Question of the Week - What Makes Some Creative People Rather… Difficult?

This is a particularly relevant question for those working in the ad industry - seeing as it’s the primary refuge for creative

people who have ceased romanticizing starvation and homelessness in the name of their creative venture. 

So yeah, there is more than a handful of advertising creatives who never envisioned themselves designing ads for walk-in bathtubs or attempting to convey the sheer excitement of banking apps. And they may not be thrilled about it.

But that’s not really the reason they can be challenging. It’s much more than that. And just to be clear, we’re not isolating creative people as the sole proprietors of onerous behavior. 

There Are Jerks in Every Line of Work

Take surgeons, for example. Many of them - men and woman alike - have that certain je ne sais quoi. Let’s call it outright over-the-top cocky swagger. But think about it. It makes perfect sense. When you’re getting cut open, do you want the surgeon who’s going into battle for you to be confident and aggressive? Or would you rather have an easy-going, agreeable barista type on the front line? 

It’s not all that different with creative people. Some of their being seemingly difficult is born out of necessity. And some of it is just part of being a creative in a society that doesn’t always embrace it.

Way back in the mid-1990’s, Psychology Today published an article by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People, that highlighted the creative personality. And he’s something of an expert on the topic, seeing as he spent over 30 years researching how creative people live and work. Much like Jane Goodall and her chimps. 

He prefaced the PT article with this: “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.”

So it sounds like they should be easy to get along with and to understand. But what Csikszenthmihalyi found is that it’s far more complicated than that. 

It turns out that one huge requirement of living as a “creative” is this:

They Must Possess the Ability to Inhabit Opposite States of Being Simultaneously

And at all times.

For example, in their work to bring forth a new reality, creative people alternate between the flightiness of imagination, and the rootedness of that reality. 

And in order to stay innovative, they must also keep one foot forever in the stream of rebellion, and the other in the pool of conservatism. Because it seems that innovation is most easily digested when reckless abandon is mixed with a measure of stability.

In their work, creatives also have to balance being playful and disciplined, extroverted and introverted, humble and proud - this last one being particularly challenging. And since they tend to be open and sensitive, they’re prone to both deep suffering and pain, as well as surges of mind-blowing enjoyment.  

In other words, being a creative simultaneously dwelling in two worlds at all times takes some nerve, some grit and some unorthodox coping skills. And, just as with the aforementioned surgeon, the chutzpah required to navigate this difficult situation is often mislabeled as being difficult, challenging, jerky and a series of other demeaning and incriminating adjectives. 

The biggest difference between the jerky creative and the jerky surgeon though is that almost nobody questions the surgeon. But creatives have to field questions (and criticism) about their work. ALL OF THE TIME. And regardless of the adage, there are plenty of stupid questions. 

So here’s the thing.

Creative People Have to Willing to Take Risks and Break from the Safety of Tradition

Which is usually not a problem since most are, by nature, prone to deep thinking and not terribly compliant. In fact, studies have shown that the part of the brain that lights up for creativity is also the part that controls rumination, pondering and self-awareness. In other words, their brains are created to push, reinvent and question. And it can be irritating for those around them. 

We get it. 

But some of the most creative people in history - Frank Lloyd Wright, Maria Callas and Oscar Wilde, to name a few - were famously difficult to be around. 

Yet it is also highly creative people who incite progress and institute change. So maybe they’re hard to work with. And you might call them difficult. Burdensome. Jerks.

Because they are sometimes. But keep in mind that it can be uncomfortable to be around people who bring dissent and want change. Especially for people who don’t want change. 

Which begs the question, are those who resist change just as difficult? 

Something to consider.

Question of the Week: How Will the Lack of Net Neutrality Impact Influencer Marketing?

That’s a good question. And if we had a crystal ball (or believed in them) we could answer it (or pretend to). 

As professional marketers, we can only guess what the impact will be on influencer marketing at this point. What we can say for certain is that there WILL be an impact.

And it might happen sooner than later.

What Was the Benefit of Net Neutrality?

Those who favored the now halcyon days of net neutrality are concerned that Internet providers will start giving preferential treatment to sites that pay them or that they own. And if history has anything to say about it, that sounds about right. 

Furthermore, without net neutrality, those same providers are able to legally discriminate against sites that they don’t like. And they can choose to not like them for any reason at all. 

It doesn’t even have to be a good reason. They may simply not like the cut of the site’s jib. As such, they will make it much harder and SLOWER for people to access those sites.

Now, since influencer marketers rely on their websites,

content, and audience engagement to grow, they’re obviously concerned that without those fair access principles in place, their presence will be weakened. (Like going from a triple shot espresso to a cup of diner coffee.) 

Especially if the ISP Grand Poobahs - like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast - start placing commercial interests  first. 

So what does this all mean?

The Loss of Net Neutrality Will Change Influencer Marketing

And while several ISPs have publicly vowed to maintain neutrality, not all of them have. Over time, this is bound to have some repercussions.

1. Say Good-Bye to Unlimited Data

The repeal of net neutrality will likely be felt on the mobile level first. Broadband companies - if they so choose - could put the kibosh on streaming services and choose pay-by-play data packages instead. 

Influencers who rely on Instagram and Snapchat will probably see a reduction in the streaming content these platforms produce. Again, to keep data usage costs down.

2. Influencers Will Have to Charge More to Brands and Agencies

With net neutrality, audiences became accustomed to getting their content quickly. But as this starts to change, influencers and influencer networks will have to start paying out to the ISPs to get speed. (Sounds vaguely like a drug deal.) This cost will then be passed down to the agencies and brands who hire influencers.

Which leads us to point #3.

3. All Hail the Micro-Influencer

It could potentially become more and more expensive for brands to work with high-tier influencers. So rather than use a well-known influencer (think Beyoncé), they may have to leverage several micro-influencers (think The Backstreet Boys) across a campaign to get the word out. 

For the money they’re paying, these agencies will need to squeeze as much out of those micro-influencers as possible. And those Backstreet Boys are just not the chipper upstarts they once were. 

4. “You Can’t Put a Price on Knowledge”

Unless you’re an ISP.  

The thing is, most Americans get their news and info from search platforms and web-based encyclopedias. The sheer volume of content and the archival nature of the data on these sites makes them more expensive to host. As ISPs are now free to charge these “heavy-hitter” sites, the sites are then forced to charge users a subscription fee to offset those costs. 

And don’t believe for a minute that you can just get all your information from the “Uncle Larry’s Cavalcade of Interesting Facts” website. If the ISP feels that Uncle Larry wronged them, they’ll make it really difficult to see Uncle Larry. Or make him “disappear.” 

While this last point on paying for knowledge has a less direct impact on influencer marketing, it is a scary thought overall.

The Loss of Net Neutrality May Not Be That Bad

Again, we just don’t know.

It would be nice to believe that these ISP empires will recognize they don’t need to make any more money. It would also be nice to believe that nobody ever suffers. Especially puppies.

The bottom line of the loss of net neutrality could very well mean higher prices for the end user. At first, it may not seem like much. But who knows what it says for the long run?  

We sure don’t. But we can guess.

Question of the Week: What Is the Future of Interactive Advertising?

Remember the days before interactive advertising? Back when you knew your cola was enriched with coca leaves and snake oil was all the rage?

Okay, it wasn’t quite that long ago.

But Interactive Advertising Did Not Start with the Internet 

It was already around - at a decidedly more rudimentary level - in the form of things like customer surveys, focus groups and Ovaltine.

Yeah, Ovaltine. Back in the (not so) glorious days of radio programs, they encouraged listeners to save proofs-of-purchase from jars of (not so) delicious Ovaltine to obtain radio premiums. Radio premiums, in this case, were secret decoder rings, badges or pins that the lucky obtainers could use to decode messages during Little Orphan Annie or Captain Midnight. 

You can bet the good folks in Bern, Switzerland - where Ovaltine is still produced to this day - used that feedback to “analyze” how they could improve upon their advertising. 

Of course, the definition of “analyzing data” in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s was about as different from its current definition as “happy returns,” which once meant “vomiting.”

Even so, it was the internet that really got people excited about interactive advertising and, more specifically, analytical data that could be transformed into actionable insights. 

Analytical Data Was Groundbreaking Stuff 

Customer surveys and lukewarm chocolate beverages aside, advertisers soon discovered they had this new superpower at their fingertips. Rather than using this power for evil, they got to work tweaking ad approaches, changing up colors, swapping out content and then soliciting feedback from their target audiences. 

Savvy advertisers could now give their potential customers a chance to interact with companies and their advertising, as opposed to simply being recipients of the pitch. This gave them some savory feedback.

But as valuable as that feedback was, it still took a backseat to the analytical data that tracked how those changes affected the ad’s performance. And soon enough, the wild world of interactive advertising was going beyond simple clickthroughs and banners to branch out to social media, branded games and polls and a slew of other approaches. 

What’s the Next Phase of Interactive Advertising?

While advertisers grapple with how to best wrangle the powerful animal that is interactive advertising, they’re also curious about where this dynamic, volatile creature is heading next.

There are, of course, varying opinions on the matter. But two components seem to be taking center stage:

New Technology and Content

And they’re in cohoots.

Advertisers are discovering how combining street campaigns with social media, innovative technology and powerful storytelling are coming together to create lasting effects.   

So the future of interactive advertising seems to be facing the challenge of how to integrate this shiny new technology, the internet and - perhaps most importantly - entertainment and good storytelling into advertising campaigns which consumers feel compelled to connect with rather than block.

It’s a big order.

But here’s what could potentially happen:

The creation of engaging content will boost the cost of buying ad space. This will have a domino effect on the quality of ads - meaning that they’ll also have to be higher quality. That means fewer ads. But those that are birthed will demand attention. Like a child with a temper tantrum. But far more entertaining. And that’s the operative word. Entertaining.

It Is Advertising Posing As Entertainment

Interactive advertising may just evolve into content that is

indistinguishable from regular entertainment. Yet it’ll be just as effective in leaving a lasting impression on consumers.

Ads that create a dialogue between the consumer and advertiser will be those that make a difference. The future of interactive advertising could just create a world where ads are enjoyable and advertisers are paid good money for great content, not spin.

Imagine that.

Marketing Question of the Week: Why is logo design such an important part of marketing your brand?

Your logo is just one piece of your branding strategy. And though its size and its tendency to tuck itself into a corner may make it seem inconsequential, your logo is no wallflower.

In essence, your logo is a small ad for your company. It’s true.

And once you have well-developed branding strategy, your logo portrays your values and your goals, while conveying the message of your company.

And it does this universally.

“A logo done and standardized for a company service or product provides continuity and consistency across all platforms,” says John LeDuc, founder of LeDuc Creative and designer extraordinaire. “Since digital advertising has become so text driven, the logo serves even more to bring in that continuity.”

A well executed logo design (with the right colors, appropriate font, etc.) creates confidence in your brand. At the same time, this quiet little graphic can speak volumes in differentiating you from your competitors.

Your logo is how consumers recognize and respond to your company. An evergreen design that stands the test of time (think IBM or Shell) reflects not just the strength your brand, but also its growth.

Bottom line?

Your logo will help keep your brand message consistent while establishing and increasing consumer recognition.

University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr once said that consistency is the greatest measure of performance. “And that’s what a logo does for a brand,” John adds. “It helps the message of the brand perform.”