White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 10Data for 2008 confirm the recovery ofinvestments in the sectors in theenlarged area and non-conventionalforms of +3.2%. Investments on theweb are also expected to rise(+30,2%), partly boosted by the spreadof broadband and the increasedpossibilities offered by wirelessconnections which will also favourspecific marketing initiatives.Creativity and competitive identityThe area of communications mostconcerned with the theme ofidentity– its construction and maintenance –requires separate treatment.Investments in this kind ofcommunications are not easilymeasured, but nonetheless a growingnumber of companies, institutions andleading public and social players followmore closely the management oftheir visual identity as a preconditionfor any communication operations: i.e.which determines developmentstrategies of a relational preconditioncontained in corporatecommunications. Crossovers betweencommunications and marketing thusgenerate a vast application frameworkof techniques, products and services –both in the commercial and servicesareas – connected to the sphere ofpromotion.In the field of identity variousprofessional and disciplinary profilesare moving towards a synthesis. InItaly the field has a tradition and hasdeveloped fairly well, describing itselfas the creative value added in the need tobring together social and identityresearch, the historical culture oftradition (both of institutions and localrootedness), culture of designingintegrated communications, andreputation assessment (among usersand external interlocutors). Playerswho have set up this kind of visualidentity management (i.e. all largecompanies and now also some moderninstitutions, including the big citiesaware of the importance of publicbranding) create an organisation tomanage and control communicationsand advertising activities, constantlyfocused on highlighting (but alsoadjusting and re-orienting) acquiredsymbolic assetsCommunications and corporate identityDaniele ComboniAlthough the accounting system adopted in Italy does not allow a brand to becapitalised, unlike an Anglo-Saxon brand (a kind a “storeroom” where a good isdeposited and where the good is the expression of an intangible asset), in Italy, too, thethemes related to branding and identity are beginning to form a well-defined segment ofcommunications, with its own dignity, underlying professional system and recognisedtype of goods.Branding conceals a world of values, symbolic recognition, and sense of belonging andidentification which in fact is as old as the world (we only need a think of the value ofWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 248