If the web has proven anything? It has proven this simple tenet:
Ideas don't make you creative. Limitations do.
Anyone can create something amazing when they aren't confined by the burdens of execution and reality. True geniuses, create something amazing with the tools and restrictions that they are given.
This process of refining, strengthening and working around obstacles is what separates people who get paid to think creatively and those that just think they can.
We don't have to view a 30-sec spot. We don't have to view a print ad. We don't even have to look at a billboard.
We have to check our email. We have to track business in real time. We have to find data instantly.
We have to go online.
It's this key difference in thinking that may have finally broken the back of traditional advertising. The ability to share, embed and distribute mass amounts of content independently makes all but the best content disappear in the nether.
The internet is not the best medium for "pure" creativity. It may eventually become it. It isn't now. You are restricted to certain parameters in order to ensure functionality.
Great content is a part of the equation. But that's just it: it's a part.
The world has flipped on its head: TV, Radio and OLA are now supporting players to digital and public relations strategy. Community management and design will eventually take a seat at the big kids table as well.
(Digital and PR strategy includes: Search, Engagement, API usage, User Experience and Community.)
No one cares if you have a great idea if it doesn't work or they can't find it.
2009 is over, social communication won.
2010 is the year of community.
But creativity is always in style.
Photo Credit: lastmariner
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tagged as creativity in social marketing, creativity in social media, design marketing, function over form, inside the lines creativity, inverted funnel, marketing techniques, social marketing, user experience marketing
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Truth…the real talented creatives will be able to make something happen with the limitations provided. The out of the box thinking, however, is what allows the creatives to approach a problem from a unique angle, that no one else sees.
David
Community Manager, Scribnia.com
I think that we still need to take that approach…but be grounded in our thinking at the same time. What's the point of coming up with an awesome unbuildable thing?
Really enjoyed this post, Stuart. It's particularly relevant to me as I try to figure out how HS kids communicate and consume/exchange information and ideas. I agree that “the world has changed” but I think you might be better off saying that the world continues to change. I think the real out of the box thinkers will not only identify future patterns of change before others do, but, to your point, also act and utilize those creative thoughts within limitations.
What I'm curious about is how individuals, small businesses, or even large businesses can remain best suited to act on those ideas? What traits/practices can keep us open and flexible change? How can we expand our boundaries/limits to allow more room to adapt?
I saw David Meerman Scott's interview with Seth Godin and he states real creativity happens at the edges of the box. You don't have any resistance outside the box and if you settle for the middle well nothing really happens. If you take the lead and test the waters than when you push against the edges the most creativity happens. Here is the link… http://bit.ly/53Nag2
I totally agree with you about how things have changed. I would rather sit in on a #journchat than watch the CBS comedies and Men of a Certain Age. The DVR made me realize I can watch them when I want to and when it is best for me with out the commercials. But the thing I know I do is share and share more!!
There is still a place for traditional media because older people do not jump online and do not see the Internet as we do. I mean I have been online since 97 when I met my first love via a Yahoo IM. There needs to be a way to balance everything but only time will do that.
I saw David Meerman Scott's interview with Seth Godin and he states real creativity happens at the edges of the box. You don't have any resistance outside the box and if you settle for the middle well nothing really happens. If you take the lead and test the waters than when you push against the edges the most creativity happens. Here is the link… http://bit.ly/53Nag2
I totally agree with you about how things have changed. I would rather sit in on a #journchat than watch the CBS comedies and Men of a Certain Age. The DVR made me realize I can watch them when I want to and when it is best for me with out the commercials. But the thing I know I do is share and share more!!
There is still a place for traditional media because older people do not jump online and do not see the Internet as we do. I mean I have been online since 97 when I met my first love via a Yahoo IM. There needs to be a way to balance everything but only time will do that.
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