It’s creative but is it ‘creative’?

My day at the Data and Marketing Association Awards by a Creative

The word ‘creative’ gets flung around a little too liberally for my liking. I’ve heard all of these at one point in my life.

“Young Adam is such a creative child” - when he’s actually just a hyperactive seven-year-old with a yet to be identified dyslexia condition.

“And now for the creative” - when presenting the 19th round of design amends. 

“Don’t mind him, he’s a creative” - as colleagues excuse a man in his late-30s lying prone on the studio sofa with his eyes closed and his shoes off. 

In the marketing and advertising industry it’s a word we really haven’t got to grips with. ‘Creative’ can refer to the work, the person, or the quality of what’s being produced. Simultaneously it elevates people in my role and excludes others from the creative process while being a useful label to charge clients a premium on the rate card. 

With seemingly little understanding of the word, I was surprised to be accepted as a judge in the Creative Solutions category for the Data and Marketing Association awards (or DMAs). Thrust into a room of 11 fellow industry professionals, it was down to us to decide if the creative could truly be recognised as 'creative (or even a solution).

Fortunately the DMAs isn’t just another self-congratulatory industry pat-on-the-back. Their mission is to put the rigour into the work by recognising results as well as craft. Besides the usual awards hyperbole (did your TikTok filter really ‘change everything’?), metrics for effectiveness were mandated in the submission. However, what numbers an agency chose to present could be subject to a creative award of their very own.

The submission criteria for the Creative Solutions category was pretty broad. With such a range of work from different sectors, how do you compare a b2b social activation for industrial chalk solutions against a long-running above-the-line campaign for cheddar cheese?

The answer was found in the diversity of the judging panel. Alongside the creative directors from agencies big and small.* We debated the merits of the work with media measurement strategists, journalists, and clients. This was further diversified with the inclusion of young rising stars to the judging panels.** 

This gave the room a real energy as people presented arguments for and against the submissions reflecting their professional and personal experiences. It allowed us to cut through the big budget superficiality of some projects and talk up the boldness of other smaller campaigns. All the time we were able to benchmark against the numbers they chose for the submission.

I’m honour-bound by the judges’ code*** not to mention specific submissions, so here are four top tips if you want to rise to the top of the nominations for the Creative Solution category in next year's DMAs.

You are DMA enough

When you’re from a boutique (read as small) agency it’s easy to think ‘what’s the point’ when you’ve got some really big network agencies flooding the submissions. But the DMAs are for everyone. A clear, concise, and insightful awards submission will go far in putting an underdog on top.

Don’t confuse pretty/shiny/expensive, with creative 

Identify what’s original about the idea and how that delivered results. It could be an unexpected casting decision, an ingenious tech hack, or even who chose to execute the work. A big brand and a big budget doesn’t necessarily mean a big idea. 

Tell a story with your stats

The strongest numbers were the ones that provided context to their success. They shared a benchmark to establish whether they met or exceeded those expectations. How creatively you write those targets is up to you. 

So, after my experience of judging on the DMAs, am I any clearer what a truly ‘creative’ solution might be? Let’s hope so, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide when the winners are announced on the fifth of December. 

Got to wrap this up now. I’m getting asked to put my shoes back on and get off the sofa, I’ve got next year’s awards entries to write.

Adam Kirby is the EMEA Creative Director at distillery.

For more creative musing, follow him on LinkedIn

* me

** not me

*** We had to perform a blood oath in front of the altar of the half-goat, half-Hegarty god of advertising before we began. I think Rob Mayhew officiated the proceeding but it was hard to know for sure over the sacrificial bleatings and sheer volume of fluid on the floor.