Creativity as a Force for Growth

Brands can seek to foster innovation through cross-functional collaboration and a broad definition of creative thinking.

“While we’re united around that high-level strategy, we also have to give employees the freedom to be creative and share new ideas about how to accomplish that transformation.”

In a business world that often prioritises the bottom line, it’s easy for organisations to lose sight of the value of creativity. Attracted by the relative safety of the tried and true, leaders may blindly follow industry playbooks, mimic competitors, or look for incremental improvements to tired strategies.

Yet taking the path less travelled can make all the difference in the way businesses design systems, foster employee collaboration, engage with customers, and convert challenges into opportunities. In fact, creativity is linked to business growth, according to Deloitte’s 2023 Global Marketing Trends research, which includes a survey of 1,015 C-suite leaders and interviews with more than two dozen marketing executives worldwide.

Respondents at high-growth brands – defined as those with annual revenue growth of 10% or more – are more likely to have a mindset and processes that allow creativity to flourish. In practice, this means that high-growth brands are more likely to view creative ideas as essential to long-term success and more likely to create an environment that encourages risktaking and cross-functional collaboration. They also consider creative thinking to be one of the most important attributes for employees to possess.

While new ideas can come from anywhere, CMOs – as the executive closest to the customer – may be best positioned to identify and activate new ideas across the enterprise. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that high-growth companies also tend to lean more heavily on marketing to foster innovative thinking. To push their organisations away from the status quo toward something new and better, CMOs can consider the following strategies:

• Redefine creativity. Creativity is no longer confined to single advertisements or campaigns. Marketers who expand beyond the more traditional, narrow approach to creativity can deliver innovation not just in one-off projects but across products, services, and experiences that can differentiate a brand.

• Bring the rest of the organisation along. While marketing can take the lead, advancing innovation requires buy-in from all functions. For example, it’s important for marketing and innovation teams to work closely with sales, operations, and supply chain – because reliably bringing new products to market depends on cross-functional collaboration to commercialise, supply, and scale an innovation.

• Inspire others to think differently.

Creative thinking tends to flourish in an environment where employees feel comfortable taking risks – yet fostering that climate requires strong leadership. “At the U.S. Census Bureau, there’s an enterprise transformation occurring, where we’re trying to deliver on our mission of measuring the American people, places, and economy in ways that better meet demand for faster, more accessible, easily digestible information,” says Tasha Boone, assistant director for communications. “While we’re united around that high-level strategy, we also have to give employees the freedom to be creative and share new ideas about how to accomplish that transformation.”

Beyond the Organisation

Today, creativity isn’t limited to the four walls of an organisation. As brands increasingly partner with social media creators and influencers, those collaborations could provide a new source of innovation. Deloitte’s survey revealed that use of creator partnerships will likely double in the next year, with notable increases in sectors that haven’t considered such partnerships in the past, including life sciences and health care as well as energy, resources, and industrials.

To build more valuable relationships with creators, CMOs can consider the following strategies:

• Make space for creative freedom. The most successful content creators rely on a unique voice to connect with followers – and it’s important for brands to give creators room to exercise this skill. “It’s a little scary as a brand manager to know that you’re releasing that control,” says Bree Sandlin, VP of lubricants marketing at Shell. “But it’s telling our brand story in a way that we could never do, with a level of authenticity and credibility that consumers need.”

• Build a partnership based on relevance. Just as businesses seek creators who connect with their target demographics, creators are looking for brands that align with their followers. In a Deloitte survey of 400 creators, nearly seven in 10 indicated that their top priority when choosing a brand partner was “relevance of brand to my audience” – a higher priority than even monetary value of the partnership. To that end, a strong brand-creator collaboration should include plans to drive growth for both parties.

• Align on expectations. Creators in Deloitte’s survey indicate that clear expectations are also an important factor in an ideal brand partnership. This means that contract terms plainly define how creators are evaluated, amplified, and paid. In most cases, brands measure the success of creator partnerships through two metrics: increased engagement on brand channels and revenue growth.

Whether it comes from inside or outside the organisation, innovative thinking is a critical factor in business growth. Yet fostering an environment where creativity flourishes requires a bold and inspirational leader. With a combination of customer knowledge and business acumen, CMOs may be best positioned to tackle this challenge and uncover new sources of growth.