Everything can be monitored, everything can be coded, and every action leaves a digital footprint that can be analyzed to better understand consumer behaviors, adjust media strategies, and optimize the performance of content and action plans. But when it comes to creation, this approach often happens only afterward and sometimes beforehand. This means you do your best testing upfront, launch, and then crunch the numbers afterward to potentially 'improve.'
Creation: A Strategic Choice, First and Foremost
Every agency will tell you, creation is a strategic act. But how do you justify it? How do we (agencies) ensure, and reassure them (clients), that the proposed choices are relevant?
We sought out the answer by bringing together the creative, strategic planning, and tech teams at Insign around a method that has become a tool: the creative strategy canvas.
The creative strategy canvas is both a method and a tool to objectify the creative research. Let's be clear, it's not about 'doing the creation' instead of experts but rather framing a field of expression where genuine creative thinking can emerge and thrive, identifying zones of opportunity—blue oceans—and based on a collective and shared analysis of the competition.
The creative strategy canvas is based on the strategic canvas model developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne at the INSEAD Blue Ocean Institute. Their approach relies on the 'Blue Ocean Strategy,' which is a particularly effective decision-making tool in highly competitive markets.
Our creative strategy canvas, tailored to 'creative raw materials,' helps improve the efficiency of what is developed, whether it's brand territory, a communication campaign, etc., reducing the risk of missing the target. Moreover, it introduces rationality into the decisions being made. It aims to provide our interlocutors with tangible arguments towards their decision-makers concerning the choices made to ensure the success of their project, whether it involves enhancing brand awareness, consideration, or client acquisition.
The Canvas: How It Works
Based on a pre-developed value proposition (strategy), we work to codify the main elements that structure the 'vocabulary' of a market, combining our professional insights with those of our clients, who naturally offer a complementary and sometimes differing perspective. On one hand, there are constants (colors, typography, iconography, tone…) that are elements of the creative language, and on the other, the main markers of a given sector (e.g., representation of the final client, CSR promise, stance, etc.). By relying on the aggregation of mass-retrieved and analyzed materials, we can determine the degree of utilization of various variables, revealing potential investment or divestment zones that define the creative profile of our clients and their subjects.
Participants
A creative director, a strategic planner, a brand leader (in 'expert' version).
Additionally, a client team and a collective performance expert may join, responsible for conducting the workshop in its 'collaborative' version.
The whole process is supported by a tool that allows real-time aggregation of evaluations conducted by different participants and maps out the profile of each brand on a shared vision board. With each canvas exercise, the accumulated data feeds a regularly updated database, enabling us to construct success patterns and transform our experience into a tangible asset for our clients.
The synthesis of the creative strategy canvas is then shared with the client. Once approved, it becomes a common contractual element within the work process. It is also associated with the creative team's briefing document and thus complements the necessary data for creative exploration.
Feedback from Experiences
After two years of testing the analog version and since 2023 the digital version with various clients and prospects, here are some insights we can share on the performance of this tool:
Expertise
Encourages the search for brand differentiation in its market.
Makes creative choices more convincing (limits the 'I like/don’t like' syndrome)
Narrows the gap between the strategic phase and its creative expression
Simplifies creative thinking.
Strengthens the adviser's role of creatives (being able to discuss creation before any creative proposal)
Enhances creativity understanding among 'non-creatives.'
People
Client's adherence and involvement in the creative process (Alignment)
Smooths interactions among the various experts involved in the project (Alignment)
Creation becomes a collective topic within the project team (Involvement)
Process
Time saved on the project: fewer back-and-forths in creative presentation
Provides a lasting creative reference framework that can guide decision-making on future brand projects.
Objectification is crucial in the communication field. It can provide a rational foundation for thought and creative proposals without stifling creativity. It also acts as a means of rationalizing the choices made by the direct client towards their own stakeholders within the organization.
