Brands must push beyond the creative ‘comfort zone’, leaders say

At a time when marketers are under pressure to do more with less, top creative leaders speaking at a Growth Agenda event last week said creative excellence has never been more important.

Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners San Francisco, Mirrah Foulkes, Australian Actor, David Kolbusz, acclaimed CCO, Orchard (New York), Kim Pick, Group Executive Creative Director at VMLY&R New Zealand and Nick Law, Creative Chairperson, Accenture Song at The Australian’s Growth Agenda event with Advertising Council Australia at the MCA in Sydney. John Feder/The Australian

In an increasingly data-driven world, brands and businesses must not rest on their creative laurels to find growth, drive positive change and cut-through, according to a panel of acclaimed creative leaders in the advertising and film industries.

Speaking at the event for The Growth Agenda as part of Advertising Council Australia’s (ACA) Festival of Creativity, This Way Up, panellists explained the need to be boldly creative, to an audience of Australia’s advertising agency leaders, chief marketing officers and ACA board members.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller welcomed the audience and said: “I think we all understand we live in a world where increasingly, we’re dominated by data, algorithms and generative outcomes. However, nothing can take away the human impact of a great idea.”

ACA chairman Mark Green, added “The best thing about our industry is the ability to constantly engage people with new and innovative ideas. The newness is where there can be discomfort but that is also where the opportunity often lies.

Advertising Council Australia chairman, Mark Green. Photo: Quilman Cruz

“This Way Up has been a great showcase of the breadth and depth of the thinking in the creative industry and increasingly is becoming a must for clients. The aim is to make it bigger and better next year.”

Panellist and Australian actor, writer and director Mirrah Foulkes recalled the initial fear she felt when she agreed to write her first feature film, Judy and Punch, starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2019.

“Doing anything that feels creatively audacious feels terrifying. I think when you’re setting out to do something that doesn’t feel like other things, that’s scary. When you’re setting out to do something that’s new, that’s scary,” Ms Foulkes said.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever overcome it. I just firmly believe that you have to keep pushing into it. I’m fascinated and intrigued by discomfort and I kind of weirdly, perversely like it because I think it brings out better work in me.”

Mirrah Foulkes, actor, writer and director. Photo: Quilman Cruz

According to some, being creatively brave also means what’s past should not always be prologue, to misappropriate Shakespeare.

Group executive creative director at advertising agency VMLY & R New Zealand, Kim Pick said: “Success in the past does not equal success in the future. In fact, it’s most likely not to be as successful because it’s already out there and has become familiar”.

While that doesn’t mean doing away with the marketing playbook, it does mean challenging the conventions of “best practice”, in order to get to growth, panellists said.

Kim Pick, group executive creative director at VMLY&R New Zealand. Photo: Quilman Cruz

Nick Law, creative chairperson at Accenture Song and former Apple VP said that relying on “best practice” as a default can be dangerous for brands, which he defines as practices that neglect quality content in favour of efficiencies of reach and optimising clicks.

“It’s the job of brands to distinguish themselves against competitors,” Mr Law said. “Best practices lead to a sort of homogenisation. I think one of the original sins of performance marketing is this blind faith in an algorithm with an intense interest in the pipes, without thinking about what goes in the pipes.”

As marketers are increasingly under pressure to do more with less, Ms Pick explained parameters can still unlock opportunities for growth within organisations.

“Lack of resources or tight times and scarcity is actually the time you should turn to creativity and taking risks as a way to make ground,” she said. “It’s probably not the time to go defensive and retreat.”

However, in times of “scarcity”, that pressure can make business leaders fearful of making mistakes, which can also stifle creativity, according to the panellists.

Speaking on the panel, legendary advertising maven, Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners San Francisco said, “What I hope is that we can be judicious enough in what we do, and smart enough about what we do, and work with people who are smart as well, to keep that from happening (and) to know what the dangers are.”

He said businesses shouldn’t allow fear to govern creativity.

“I think we need to try ideas that are dangerous and find out, rather than being afraid.”

The biggest commercial and creative risk for brands, according to acclaimed chief creative officer at ad agency Orchard New York, David Kolbusz, is communicating in a way that won’t be noticed.

“The only risk is making work that’s ignorable, which I think so much of it is now,” he said.

“No one hates any advertising any more. They either love it or they ignore it. And that sort of feels like the biggest risk. Now there’s just too much stuff that’s kind of bland. If you don’t have a point of view, that’s the most discomforting thing.”

Jeff Goodby, Co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners San Francisco, Kim Pick, Group Executive Creative Director at VMLY&R New Zealand, David Kolbusz, acclaimed CCO, Orchard (New York), Mirrah Foulkes, Australian Actor and Nick Law, Creative Chairperson, Accenture Song at The Australian’s Growth Agenda event with Advertising Council Australia at the MCA in Sydney. Photo: John Feder/The Australian

The film industry, Ms Foulkes pointed out, often faces an opposite challenge, given the long periods of time and investment needed to bring single stories to life.

She said for that reason, it’s understandable that creators could be more risk averse, but that taking a “safe swing” in film also won’t cut-through.

Mr Goodby added, from an advertising perspective: “It’s really easy to do the right thing and have nobody notice it.”

Being boldly creative requires collaboration and human-led decision-making, according to Mr Goodby.

Addressing the marketing and advertising leaders in the room, he said: “The difference between ‘good’ risky work and ‘bad’ risky work is not very great. And you know, it’s up to all of us together to have to figure out which is which.

“But that’s a good thing to have to decide. You know, a lot of the time we just decide, like ‘Is this even risky enough for it to be worth doing?’ That’s a much bigger problem. I’d much rather be going, ‘Is this scary, or is this good?’ together. And I think that’s a much better place to be.”