Creativity in PR 5th edition launches today!

By Claire Bridges

September 19, 2016

Defining creativity in PR, exploring who is winning the war of ideas and the client/PR agency relationship.

Today we’re launching the fifth edition of our Global Creativity in PR study, along with the Holmes Report. The study will survey attitudes towards key industry issues, including creative quality; factors that drive great work; training and recruitment; the client/agency relationship and key trends that are influencing day to day creative work.

This year in the study we’re asking a small group of senior in-house CMOs and CCOs to explore how their creative requirements are changing. I’ve been working in the communications industry for nearly 25 years, with the past 7 focussed on creativity. In that time much has changed, and I believe that creativity is as relevant and important as it has ever been to driving business results.

But defining creativity in PR is no mean feat! In previous years we’ve asked respondents to define creativity and we’ve been asked to define it ourselves. As co-author for the fight edition of the Creativity In PR study I know that creativity in any domain is a notoriously tricky thing to define, but we thought we’d give it a go as we launch today!

Having researched and studied the subject extensively for my MSc in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership, there are definitely some common themes. When defining creativity in PR, what we’re really trying to define is how we measure the ideas we produce and implement for clients and stakeholders and the influence they have on business objectives. I believe that creativity in PR is defined by:

The ability to outthink the competition, rather than simply outspend them (earn it).
The novelty or ‘newness’ of the idea.
The emotion that the work stirs, particularly vs a purely rational argument.
The influence and impact (recommendation, media coverage, fame) delivered by the creative work.
The value of that influence and impact (profit, behaviour change, enhanced reputation).

Context is also important. In the cultural context of the consumer frenzy of the biggest trading day of the year – Black Friday – US retailer REI’s bold #optoutside campaign ensured that the brand stood out amongst a sea of sameness.

A pop up restaurant to promote a food brand is nothing new, but when it’s serving up bugs to promote Rentokil’s B2B pest control services like the award-winning Pestaraunt

Or a Walkers crisps sarnie cafe hidden speakeasy-style in a newsagent, the context changes the way we view the idea.

Take the creativity in PR survey here. Thanks for collaborating with us on this topic for this fifth edition of the study, and as ever we look forward to reading all your responses.