Creative Strategy and the Business of Design

Creative professionals who want to remain relevant must be able to speak the language of business, understand the business and marketing goals involved in a project, and be able to follow or establish a solid strategy that supports their creative work. We could decide to simply concentrate on the job we were asked to perform, but this is an ineffective way to propose creative solutions, and create long-term professional relationships.

Every creative tactic, and therefore every execution, must go hand in hand with a solid strategy; otherwise there will be endless confusion and disagreements between members of the same creative team, and between the strategic and creative teams. In this case, people's egos also come into play, and everyone tends to assert their own idea at the expense of the bigger goal, which is to meet the client’s request objectively and strategically. Without a strategy that is supported by research and hard facts, it is easy to just focus on a creative idea, rather than a creative business solution.

There is a clear difference between simple execution and a solid strategy. If we imagine a game of chess, the strategy is the plan we use to put our opponent in checkmate, while the execution is the series of moves we make, in order to reach our objective. A strategic approach can be compared to the difference between taking swimming lessons, which is our strategy, and jumping straight into the water to learn to swim, which is our tactic.

Approaching a creative job from a strategic standpoint is the most effective solution to achieving long-term success. It takes longer, and requires more in-depth research, but it delivers better results for our current and future campaigns, by allowing the creative team to establish stronger and longer lasting relationships with the client.