The changing role of creativity: Views from Spikes Asia 2013

Low Lai Chow Storytelling is becoming more visual, more varied and more valued. That was the trend which Emma Montgomery, global product director of Starcom MediaVest's Human Experience Center, hinted at while speaking at Spikes Asia, the annual Festival of Creativity which this year was held in Singapore. The digital experience of millennial consumers, for Montgomery, is characterised by showing rather than telling. "A common visual standard is being forged online, connecting millennials across borders and languages," she said. "What we see is that images on the digital platforms themselves are actually becoming the digital currency of an experience exchange that is occurring between young people across borders, across markets and across communities." "Culturally nimble" brands are thus best-placed to get it right with millennials: "We see brands playing a role as story currency; bringing stories that young people want to tell," said Montgomery. However, while the opportunity for engagement is substantial, it does not constitute an open invitation for marketers to recklessly burst into millennials' social space. "What they want is for brands to identify what is relevant to them and play that role consistently, and identify what is that authentic space," she warned. Several nuances also shape what consumers share in Asia. In China, for instance, sharing a "selfie" a self-portrait taken using the camera on a mobile phone is a way for youth to hint at opening up to make new friends, according to Montgomery. And in India, digital content is used by young consumers to reach the status of an "everyday star" through attaining praise from their peers.

Finding inspiration
"Brands don't sell brands. I think people sell brands. I think our job as creative storytellers is to give people a reason to believe," said Eric Solomon, head of global insights and strategy at The ZOO, a creative studio run by YouTube, the video-sharing site. He added that brands should consider working with creative talent that appeals to specific groups in order to connect with consumers. W+K Tokyo Lab, a music and visual production hub within Wieden + Kennedy's office in the Japanese capital, has drawn inspiration from the country's vibrant street-scene, as loved by artists, designers and DJs. The "backstreets" of the internet, where creative individuals express

themselves amidst the web's increasingly bordered restrictions, is also fruitful territory for the agency. "We have, in general, tried to go into different subcultures and do interesting things that we can get through our experience of storytelling and art directing and things with technology, but [we are] also listening to creative people and understanding what they're trying to do," said Blake Harrop, managing director of W+K Tokyo Lab. One project that resulted from this process was "Fresh Push Play", a music sampling app that W+K Tokyo Lab developed in collaboration with breakbeat duo HIFANA. Richard Summer, head of strategic planning at Anomaly Shanghai, defended China against its comparatively poor reputation for originality. He shared several examples of how enterprising entrepreneurs are attracting customers on ecommerce site Tmall, such as a leggy 72-year-old man who has attracted a curious clientele to the women's apparel store run by his granddaughter through serving as her model.

Liu Xianping models clothes for the Yuekou store on Tmall Image source: ixdaily.com "There's so much creativity in China, and creativity is much more than the narrow definition of creativity. We need to look at creativity in the wider sense of the word," Summer said, adding that this concept must transcend traditional rules and patterns, instead fostering meaningful new ideas and interpretations. At the brand level, Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has turned to crowdsourcing, tapping loyal customers to help improve its products on an ongoing basis, to the extent that the firm rolls out a modified version of its operating system as much as once a week. This approach, Summer believes, pays off in many ways, from serving the needs of subscribers to genuinely engaging shoppers. Saurabh Varma, Leo Burnett's chief strategy officer for Asia Pacific, reaffirmed the importance of talking to consumers. He pointed to a worrying trend of displaced marketers spending the majority of their time in offices, shut away from the customers they seek to serve. "We have no access anymore to primary information, and what you have on the internet is most of the time six months' old or longer," he said. Guy Hearn, chief innovation officer of the Omnicom Media Group in Asia Pacific, similarly spoke about the importance of consistency in communications, as shoppers are dealing with an information overload, and so often make snap decisions. "Consumers are not going to make rational decisions most of the time," he said. "They are going to make thin-slice judgements based on a small amount of information."

Combining art and science

While acknowledging the importance of raw creativity, Nicholas Smith, global partner manager at software group Adobe, reminded delegates that when used strategically, data can fuel inspiration and boost the bottom line. "Data is nothing new but it helps you understand how each segment of customer is really reacting to your brand," he said. "Once you know that, you can start to make better decisions on what changes you need to make next to your campaign." Challenging the idea that creativity begins with strategy and draws upon insights only at the last stage, Smith asserted that the ability to access data at any time means there are numerous opportunities for brands and agencies to improve communications in real time. Making sense of data to deliver creativity in context is critical, he added, as every customer's journey is different. Mikyoung Kim, a senior researcher at Cheil Worldwide's Communication Sciences Institute, equally suggested that the stream of facts and figures now available cannot be ignored. "We don't need to test these results statistically, and big data comes from current behavioural data. Big data plays a big part in discovering new and hidden insights. Big data allows us to see what we could not see in the past," she said. Sir Jackie Stewart, who appeared on-stage at on the third day, provided a useful analogy from the world of motor racing. "We have more technology than ever in the sporting world, and that brings people together the creativity is unbelievable," he said.

Looking beyond the numbers

An individual's online persona, however, may not accurately reflect real life. Nancy Jaffe, director of cross-platform audience measurement for South East Asia at insights provider Nielsen, reported that consumers often adopt different identities depending on which platform they use. "We all manage our personal brand We want people to get to know our online avatars; we want people to know us, to like us, to respect us as they experience us through these online avatars we put out there," she said. Keith Tan, executive creative director at Comwerks & Wunderman, suggested that this shift required a response from marketers. "We as agencies and brands have to evolve as well," he said. More specifically, Tan laid out "4Ps" that should now be the priority. They are:

Passion "Consumers expect brands to be more approachable, more transparent and more attentive in short, more human"; Personal "We need to start behaving more like a newsroom. Traditionally, we've always thrived on finding that one consumer truth to drive our campaigns. However, with social media, you'll miss the train if you ignore the micro-insights"; Prompt responding quickly is vital; Power to the people "Consumers know more about brands than brands know about their consumers brands will innovate better products if they understand them."

Lynne Anne Davis, president and senior partner for Asia Pacific at PR network FleishmanHillard, reported that marketing should be harnessed for the greater good, as it has the "power" to drive change. "All across the world, but especially in Asia, there are stunning examples of this power at work, and the positive change that results," she said. The examples cited to prove this point included Toyota's Aqua Social Fes, which promoted one of the firm's eco-friendly vehicles by starting a social movement seeking to conserve waterfronts in 50 different areas across Japan. Another illustration came from Samsung Life Insurance's "Bridge of Life", which aimed to reduce the number of suicide attempts taking place on Mapo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea, by providing words and signs of support, comfort and inspiration. The number of such incidents declined by 77% overall. "They all share a common trait: they are driven by PR thinking," Davis said of these campaigns. "PR thinking is transformative thinking. It produces rich irresistible stories that flow sustainably across all forms of paid, earned, shared Every great campaign this world has ever seen has PR thinking at its core." Samir Singh, global brand vice-president at Unilever, shared details of how the FMCG group's brands have made a positive impact. "The best social missions always drive your business," he said, adding that doing something good should not compromise branding right down to the placement of logos. "Consumers don't buy categories; they buy brands. When a consumer goes to a shop in India, she doesn't ask for 'a soap'; she asks for Dove, or Lux or Lifebuoy. This is why we are very proud of having a brand at the heart of a social mission," he continued. "Never apologise about the fact that you're there to drive business and profits. Only when you can drive business, then it can become sustainable." Unilever's recent campaign for Lifebuoy soap in India saw it stamp around 2.5 million rotis pieces of bread eaten alongside almost every meal with reminders, written in edible ink, that people should was their hands during the Kumbh Mela festival. The cause, Samir said, must "be integrated with the product and make commercial sense, or share attributes with the brand. If not, the consumers will catch on anyway." And if the brand's credentials are called into question in this way, social campaigns are nothing more than "a waste of time", he concluded.