Ad agency professionals' mental models of advertising creativity

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to map advertising agency practitioners' mental models of creativity. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 30 in-depth interviews among top-level advertising agency executives (creative, account and planning directors) were conducted. Design and data analysis followed the grounded theory paradigm of qualitative research. Findings – Complementing earlier studies in advertising creativity, a multi-dimensional system of practitioner mental models was discovered. Substantive models depict agency professionals' core understanding of advertising creativity and its dialectical structure. Developmental models conceptualise the intrapersonal acquisition of creative skill as well as the social context in which advertising creativity is generated. Effectiveness models introduce native explanations for the market effectiveness of creativity. Interrelationships between the identified models are presented in detail. Research limitations/implications – Understanding the mental models of advertising executives enriches the literature on the production side of marketing culture. Practical implications – Shared understandings of mental models between advertising agencies and client brand management teams have the promise of reducing agency-client conflict. Originality/value – The study's contribution is threefold: it provides an integrated view on advertising practitioners' multifaceted mental models about creativity (an area that has received little prior research attention); it models these mental models in their dynamic interaction, going beyond previous accounts that looked at topical areas in creativity in relative isolation; it redresses an imbalance in marketing theory between the production and consumption contexts of marketplace culture formation.

Measuring Neural Arousal for Advertisements and Its Relationship With Advertising Success

“…Yet, research on personal theories of practitioners in advertising revealed that professionals in the field see attracting attention as the most important aspect of advertising (Kover, 1995;Nyilasy et al, 2013), and thereby assume that attention grabbing ads will be evaluated positively. Advertising agencies nevertheless realize that crafting a creative ad that cuts through the clutter involves taking a risk.…”

“…A first communication objective is increasing awareness in consumers, in order to be able to rely upon memory, either recall or recognition, before or at the moment of the purchase decision (Percy and Rossiter, 1992). Research on personal theories of practitioners in advertising revealed that professionals in the field see capturing consumers' attention as their main goal in order to break through "the clutter" of other advertisements and daily life (Kover, 1995;Nyilasy et al, 2013). A second objective of advertising is generating a favorable attitude toward the ad because of its influence on brand attitude (MacKenzie et al, 1986;Brown and Stayman, 1992) and subsequent behavior (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1977).…”

Seeing Native Advertising Production via the Business Model Lens: The Case of Forbes’s BrandVoice Unit

“…The ad agency world has been considered as a part of the creative industries, and ad people have prided themselves on their creative work. Many past advertising production studies focus on the issue of creativity (Nyilasy, Canniford, and Kreshel 2013;Nyilasy and Reid 2009a;Kover 1995b;Turnbull and Wheeler 2017), analyzing its nature, process, social context, and relationship to effectiveness. Nyilasy and Reid (2009b) treat "creativity" as a key element in the ontological status of advertising, which is a territory defined by creativity, art, and tacit skill.…”

“…Second, we ask the question about the ontology of advertising production research, particularly whether the "ad agency" is still a distinctive subsector or unit for analysis. There are several implicit assumptions in studies of advertising from a production perspective (Cronin 2004;Hirschman 1989;Kover 1995aKover , 1995bNyilasy, Canniford, and Kreshel 2013;Nyilasy and Reid 2009a;Turnbull and Wheeler 2017). First, regarding the research about advertising production, the classic ad agency is the default institution to examine.…”

Creative AI : a data-driven design approach for creative online ad optimisation using artificial intelligence and big data

“…One of the potential weaknesses in this multi-layered and variable approach, in a study conducted on said mental models, is the typical separation of marketing strategy from the artistic craftsmanship within the creative process (Nyilasy, Canniford & Kreshel, 2013, p. 1704. As a result, with the creative elements often separately crafted from factual consumer data points, award-winning creative advertising may not perform its original role of moving products from brand into consumer spending.…”