Marketing Insight
Source: WFA
How to be more creative in 2023?
Sir John Hegarty shares three tips for marketers on how to be more creative than ever during the course of 2023.
Number 1. If you are what you eat, then you certainly are what you absorb: ‘Read shit, think shit, and you’ll create shit’. Only read good stuff, it might rub off. This doesn’t just mean I want you to buy a library of books on creativity, rather I would encourage you to read outside of your discipline. Find inspiration and lessons from others who hold knowledge and expertise within different industries. I have always read The Financial Times, this might seem strange as an Art Director or given the fact that I only understand about 10% of it, but I am convinced it gives me a competitive edge. Creativity is about thinking differently and how can you do that if you are fed the same information as everyone else in your industry?
Number 2. Emotions are contagious, so be an optimist, or at least surround yourself with optimists. Optimism is defined as “a feeling that good things will happen and that something will be successful”. I’m not encouraging arrogance or hubris but I do want an organisation filled with a positive self belief. If people have self belief they will be more likely to express and embrace new ideas. They will be willing to take a risk on something new, because they hold a genuine belief and hope that it might succeed. Apart from anything else, it will result in a happier environment and we all create better work when we are enjoying ourselves. After all, creativity should be fun. And remember optimism is contagious. What a wonderful thing to catch.
Number 3. Embrace inquisitiveness. Too often we feel stupid asking the very simplest of questions – “why?” This year I want everyone to become more comfortable with asking “why?” Why did you name your company that? Why did you do that, in that particular way? Why did you start your company or launch that product? The more inquisitive we are, the more we learn new ways to exist. Question with a restlessness. Children constantly ask questions, it is how they grow and their knowledge expands.
