Before we start anything creatively, we have a firm understanding of our objective and our frame of mind for the campaign. Who's our audience, and what's their day-to-day behavior? How can we complement those behaviors? How is our message more than an interruption? Why would people care about what we're saying?
Interpretation
Understanding your audience and objectives is vital for effective communication in creative endeavors.
This quote emphasizes the importance of having a clear objective and understanding the audience's daily behaviors before embarking on any creative project. David Droga highlights that successful communication should resonate with the audience and not merely serve as an interruption in their day, urging creatives to consider the needs and interests of their target demographic for impactful messaging.
In practice
In a marketing meeting, when discussing strategies for a new product launch.
Long before social media existed, the proto-tweets of advertising had penetrated American popular culture: 'A mind is a terrible thing to waste.' 'Where's the beef?' 'A diamond is forever.' 'Think different.' You'd be hard pressed to find a writer's craft that has more directly influenced the vernacular.
A lot of people ask what it takes to move from being a creative to a leader: Take everyone's career personally. People will work hard for you if you work hard for them. Any idiot can be a boss; all you need is a title. But to be a leader, you need to earn respect and have an opinion you stand by.
To be creative, a person has to internalize the entire system that makes creativity possible. Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals.
If you have all the research, all the ground rules, all the directives, all the data - it doesn't mean the ad is written. Then you've got to close the door and write something - that is the moment of truth which we all try to postpone as long as possible.
People want to be creatively satisfied, and having fun is such an important part of that.
Never say no to an idea - you never know how that idea will ignite another idea.
We all feel that if we have a crazy idea that might get laughed at, there's nothing wrong with seeing if there's a crazy writer out there who agrees with us and can take it to a crazy network and somehow bring something that's a little bit daft and edgy to life.
If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
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