USP vs CEP

Every day, in advertising agencies across the world, a creative will sit down at their desk and look over a brief. On that brief there will be a range of areas covered off including objectives, audience, budget, considerations and (most importantly) the USP.

It’s a shame because largely the power of a USP is just a myth.

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Matt Arbon
The Library: Messy by Tim Harford

We’ve just finished reading the latest book from Undercover Economist author, Tim Harford.

Messy takes a look at how people and businesses can become more creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world.

The book is an enlightening read that provides some wonderful insights on the surprising benefits of disorganisation, collaboration and improvisation.

Here are a few key takeouts for the marketing and advertising industries.

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Matt Arbon
6 Stages Of The Creative Process (And How Non-Creatives Can Contribute)

Information, Inspiration, Incubation, Ideation, Interrogation & Implementation.

In advertising the creative process can often appear to be a little mysterious. This is in part why, once a brief is handed over, the creatives are then placed into (often self-imposed) isolation. From that point on the majority of responsibility is placed onto their shoulders. And sure, as a creative myself, I can attest that a period of time without interruption is certainly required. However, when we break it down into its specific stages, it becomes clear that ideation is only one small part of the overall creative process. As a result it’s possible for us to identify a variety of ways that the 'non-creatives' involved can make valuable contributions.

Brainstorms however, are not one of them.

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Matt Arbon