Creative marketing

The complexity of business world has resulted in a new focus on the importance of creativity and marketing. In the face of business-customer relationships becoming more complex than ever before, together with the advent of advanced technology for business, creativity and marketing have to work together in order to better meet changing demands of customers. Out of this consideration, concepts of creativity, marketing, and creative marketing will be presented first in this essay, followed by an exploration of how an emphasis on creativity can affect the innovations, process and products in the discipline of marketing. Two selected major examples will be examined for illustration of the effects. In the conclusion section, this essay will give the responses to the said examples.

Creativity is very frequently thought of as “the mental ability to imagine new, unusual or unique ideas, to see the new connection between seemingly random or unrelated things” (Rigie and Harmeyer 2009). In addition to its usual meaning of an “imaginative activity” to produce original and valuable outcomes (Craft 1999, 3), creativity is also depicted as a revolutionary process. It allows people to have the freedom to express their thinking and insight (Bilton 2006, 3). Marketing, on the other hand, is defined as individuals and organizations creating value for customers in a social and managerial process (Kotler and Armstrong 2008, 29).

Generally speaking, a scrutiny of creativity and marketing reveals a strong collaborate relationship. Creative marketing literally refers to the employment of creativity in marketing or the combination of creativity and marketing. Marketing researchers increasingly explore the connection between creativity and marketing (Titus 2007). Among the researchers, Ted Levitt (1986, as cited in Titus 2007) argues that there is a close link between marketing practice and creative thought and imagination, and concludes that all success in marketing practice starts with an imaginative thought or idea.

Creative marketing plays a vital role in marketing. According to Fillis and Rentschler (2002, 13), creative marketing represents a problem solution and offers new strategies
for profit-making for businesses, big companies, or self-owned enterprises smaller in scale. Creative marketing is much more focused on product design, which is to capture customer’s attention. Roberts and Berger (1999, 121) argue that creative marketing could be the solution of a marketing problem when a new product design is created. As part of creative marketing, creativity plays an important role in product design. It not only adds value to the final product, but also affects decision, processes, and stages of product development, three of the four critical factors identified by Karwowski (2006, 1559) in product design (a fourth factor being persons). The implications of creativity are missing conformity, safety, and unpredictability; creativity involves risk (Klein 1990, 65).

The phase of product design and development can be facilitated by communication structure and risk-taking (Karwowski 2006, 1561). With the rapid development of technology, most international corporations emphasize prolonged innovation (Kotler et al. 2006, 679), and applaud innovation and risk-taking from their employees, because these qualities provide potential opportunities to make profits in the long run. Successful companies must be those who seek to multiply the positive roles of creativity based on their insightful understanding of it. Fundamentally, the success or failure of a company is eventually partly determined by its attitudes and harnessing of creativity in the process of its new product conceiving, design and development, as well as the new product marketing later on.

Nintendo is a Japanese multinational corporation. It was originally founded to produce poker cards and eventually becomes one of the world’s most influential video game industry leader (Stead 2008). In mid 1990s, when two most advanced products, the playstation2 and Xbox released respectively by Sony and Microsoft companies, were invented and marketed, the Nintendo video game products dropped to the third place in the fiercest video market competition. To reverse the situation, Nintendo invented a revolutionary motion sensing wireless technology called Wii, which makes it possible for sedentary gamers to play games without chairs and play vividly into the virtual games. The creative invention of Nintendo became an immediate and sensational hit. Relying on it, Nintendo succeeded in getting its video game sales rate back to the first place.

Originally, Nokia was making paper products as well as communication cables and equipment in Finland. Starting in 1960s, one of Nokia divisions began to produce mobile radios for business and military purposes. In 1984, Nokia invented the first Talkman communication device, a portable phone, a creative extension to landlines. In 1992, Nokia decided to focus on its telecommunications business. This was probably the most important decision as it led to the invention of the first international mobile phones (Nokia 2009). The demand for mobile phone has been growing dramatically because mobile phone caters to customers’ need and desire for convenience and fashion, and this has to be satisfied with creativity and innovation. Nokia orients its mobile phones towards customers' routine lives, making these products more recreational and more practical, as being the characteristics of such products needed by the general public. More importantly, the many creative promotional advertisements Nokia provides for marketing its products put its creative ideas to the mobile phone customers. The product aspect of marketing involves innovation and product development by research which is much based on inherent creative marketing knowledge to be applied in generating new technological device (Reponen 2003, 126). This is another vivid example of how successful products are to make them possible by the use of creativity. A business tycoon achieved tremendous success by using creative marketing ideas.

This essay briefly explores concepts and functions of creativity, marketing, creative marketing and then provides two typical examples of how international-level corporations have managed to achieve success by skillfully utilizing these aspects of business when faced with fierce competition in spite of difficulties or risks they would very likely encounter in the attempt. These examples clearly show the successful application of creative marketing in the modern business world, which reinforces the integrated approach of creativity and marketing.

In order to be a successful marketer in the real world, I need first to take what is conducive and beneficial to me from the discussed business conceptualizations and examples. Creativity is the source of product development, which is based on personal attributes and innovative competence. Creativity is an important skill for business practice. When doing marketing in the real world, first of all I must generate creative ideas and put them into commercialization as in today’s business environment, creative ability is becoming an increasingly essential part of personal trait. To that end, I need to be in possession of some level of personal creative characteristics. Andrews and Smith (1996) indicate that the critical factors determining marketing creativity include individual problem-solving ability and motivational factors which are intrinsic motivation and risk-taking. More encouragingly, Rickards (1997, as cited in Bessant 2003, 11) states that “everyone carries the basic creative capabilities for finding and solving problems and exploring new opportunities.” The belief and the need for constant innovation confirm the creative practice to overcome challenge and create unprecedented market advantages. Also, the two aforesaid corporate examples illustrate the effectiveness of creative marketing and the willingness to do things in different ways. Further, the economic recession that has been in existence requires increasingly creative marketing for customers (Wheaton 2009, 10) as well.

Risk is something unavoidable for someone with creative spirits in conducting business. The two examples serve as excellent encouragements for me to face risks in my practical marketing work. However, a personal willing to take risks in his or her occupation does not follow that the person can take any risks at the price of anything. When there is a real need for me to take risks, I will examine and analyze the situation first before taking reasonable risks. As I understand it from head to toe, risk-taking is to maximize and boost the benefits of marketing and the interests of the customers.

Furthermore, technology is the foundation of new inventions as seen in both examples. Without excellent mastering of advanced technology, it is impossible to invent new products, and mention nothing of creative marketing later on. Inventing new products takes imagination and motivation, which are also crucial elements in the creative marketing efforts to market the products. Although advanced technology is generally beyond me, I will still endeavor to learn as much as I can master it in any technological aspects of the products when I am in the pursuit of creative marketing practice. In addition to the above mentioned necessary personal characteristics, there is no doubt that to do my marketing work steadily and smoothly, motivation is also a decisive factor for success. Yet this is not a problem for me as I am always highly motivated to perform my marketing work by recognition of creative marketing learning from both peers and superiors as best as I could. With a sense of creativity, a valuable personal trait of risk-taking, marketing strategies, and related adequate technological knowledge about my products, I am fully confident in myself being a marketer as successful and high-achieving as I long to be.