Why does creativity matter more than ever in media campaigns?

Recently I had a conversation with a friend about marketing and how the perception can often be different from the reality. Marketing is often seen as a highly creative industry, focused on ideas, fresh perspectives and new approaches. Fundamentally this is true and we’re all in the business of creativity. However, alongside this, marketing has developed into a data-driven discipline, focusing on measurable comms, marketing and business objectives to prove success. This creates a tension. Is marketing the creative art? Or is it the grounded science? The reality is that success comes from blending both – with creativity only growing in importance.

What are the dangers of relying on the science?

The development of science, data and numbers within marketing has helped with grounding the discipline and providing evidence of it’s benefit – but this comes with a risk. When a campaign succeeds, brands and agencies can often assume that they’ve cracked the code and found the silver bullet, creating a repeatable formula for success.

However, marketing isn’t that simple, and great campaigns rarely emerge from a rigid process. This was demonstrated in an article from Paul Feldwick, who worked on the Barclaycard campaign featuring Rowan Atkinson. This went on to be hugely successful, later winning an IPA effectiveness award, which may lead you to believe that the agency had figured it out – they’d created the recipe for a successful advertising campaign. However, the truth was far from this, where the process was messy, with more starts than just one and nearly six months passing?before anything was sent over for approval.

Fundamentally, this research demonstrates the importance of building a diverse team to generate creativity within marketing. Because, there isn’t a blueprint for generating a successful and creative campaign and sometimes it takes a variety of people who are essentially ‘stabbing around in the dark’ until they hit a good idea that sticks.

Sometimes, it takes spending some time on finding the solution, but then spending some time challenging the solution by?redefining the problem.

So how can you reframe the problem?

Creativity isn’t always about brand new ideas – it’s about seeing the problem differently. In the same way that reframing is really powerful in comms (because we make different decisions based on how information is presented to us), approaching a problem in the same way can be a powerful way to change our decisions (and ultimately, our approach!). ?

There is a good example of redefining the problem from a case study based on Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s had challenged their agency to drive an additional ￡2.5 billion revenue, which in isolation, looks like a huge amount which isn’t easily achievable. However, one of the planners on the account reframed the problem:

If we divide the market growth by the number of store visits that we project, what the ￡2.5 billion equates to is an increase in spend of ￡1.14 for every single visit. So, we will meet the new financial targets so long as everyone spends ￡1.14 more

Data has shown that shoppers were ‘sleep-shopping’, so combined with needing to generate more revenue per visit and shake people out of a rut, the ‘Try Something New’ campaign was born. This campaign focussed on encouraging people to shop from simple meal ideas, trying something new which meant spending more on shopping. This campaign achieved the required success and helped Sainsbury’s to meet their business goals.

In reality, it isn’t as simple as everyone spending an additional ￡1.14. Some people will spend only 75p more and others will spend ￡3.50 more, but it’s a good example of using a little bit of creativity in marketing and reframing of the challenge to find a new and creative solution, which was successful.

How does this relate to today’s media landscape?

We’re moving into a more automated, data-driven world, where creativity is now a key differentiator. In a world with AI and automation, brands can have access to more insights and efficiencies than ever before. However, whilst AI can optimise media placements, predict behaviours and personalise experiences, it can’t replicate human creativity, emotional intelligence and cultural nuance. ?

In an era where consumers are being bombarded with thousands of messages daily, attention is getting harder to earn. That’s why creative, memorable campaigns are more likely to cut through. Distinctiveness is key – and whilst data tells us what’s working, creativity is what makes it unforgettable.

This is where behavioural science can play a key role. Creativity isn’t just about bold ideas, it’s about understanding how people think and make decisions – leveraging psychology, heuristics and biases to shape behaviour in a meaningful way. The most effective media campaigns don’t just speak to audiences, they nudge them, inspire them and stay with them, long after the placement has gone.

What does this all mean?

The best marketing isn’t either creative or data-driven it’s both and in today’s world, creativity matters more than ever in media campaigns. Brands that embrace creativity beyond just the messaging, applying it to strategy, problem-solving and execution, will typically outperform compared to those relying solely on formulas and frameworks. The challenge for marketers? Not defaulting to data alone. Instead, balancing science with storytelling, analysis with imagination and optimisation with originality.

As the industry moves forward, the most successful brands will be the ones that don’t just chase efficiency, but also challenge, reframe and reimagine, because in marketing, creativity remains our most powerful advantage.