Does bad creative produce great sales?

The advertising industry has spent decades arguing about creativity, sales and brand building as though they are separate disciplines. Every few years, the debate resurfaces. Clients complain that agencies are more interested in awards than sales. Agencies complain that clients only care about short-term numbers. Marketers talk about performance marketing versus brand marketing. Somewhere in the middle, everyone seems to forget that the purpose of advertising is to create demand.

So let us start with a provocative question: Can bad creative produce great sales?

The answer is yes.

History is littered with examples of mediocre advertising supporting highly successful brands. A great product, superior distribution, attractive pricing, market dominance or simply a lack of competition can generate substantial sales despite uninspiring communication. Advertising does not perform miracles. More often than not, a good product succeeds despite poor advertising rather than because of it.

But that does not mean creativity is unimportant.

The real question is whether there is such a thing as "creative that sells" and "creative for creative's sake." Again, the answer is yes.

Most advertising professionals can recall campaigns that won every award imaginable but failed to move the needle in the marketplace. Consumers remembered the joke, the music, the celebrity or the visual spectacle, but forgot the brand behind it. Creativity becomes self-indulgent when it draws attention to itself rather than to the product.

A simple test applies. If people remember the advertisement but not the advertiser, creativity has failed its purpose.

The best creative work achieves something far more difficult. It makes the brand memorable, distinctive and desirable. It entertains, but it also persuades. It captures attention, but it also leaves behind a reason to choose the brand.

Which brings us to another popular claim: "Clients want sales today, not brand building."

This statement is often presented as though sales and brand building are opposing objectives. They are not. Sales activation and brand building operate on different timelines, but they serve the same business goal.

Sales activation creates immediate demand. It encourages consumers to act now. Brand building creates future demand. It ensures consumers think of your brand first when the buying decision eventually arrives. One fills today's order book; the other fills tomorrow's.

The danger arises when companies focus exclusively on short-term sales. Discounts, offers and promotions can certainly boost revenue. But over time they can train consumers to buy only when prices are reduced. The result is a business that grows volume while weakening value.

This leads to another question. Don't sales build brands?

The answer is both yes and no.

Sales are evidence that consumers are buying. A brand is the reason they choose you.

Consider two restaurants. One is packed because it offers deep discounts. The other is packed because people believe it serves the best food in town. Both generate sales. Only one is building a strong brand. Both may have full tables today, but only one is likely to retain customers when the discounts disappear.

In that sense, sales create revenue while brands create preference. And preference is what allows businesses to command a premium, survive competition and endure over time.

Perhaps the advertising industry has framed the debate incorrectly for too long. The issue is not creativity versus effectiveness. Nor is it sales versus brand building.

The objective is creating profitable future demand.

Sometimes that requires a tactical sales message. Sometimes it requires long-term emotional brand building. Most often, it requires both.

The best campaigns do not choose between creativity and effectiveness. They recognise that creativity is a means, not an end. Its role is to make a brand more memorable, more desirable and easier to choose.

The most successful advertising is neither art for art's sake nor commerce stripped of imagination. It is creativity applied in service of business.

After all, consumers do not buy advertisements.

They buy brands.

And the finest advertising ensures they remember why.

 Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.