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R
ecently, I was speaking
in front of a group of
approximately 100 promotional
products distributors and posed
the following prompt: “Raise
your hand if you position yourself
as ‘creative’ to differentiate
yourself from your competitors.”
I would like to tell you that I was
surprised when about 85 people
raised their hands, but I wasn’t.
In an effort to be different from
the competition, far too many in
our industry reach for the easy
claim of creativity.
For those of you leveraging
your creativity in an effort to
garner the attention of prospects
and clients, I have some bad news
for you: creativity doesn’t exist
merely because you say it does.
Think about the illustration
above: 85 percent of the people
in the audience are using the
same exact word to express
how they are different to their
target audience. If you’re part of
85 percent of anything, you’re
part of the crowd and the exact
opposite of different.
Furthermore, like the
parameters for being elected into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
creativity is wildly subjective.
What one client might think of
as fabulously creative another
might perceive as horribly old
and tired. In other words, you
are raising both the perceptions
and expectations of your clients
by proclaiming your creativity.
Merely saying you are creative
doesn’t deliver on that promise.
Here’s an example that has
happened to many in our
industry: You work tirelessly on
finding and developing what
you believe is the most creative
solution for a client’s marketing
challenge only to find out during
the presentation that they used
the same product last year for a
different promotion, and it failed.
Or, even worse, your competition
presented the same merchandise
solution the previous day.
Suddenly your proclamation
of creativity has done the exact
opposite of setting you apart—it’s
only reinforced the perception
That Is, Unless
You Can Back It
UpWith Action
by
Bill Petrie
Creativity Is Meaningless
In an effort to be
different from the
competition, far
too many in our
industry reach
for the easy claim
of creativity.
22
|
NOVEMBER 2016
|
INNOVATE