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INTRO-
DUCTION
DAVID SABLE,
GLOBAL CEO,
Y&R
Creativity + Innovation. Two lofty
words, two ideas, two thoughts
that are increasingly intertwined,
interchanged and, in our opinion,
confused. In fact, so much so that
at Y&R we have created our own
specific definitions to help us and
our clients understand the difference
between them, as well as the power
and leveragability they have in
tandem.
Creativity and innovation, we’d
argue, are nothing less than the core
of our business and progressively
more about its future. And we believe
it’s the combination of the two that
is increasingly taking center stage at
Cannes.
Here is how we define them:
Creativity is storytelling and
innovation is how we drive the
stories through channels. It is the
combination of the two that creates
rich new experiences for consumers
that attract them to a brand and
sustain their loyalty.
Creativity without innovation is
increasingly one-dimensional and
ineffectual. Innovation without
creativity is ultimately boring. By
definition, both reflect things that are
new. And so it follows that the culture
we create for a brand continually
needs the power of creativity and
innovation to keep it moving forward.
Without question, we have amazing
technologies and social media that
we can use today. But let’s be clear.
Innovation is something larger and
more powerful than new technology.
Our industry is already too littered
with what I call GMOOTs—the
reflexive give-me-one-of-those—a
Facebook page, something “viral,”
or whatever is bandied about as the
technology du jour, a clear confusion
of what’s current in technology rather
than what gives a brand its own
unique currency.
Given creativity plus innovation,
our real emphasis should be on
hunting for smart new ideas, new
ways of understanding consumers
and interpreting data and
understanding the changing realities
of the marketplace. And, yes, figuring
out the enormous potential of
technology to tell our brand stories.
Some of the joys of our business
are challenging old assumptions,
making new discoveries, thinking
about what we do differently. In this
volume, we’ve asked some of our
people from all over our network to
share what they’re thinking about
right now. We’ve also gone outside
the agency and asked a couple of
people we deeply respect to share
some of their ideas. We hope these
pieces trigger your own thoughts and
discussions, and we’d be happy to
hear from you at ideas@yr.com.
Thousands of years later, Homer’s
epic stories are still being told.
They’ve evolved from live storytelling
to written manuscript. They’ve been
mounted on the stage, made into
movies, Internet sites and games,
and who knows what forms they will
take in the future. Combining the
brilliant story with every generation’s
latest technology has helped keep
Homer’s stories as alive today as they
were back then. It’s up to us to do
the same for our clients…and that will
take both creativity and innovation. ■
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