Supporting business with creativity

David O’Hearns at Dawn Creative argues that more businesses need Creative Directors on the board

 

Businesses with Creative Directors on the board are very much in the minority. With creativity typically viewed as a softer skill, it has historically been undervalued – both in business and in wider society – pushed aside in favour of more robust skills, such as technology, finance, and strategy. 

 

But when properly applied, technology can be used to influence and enhance every element of a business, not just its marketing campaigns, but company culture, employee engagement, the leveraging of data, and financial success. So, could more businesses benefit from the appointment of a Creative Director?

 

How can creativity support a business?

When you think of creativity in business, the mind immediately turns to marketing. With the right creative input, a brand can transform both its marketing efforts and the way it is perceived by the public, both in the B2B and consumer spaces. But that is not the limit to creativity’s remit. It can support a business in a wealth of other ways. 

 

From the building of company culture and the promotion of open communication to the enhancement of operational performance and the achievement of financial goals, creative approaches can augment the way a business works.

 

By bringing new insights and new viewpoints to established processes, creativity can subtly change the status quo, allowing for new ideas without stomping on too many toes. But it usually takes the guidance of a Creative Director who completely understands the overarching goals of the business to achieve this. 

 

The value of the Creative Director 

While the Creative Director should have their own unique remit, in most instances, it is not a role that can deliver the most benefit while working in isolation. Rather, a collaborative approach is called for, if the Creative Director’s skills are to benefit the entire business.

 

So, when the Creative Director collaborates with the Finance Director, for example, they may find new solutions to help with goal attainment, be that cost-cutting without reducing staff count or enhancing sales by shaping marketing campaigns.

 

This can be applied to various scenarios, from reducing employee churn by improving culture, training, communication, engagement, and loyalty, to enhancing product development through applying creativity to answer market needs.

 

This isn’t about stepping on toes and intruding on other people’s responsibilities, but rather bringing a second opinion, an alternative way of doing things to support, innovate, and improve the solutions that are already in place. 

 

Only few Creative Directors on boards

While some businesses do already have a Creative Director, many are limited to leading the marketing team, and they do not have a place on the board. The primary reason for this is that although creativity is now becoming more valued within the marketing sphere, it is still generally considered as less important than the traditional business attributes – the hard, analytical thinking of strategy and finance. And this partly comes from wider society. 

 

Creative roles have rarely been viewed as top-tier careers. Even though we all enjoy the results of the various arts, being an artist is still not always viewed as a ‘proper’ job, and parents and teachers will encourage their children to have a backup plan. Sure, you go ahead and dream about being a dancer… But maybe train to be a plumber too, just so you have a backup plan when - if it all goes wrong.

 

And this is a view that has been carried into the Board Room, so while Managing Directors can appreciate a clever, compelling and creative advertising campaign, or a clever, compelling, and creative solution to recruitment, they don’t all truly appreciate the role of creativity within the corporate infrastructure.  

 

It’s time for Creative Directors to join the board

Creativity plays a greater role in our society than ever. Thanks to the dawn of social media, we see creativity everywhere. And everyone has a chance to get involved, whether it’s through the writing of blogs, the filming of vlogs, or the creation of memes. While this is generally a positive thing for creativity, it does mean that businesses are having to work a whole lot harder to get their content and their brand seen in an increasingly saturated world.

 

The other problem this brings is that being seen is no longer enough because technology has also brought with it a savvier marketplace, where customers know more and demand more – including honesty and transparency. Meaning that the way brands present themselves is vitally important. And it’s a challenge that many – particularly in the old guard of established and more traditional businesses – are struggling with, due to a lack of creativity.

 

With the introduction of the Creative Director, boards can help address not only how their business is perceived, but how it operates, using creativity to answer the growing pressures and problems while injecting innovation into its very foundations.

 

With a Creative Director involved in board-level decision-making, businesses have a fresh new resource at their disposal. And it won’t automatically resolve every problem. But it can work to incrementally change the way a business works, supporting creativity throughout, enhancing brand perception for all, and enabling positive change. 

 

---

 

David O’Hearns is founder and MD at Dawn, a creative agency on a mission to rid the world of bad design and poor communication. 

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com