand, the success of some creative work is understandable due to the positive effects usually associated with creative advertising (Till, and Baack, 2005; Ang, and Low, 2000), while brands that use, or have been using, a systematic formula know that it functions to a certain extent. When talking about brands that have a strict formula for their ads, respondent no.2 "I can't say that it (the strict formula) fails, because unfortunately it does not fail. The brands I'm naming are very successful, and the formulas they have been using have been working for them for quite a while, but that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do" (Respondent # 2).
That point was made more clear by respondent no. 6, whom talked about referring to the same brand group "the question still remains, is this (the strict formula) the only good way to advertise your products? It is a good system, but is it the only system? because there are a lot of other ways of advertising that are also very successful and you are now discarding them because of your system" (Respondent # 6).
The award analysis
Several of the interview discussions, especially when talking about guidelines and risk, still addressed what is considered the 'creativity vs. effectiveness' debate (Kover, et al., 1995). The award studies then aimed to analyze the ads in a manner that quantifies award winners and see the likelihood of a brand to win an award for both creative and effectiveness. Through the collection of all campaigns that included TV commercials, winning for
effectiveness in Euro Effies, and for creativity in 'Film' in Eurobest, 358 brands were
identified as winning at least once, which if excludes the overlapping brands, amount to 273 Eurobest winners and 110 Euro Effie winners. (see Table 3, and Table 5 in appendix). The results show that 25 brands where the only ones capable of winning both effective and creative awards in the brands sampled, indicated as an approximated 7% of the sample
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collected. This indicates that also a brand's communication being both effective and creative is possible, however, it is understandable where the debate comes from, due to the low frequency of that occurrence indicated by the result.
Another part of the analysis was the qualitative content analysis to see if the ads that have won grand prix levels for both Eurobest and Euro Effies, diverge from creative trends by following unusual methods of creativity in the aesthetics of their TV productions, according to the criteria of 'Craft - Film' by Eurobest (Eurobest, 2013). Analyzing the ad, each ad that has won a grand prix has aimed to be creative by overriding the set trends in at least in one aspect of its production (see Table 4 in appendix). This shows that divergence, a part of ad creativity (Smith, et al. 2007), is usually highly awarded by practitioners, the judges, since all TV ads that are winning include divergence, for creative and effective awards alike. This, to an extent, might not agree with the result of the first part of the award research, which resulted in saying that creativity and effectiveness might not always go together. However, initially only 5 campaigns were awarded at grand prix level at the Effies in the 11 years sampled, compared to 12 by Eurobest, which makes the awards incomparable at that level and provide too little samples to make final decisions on creative elements usage in advertising awards.
Discussion
The research aimed to understand the role of creative trends in advertising, especially TV advertising, through qualitative interviews with advertising practitioners and analyzing advertising award winners. Through these methods, the study aimed to find an inclusive view of the process, combining both the analysis of the creative people, and the creative product. This was all done in an attempt to bridge further the gap between academic research in advertising and advertising practice. In that manner, the research highlighted a concept, creative trends, that was relevant to practitioner's but had a little amount of academic research
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conducted to further understand that concept. It also aimed to address points in the creative vs. effectiveness debate, which a constant struggle in the field, yet had minimal presence in advertising academic research.
Through cross-cultural expert interviews, the research was able to provide an up-to-date definition for 'creative trends'. It was also able to identify several points, through the literature review and qualitative interviews, that might induce an influence on creative trends in advertising. Initially, the artistic and societal trends, and how they affect both the
motivational purposes of the artist and the audience. Second, the conflict of interest in advertising, and role of industry politics, within the communication industry structure. Third, it was able to interpret and discuss the role of corporate guidelines, and finally, highlight the risk of producing creative work.
All these factors could be considered as factors influencing the establishment and sustainment of a certain creative trend, whether it is practiced intentionally or unintentionally by the practitioners working on the project, or due to the client enforcing, or demanding, a certain style that has already been established before, to adhere to company guidelines or to avoid risk.
The study also conducted a comparative analysis between Eurobest and Euro Effies to see the number of brands that have won either of these awards, and to see if there were brands that were able to win both, and if so how many. In this collection, 358 brands were identified as a winner of either, and only 25 of these were able to create the balance of winning both, accounting for 7 % of the sample. Showing that that balance is possible, yet not that likely to occur. Another part of the award study, was the qualitative content analysis of TV ads that had won grand prix awards in Eurobest and Euro Effies. All TV campaigns sampled used new styles of creative work in their aesthetical elements, regardless of winning for effectiveness or creativity. However, the sample available was too small to provide
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definitive results, due to the low amount of campaigns that were awarded at this level. It is recommended that studies of a similar manner be replicated in the future, when more cases are available, to see the characteristics of the ads winning awards.
With more data, it can be detected if certain product categories dominate certain awards, whether level of involvement of the product indicates possibility of winning an award more than other, and more importantly, with time, it can detect the trends in the aesthetical elements more clearly. Frameworks for trends can be developed, to see how a trend develops, at what point is it most successful and predict points where a trend starts to get saturated.
Other research recommendations including doing further research in cultures that lack advertising research, and conduct further cultural comparisons, whether it focuses on the audience, advertising professionals or the creative content itself. This can also find new fields in seeing the effect of cultural orientation on communication in general, whether it is different in content creation, the motivations of the targets, or even the processing of the advertising messages.
It is also recommended to continue researching with practitioners, in order to help bridge the academic-practitioner gap. Practitioners can also have a different set of knowledge and experiences, that can be helpful in highlighting areas of research that academics might not consider, or provide different methods of looking at the advertising process.
As for practitioners, it is recommended to work with academic analytical methods in order to understand the industry. It is understandable why something like creativity can be hard to quantify, yet there can be several indicators, such as awards wins or sales figures for example. Using this knowledge, practical frameworks can be developed that can ease the ad creation process.
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Regarding the second phase of research, Euro Effies and Eurobest were considered as standards for effectiveness and creativity respectively, however awards are only a representation of a collective of judges for a criteria, and can be to some extent based on taste, even when it comes to Euro Effies. Another limitation of this method is that although these awards provide an indicator for the market, the objective of advertising campaigns is not usually to win awards, but to increase awareness, effect sales or whatever the
communication objective may be. Therefore an indication of a campaign effectiveness is not indicated by its awards, as much as it is indicated by its ability to achieve the objectives. However, finding a database of that kind of information for analysis maybe be usually confidential and difficult to get access to or publish results from.
Finally, advertising creativity is not a mysterious notion that can't be understood. It has patterns, theories, practitioners and even admirers. It can be, and should be, studied further to remove the ambiguity from the concept. However, scientists have to be creative themselves in finding the ways to measure or understand a certain creative phenomenon, and not be afraid of taking the risk of trying new methods and learning from advertising about finding creative solutions for their problems, including the problem of the lack of research on advertising practices.
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