The Importance of Creativity in an Age of Clutter

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the role creativity plays in a communications era that is becoming increasingly decentralized, democratized, and, by definition, digital.  Seemingly, everything about communications is changing from the time that I first suspended my fingers over the keyboard of an “electric” Smith Corona “typewriter” and prayed mightily that the right words would come to me. 

Media platforms have changed and broadened.  Publishers have expanded to include everyone —and I mean everyone— with a point of view to express.  Traditional media outlets have cut their staffs and raced to embrace the new era of “sponsored content.”  Suddenly, it seems, we are living in a new world where everyone is an expert, everyone has an opinion to share, and everyone has an outlet through which to express their views.

And that brings me to a truth that all of us in communications need to remember.  If everyone is an expert, then no one is an expert.  It’s as simple as that. Yes, platforms have changed, as they always have and always will.  Yes, technology has empowered more individuals to position themselves as publishers and media outlets.  There’s nothing any of us in communications can —or should— do about the accelerating proliferation of platforms or outlets — except to master them with the one thing that has always counted the most, and always will count the most.  Creativity.  The big idea.  The right word.

In fact, in an age where everyone is an expert, the importance of creativity has never been greater.  Now, more than ever, it is critical that marketers work with agencies who know how to define the value of a client’s product or service and present it to all of their target markets in a way that is creative, concise, and compelling.  Clutter Cutting is critical to the success of any marketer in this new age of communications.

We should all take heart in that fact.  Now let’s get to work!