Creativity

Chuck Brymer of DDB Worldwide says that marketing today means influencing the swarm. And to do that a company’s brand has to stand for something (conviction), you have to get people involved with that brand and your product (collaboration), and do it in a way that is unexpected and wakes them up (creativity). See Rob’s post on Brymer’s talk at the AMA conference for more deets

Doing all three of these well is tough because you can’t really fake conviction, collaboration, and creativity (many try). Creativity, though, has got to be the hardest one to actually pull off in business. Too scary. Too unknown. Too expensive. But really, being creative only has these downsides when you do it half way, when you play it safe.

If you can get into the creative space, it’s much easier to have conviction about what you’re doing and, then, being collaborative is simply the easiest way to get to where you want to go. Being creative starts with knowing yourself and connecting that to the world around you. So, get creative. Umair Haque is right when he says creativity now trumps strategy.

That’s why I love Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin. Not just what it is today, but what it’s always been. That is one highly creative individual.