Role

of

in

PR

Creativit

y

Please Remember…

Vs.

What inspired me?

A peek into the topic

- Creativity

- Creativity in advertising & PR

- Role of Creativity in PR?

- Suggestions

My JourneyIn

Four phases

Phase 1Water

-What is Creativity?- Creativity in communication Methodology-Secondary Research-Internet

Phase 2 Land Creativity InAdvertising & PR

Methodology - Secondary research- Books & Movies

Phase 3Sky

Role of Creativity in

PR

Methodology-Primary Research- Focused Group Discussion

Phase 4Earth

Conclusions drawn

- Based on Primary and Secondary Research

Phase 1

Water

Creativity – an inner meaning

Creativity is much like pornography, which Al Ries said, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it"

- Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts

“Man owes his success to

creativity. No one doubts the

need for it.”

Edward De Bono, 1971

Creative words!!!

- “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes…Art is knowing which ones to keep.”   Scott Adams

- “True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision”

  Edith Wharton

- "I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams,

so I built it myself."  Dr. Ferdinand Porsche

- "I have no special gift; I am only passionately curious."  Albert Einstein

- "Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple."

Charles Mingus 

CreativityInCommunication

Creativity in communication

- Communication, not something one would instantly equate with creativity

- Something that we do throughout our lives, but often don't give much thought to how we're doing it

- But in today’s communication industry, it is necessary to find creative solutions

- And offer opportunities to recognize, practice, and apply creative expression

- In order to remain competitive and to advance sales, retailing, public relations, advertising, and brand management

- To explore the relationship of creativity to speaking, writing and presentation skills,

- As well as to listening, sensual awareness and nonverbal expression

- And how all of these are combined to aid in interacting with clients and customers

- Thus in this changing world of communication where a consumer has choice of hundreds of brands in each product category

- Creativity becomes a very important tool in this industry

Creative Myths…

“I am not creative”

- The truth is that we are all creative

- The problem is, as we grow older, most of us learn to inhibit our creativity for reasons relating to work, acceptable behavior etc.

“That's a stupid or silly, or ridiculous idea”

- No idea is stupid, silly or ridiculous- Never censor your ideas by telling

yourself they are stupid- Ask yourself how you can improve an

idea

“Creative people always have great ideas”

- Creative people always have ideas whether good or bad and they share it with others

- Of those ideas, a precious few are great- Many are good, many are mediocre and

a few really are stupid ideas

“That's a good idea, let's run with it”

- Don’t stop looking and start implementing with the first good idea that comes to mind

- Any great ideas you might have had, had you spent more time thinking, are lost

- Good ideas can often be developed into significantly better ideas with a little creative thought

“Drugs will help me be more creative”

- Drugs can never help you be more creative

- alcohol will loosen our inhibitions to the extent that we do not criticize our ideas

- But to people watching you, you will just seem like someone who is very high

Creativity In

Advertising &PR

Phase 2Land

- Advertising always honored creativity by constantly clutching on to it in order to save a sinking brand

- Creative department termed as the most important department, which runs the entire show

- Plays such an impact that the creative directors become larger than their agencies

Creativity- the mantra of Advertising

Creativity- the unsung hymn in PR

- A buzzword that is thrown around with little consideration for what it really means or how one might achieve it

- The ground reality is creativity is an often ignored tool in PR

- Requires being a keen observer and constantly looking for clues or idea-starters

- The PR professionals are so busy working on what the client commands

- That the whole thing to doing something uniquely different gets lost in the way

The Value of Creativity

- To a great extent creativity is an over hyped tool in advertising

- Need to run advertising that “resonates” with consumers

- Need consumers to think, Yes that’s what the brand stands for!!!

- Creativity is the last thing a brand needs once a brand has been established in the mind

- Instead to defend a brand you need to “reaffirm” the brand’s core values

- It’s PR that needs to be creative- It’s PR that needs to be new, different and

original- The best way to establish a brand is to

create a new category- Creating a new category requires creative

thinking of the highest order

The Creative issue- Any brand considering an advertising

program doesn’t need a too “Creative advertising”

- Advertising is the cheerleader that repeats words and ideas that already exist in mind

- The true function of advertising is to reinforce an existing perception in the mind

- As long as agencies are selling advertising to clients, instead of products to consumers, the pressure will be on for “creative advertising”

- Analytically, what needs to be new, different, and original is the perception of the product

- This is the task of the PR person- PR takes a product or service skillfully

position the brand so it achieves the perception of being new, different and original

Creativity- a hidden tool in PR

- Creativity belongs in the PR department- Needs to be original in the sense that it

needs to position product or services as new and different

- The TOI, and the other media outlets, doesn’t want to write about better products or services

- They want to write about “what’s new”- original, different, and creative

- The tasks of PR are to take the latest product improvement and with a generous dose of creativity turn into something really new and different

- Creativity is that ‘x-factor’ which can make a PR programme sparkle

- Creatively written news release can seize a journalist’s attention or imagination

- A creative stunt or photo opportunity can gain front page coverage

- A creative message can communicate with a new audience, or engage an existing audience in a new way

PR Like a Virgin- Richard Branson understands, that the media doesn’t get many interesting photos

- Here, he promotes a book which promotes his brand

- Richard Branson understands that the media doesn’t get many interesting photos

- Here he is in his balloon

Phase 3Sky

Role Of

CreativityIn PR

PR Industry analysis 2008-09

- 96 percent of PR professionals agrees that creativity is important to the PR process

- 44.4 per cent of journalists felt that PR pitches were “dull” with “little spark”

- 57 per cent of PR practitioners do not risk assess creative ideas

- 50 per cent stated they did not evaluate the success of the creative aspect of a campaign

- 19.15 per cent claimed to be at their most creative while commuting

- 8.74 per cent were found to use brainstorming alone as a technique to achieve creativity

- The pressure of time, noise and distractions, resistance to creativity from co-workers and client's lack of openness to creativity were named as the biggest barriers to creativity at work

Source: Parker, Wayne and Kent-2008-09

Therefore the time has come to inject creativity into PR…

- Create 'idea banks‘: Be comfortable in re-using used material and ideas, be masters of 'creative recycling‘

- Make you and your team creatively accountable : Don't just expect creativity somehow happen

- Know the ultimate creativity question: Are you asking the right questions?

- Harness your 'incubation' - as long as it is not an excuse for procrastination

- Just say 'Yes' more often, Yes Yes Yes !!!

- Always go the extra yard: Aim higher than what is expected of you and what you expect of yourself

- Be and remain curious: A commitment to gather information, conduct research, and analyze the conclusions

- Delay the selection of an idea or a plan of action until you have multiple options or solutions to the same problem

FocusedGroup

Discussion

- Each group consisted of PR Professionals

- 8 respondents per group- There were 30 minutes discussion time- Each member contributed in the

discussion- The idea was to make it more

interactive so that respondents could contribute in the best possible manner

Creativity in Advertising Vs PR

Findings - Advertising showcases creativity to the best

possible manner wherein in PR the creativity is hidden

- Creativity in PR is limited to the campaign thought process only

- Things like the creative writing for press releases, creative media pitches is often ignored to choose the same old formatted transcripts

 

How important is creativity in PR? How has PR evolved in the last 4-5 years, where do you see it in the future?Findings

- Creativity is a very important part of PR- Today a PR agency cannot just provide

a successful campaign just by using the normal methods of Media Releases, Conferences and Events

- It needs to be creative to raise attention of not just the target groups but the stake holders as well

- Public Relation has travelled a long way in the past 4-5 years

- Influenced the marketing, advertising and communication strategies more than ever

- New techniques and concepts like Online PR, Virtual events, Web 2.0, CSR etc. has made PR the most sought after communication tool today

Creativity not given its due importance in PR

Findings- Although the PR practitioners agree to it

that creativity is an important phenomenon but very few of them use it extensively

- Creativity is mostly used to design an overall campaign

- But in case of the different stages, creativity is almost hard to be seen in press releases, media pitches, and innovative publicities

- One respondent made an interesting point saying, “Often the person being creative is not credited with the idea further down the line”

- This raises an interesting point - It is rare that ideas are solely the

product of a single person

Discuss the most creative PR campaign done by your agency/company?

- Campaign Name: The Scullers Designer Search

- Campaign handled by: Brand Communications, Bangalore

- Background: - Challenging task of launching the first Scullers Women wear Store in the Country in Bangalore

- A very limited budget - And without the use of any advertising

- Objectives: Create awareness and word-of-mouth

- Resulting in footfalls within the first two weeks of the launch of the store

- Power of Insight: Scullers Women wear was viewed as a premium brand

- But those who bought Scullers Womenswear stayed loyal to the brand because it provided a great fit

- Women have a few things in common- They love fashion and - Have their own unique set of ideas when it

comes to dressing themselves up - They also found out that women love to

talk!- Hence they are great word-of-mouth brand

ambassadors The idea was to get women involved with

the brand…

- So…they introduced “The Scullers Designer Search Contest”

- Set up branded Scullers Women’s Wear kiosks across Bangalore

- Invited women to come in and register their designs

- The kiosks were manned by fashion designers who would prompt women to give ideas

- And then would design it for them in front of their eyes

- For those who participated, they received a scratch card which guaranteed discounts from 10%-100% at the Scullers Womenswear Store

- Response: An overwhelming response- The designers at Scullers chose one

design out of the lot which was developed and marketed in the Bangalore Scullers Womenswear store

- The event resulted in great walk-ins during the first weekend of the store opening which generated in lakhs of rupees in sales

- The Unique Contest/Event generated great excitement in the media

- With coverage in all relevant publications, including the most coveted Economic Times, Brand Equity Page

In Summary- Awareness amongst target audience - Involvement and Interaction with Target

Audience - Walk-ins to the store - High sales during the first weekend

store opening - Fantastic interest among media that

resulted in excellent PR coverage worth lakhs of rupees!

- Campaign Name: Launch of Whisper Ultra sanitary napkin

- Campaign handled by: Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Mumbai

- Background: P&G decided to launch its global top-of-the-line Sanitary Napkin Whisper Ultra in India in early 2000

- Genesis-BM had the task of creating excitement around the launch and ensuring top of mind recall to drive trial

- At that time there was very low market penetration of this product category

- Even in urban, educated India, only two out of every ten women used sanitary napkins, the other eight-used cloth

- In this scenario, Whisper Ultra a premium product (5 times thinner than any existing napkin) was being launched as the most expensive product in the category

- The launch campaign was planned and executed in two legs:

Leg I- Pre Launch: A three-stage teaser invitation

for news media around the concepts of 'Revolutionary Technology' and 'Thinness‘

- Invitation 1- Abacus v/s calculator- Invitation 2 - Three telephone directories v/s

a CD ROM Telephone Directory

- Invitation 3 - A Final invitation in a conventional format

- Launch Day I: Whisper Ultra was launched at St. Xavier's Institute of Communications, Mumbai Campus

- The launch was made a part of the PR course and the students organized their first Press Conference

- They were also the key Target Group for the product

- This led to two news pegs for media stories:

a. The launch of the new product andb. The First ever student organized product launch

Leg II- The First Ever Employee led Trade

Launch where P&G employees gathered at 6:30 am in Central Mumbai

- And set out in branded vehicles to cover 6000 retail outlets along 110 routes on which they conducted product demos

- And placed 50,000 packs of the product in the market on Day 1

Response- Substantial media coverage in consumer

and business print and electronic media- The Financial Express - India's Leading

Financial Daily, wrote two consecutive half page feature pieces

- The credible editorial endorsements for the launch resulted in a Return on Investment of 100:1

- Whisper Ultra market share increased to 44% value share and 28% volume share within two months of the launch

Would you ride the campaign in any other way today

Findings - One of the best ways to introduce a

campaign today is through online PR- a virtual world wherein Public Relations and publicities has a much faster impact

- Web 2.0 : Contributed a lot to exercising faster public feedbacks through Public Relations (communities like facebook, orkut, linked in form a part of Web 2.0)

At which stages in PR is creativity possible, impactful, relevant & necessary?

a. Analysisb. Evaluationc. Strategyd. Objectivese. Tactics/Implementationf. Publicsg. Resources

Findings - The area of tactics has been the most

popular area where creativity is used- Creativity has been used in the area of

tactics and implementation - And also extensively in the areas of

messages and strategy- Creativity is used at the start and

foundations of a program

- Utilized heavily during the mid-point of a programme - during the messages and strategy

- And peaking at the area of tactics- Its use then tails off towards the end of

a programme

PR agencies in the future would

require separate creative departments as in the advertising agencies

Findings- It won’t be long when, creativity would

take over as the corporate value of the PR organization

- Like R & D helps to develop, create a better product in the Pharmaceutical and technological sector

- In the same way separate creative department would help to analyze, study

- And develop more creative tools of Public Relations

- Which would help it create successful propositions

- It won’t be long that a separate creative department is set up in all the PR agencies

Phase 4

EarthSuggestiv

eConclusio

n

- My research has identified the importance of culture and environment in the management of creativity

- PR workplaces should be made more conducive to creativity

- To improve and nurture the creative output of the PR Practitioners

- PR Practitioners should learn how to maximize their own creativity through theory and practice

- And through a self-analysis of where they are most creative

- In order to make creativity a ‘must have,’ its true value must be known

- Which can be done only through the areas of risk assessment and the evaluation of creativity

- The "Aha" moment represented by that elusive light bulb is as much a product of perspiration as it is of inspiration

- Creative writing is a very important tool for generating favorable responses from the media

- Any one who works for a PR agency has to be jack of all trades

- They might need to do planning, budgeting, report making and a dozen other tasks

- None of these tasks should divert our attention from the core objective of our specialty…..

In the case of public relations, that’s

creativity

On the international front, the success of

brands like Microsoft, Linux, Red Bull, Body Shop, Harry Potter, Zara, Google and Starbucks, can largely be attributed to the reams of media coverage generated for each of them by innovative and sustained PR campaigns

- “However though creativity is a very important factor but it must be closely associated to measurability

- If a creative PR campaign does not measure success than there is no place for such a creative campaign

- How much ever creative the campaign be!!!

Golden WordsMr. Nikhil Dey, Genesis B-M

- Creativity is acknowledged after all only when it helps to increase the brand value and ultimately the sales of the product it has been campaigning for

- Rest is all null and void”

GratitudeForgivene

ssBlessings

- Almighty- The Delhi School of Communication- Prof. Ramola Kumar, Dean- Teachers- Ms. Anupama Mohan- Ms. Sushma - Mr. J.C.Chaddha- Mr. Amulya Barik- Ms. Rupanjali Lahiri

- Ramkrishna Sir- Sukhinder Bhaiya- Vijay Bhaiya- Chander Bhaiya- My Classmates (Including seasonal

student PONGI)- Freshers !!!!