Even when persistent overuse and empty application conspire to rob it of all meaning, the transformative impact of genuine business creativity has never been more important. It’s the difference between cutting-edge campaigns and drab marketing, between genuine innovation and copycat mediocrity. In short, it’s the not-so-secret ingredient behind every great marketing and public relations initiative.
Three years ago, the ‘Holmes Report’ and ‘Now Go Create’ set out to explore whether the public relations industry is truly creative enough to meet the demands of the 21st century. Our findings have shown a significant gap between rhetoric and reality, between an industry that often talks about creativity, but has had a hard time making sure it’s paying more attention to the idea.
Encouragingly, the 2015 “Creativity in Public Relations” study suggests that things are changing rapidly. The findings indicate that creativity is increasingly viewed as a central element in organizational culture, rather than solely in terms of creative output. More resources are being devoted to creativity. Creative confidence is high.
And clients are more likely than ever to turn to PR agencies for great branding ideas. These demands are clear across the board, with many of the respondents noting that consumer brands often place the highest priority on creativity.
What drives great work?
There are great case studies that validate that creative ideas are more effective; Volvo Trucks’ ‘Epic Split’ campaign won the Grand Prix for Efficiency at Cannes Lions or Always #LikeAGirl, the most awarded PR campaign of the year, which generated measurable sales results for P&G.
And when it comes to what drives great work, integrated content and insights are emerging as two of the key areas where the PR industry needs to step up its game. While there is considerable change when it comes to customer demand for creativity, some themes are clear, specifically a demand for better creative applied to content (19%), embedded ideas (17%), knowing/planning (16%) and storytelling (15%).
Storytelling (83.5%) continues to rank as the top influencer in creative PR work, but brand transparency (53%) and visual communication (52%) have made considerable strides compared to the last year. Social good (49%) also emerges as a major influence, even as digital-driven trends like wearable technology appear to be losing importance.
Storytelling (71%) also retains its top position as a driver of great PR work, ahead of insight/planning (57%), emotional resonance (47%), and content creation (38%). ). The increases by purpose (21%) and results (14%) stand out.
Investment concerns and talent challenges, but not all is rosy in the garden of PR creativity. Concerns still linger. Techniques for generating and evaluating creative ideas are still in progress and, perhaps most importantly, the challenge of creative talent remains the thorniest of all.
Respondents were also asked to compare the quality of creativity in the public relations industry with other disciplines. Interestingly, clients seem optimistic: over 30% think the PR industry’s creativity is better than ad agencies, and similar positive results were also reported against digital, media, experiential, and online agencies. content.
Budget remains the biggest barrier to creativity in public relations, ahead of client feedback or risk aversion. Meanwhile, when asked for three things that would help them be more creative, respondents again pointed to “improved use of insight,” which has increased from 33% to 40% this year. Almost as important is the ‘ability to take more risks’ (38%). ‘More budget’ and ‘educate customers’ rank the same third, while clearer customer summaries are also important.
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