What do the companies expect from their agencies in terms of creativity?

Feasible creativity
“Creativity, understood as a level of innovation, is one of the most important criteria in our awards. We think agencies not only should, but must be creative and efficient”, says Lidia Sanz, assistant manager in the Spanish Advertisers Association. 

“The idea is great… but not feasible”. A common situation. Creativity doesn’t have value until we know how to implement it. Fernando Alonso, Pernod Ricard Spain event manager, says “we usually find a gap between creativity and ability to implement it”. Clara de Aguilera from BMW adds: “Often, an agency sells you a creative concept that is not feasible because of bureaucracy problems or licenses issues, or because they have never done this before, which increases costs”.

Efficient communication
Creativity is essential in order to surprise and impress, but above all, it has to serve a clear message transmission. “I miss a creative work shich gets the public to pay attention, and convinces them about my message”, says Begoña Ruiz, event manager for Citroen Spain. And she adds that usually agencies think form is more important than content: “Their creativity should be more about the claim, which includes the general message, than about decoration and technologies, which are just there to wrap the message”.

More innovation
While demanding feasible proposals, clients look for agencies which lose the fear and dare propose new ideas. Fernando Alonso comments: “I would like creative agencies to come down to earth, and more implementation-oriented ones to stop coming up with always the same ideas and visuals…”.

Balance and transparency
Many customers (also international ones) admit Spanish agencies have a good level of creativity. Obviously there are exceptions. As Renato del Bino, Fiat marketing manager, says, “Spanish creativity level can be very high, but not always. The most important thing is to find the balance between answers, efficient action and surprise the public with creativity”. Renato del Bino, considers creativity is very important, but as important is “the service mentality or transparency in relationships. The most important thing is that agencies feel part of the team”.

Serving the message
And in the choice of an agency, How important should creativity be? Without a doubt it is very important, but, like we have said before, the most important thing is to be able to transmit a message efficiently. “Creativity is without a doubt essential and makes the difference. It gives personality to the event because without it, all events would be similar. But it must serve our message or, at least, go in the same direction”, thinks Begoña Ruiz.

Clara Aguilera explain: “For us creativity is the key in the choice of an agency. The message has to be efficient. And we pay for that… but the right price. Creativity is so ephemeral that some times you don’t know if you are paying the right price or not.

Manuel Martínez, Desigual International Communication Manager, thinks a good creativity means success: “Creativity, for an event, is his starter. Success depends on it, and that means: you have positioned well your brand and your customer has been sensitive to your message; media have believed in your event; and you are creating a community with your customers.”