BUDAPEST, Hungary – Although the beginnings of a creative revolution in advertising and marketing hark back to the 1960s when agencies sought to capture the attention of cynical young consumers skeptical of rising corporate power and promises, creativity has seen ebbs and flows over the years as advertising professionals figure out new ways to remain relevant.
This week, EMEA members of the ICOM network of independent marketing and advertising agencies gather not-coincidentally in the city known as the arts and creative incubator for the region and beyond, the historical, yet hip, city of Budapest. For three days starting Oct. 18, senior execs of ICOM member agencies gather for the network's annual regional meeting, themed "Creativity As a Business Growth Catalyst."
ICOM Hungarian member Artificial Group Boutique Creative, which has grown in its 11-year history to become one of Hungary's leading and most awarded creative agencies, is aptly serving as host agency where creative industries that focus on innovation represent one of the city's fastest growing segments.
"Living and working in an environment where you see evidence of innovative thinking in every nook and cranny from the arts to entrepreneurial business endeavors, we are fortunate to experience creativity wherever we look," said István Ávéd, agency co-founder-head of creative production. Added Attila Haberland, co-founder-head of creative management, "If you can dream it, you can make it happen here. We want to share this with our ICOM partners to take creativity to its next level across our entire region."
Other ICOM members are looking forward to the meeting because regardless of the services they offer, they acknowledge that creativity always plays the starring role. "Over the last 30 years, we have grown to become Austria's leading agency offering specialty services in various fields of communication - online, social media, traditional media, PR, events - but creative remains at the heart of our agency. At the end of the day, you still need a creative idea regardless of the communication channel. That's how clients win customers. Without a creative idea, the best communication strategy won’t help you,” said Michael Piber, CEO, Reichl und Partner, ICOM’s multiple award-winning member agency in Austria.
Annika Avikson, partner, AD Angels, ICOM’s agency member in Estonia, echoes Piber's comments. "Data is becoming more and more important, but creative is the foundation of our industry," Avikson said. "The winners are those who come up with the most creative solutions using data and who see patterns in the data that others cannot see. We believe that everybody can be creative. Life has shown that the best idea can come from anybody, not just from the creative team. That's why we involve the whole agency in the creative process, and it has worked very well for us.”
Another ICOM member, Lielens, the advertising agency of NETCO Group in Brussels, uses a creative way to encourage clients to invest in creativity. André Dusausoy, general manager, said the agency relies heavily on the formula V = e ÷ p, where V represents the value of the brand, e the emotional connection to the brand and p the price. "It takes creativity to encourage a strong emotional reaction and attachment to a brand," Dusausoy said. For example, "Apple computers and iPhones are often more expensive than other brands (p is high). But when emotional attachment is also very high, the consumer accepts the higher price, and the result is the value remains strong.”
Opening the ICOM meeting will be the four founders of 4BRO that started out as a local bar and was so successful morphed into a nightclub, which spawned a music festival, and today is a highly successful entertainment and events/arts company that is changing Hungarian arts and entertainment. In a talk entitled, "Creativity and Budapest," the partners – the "4 BRO" - will tell the story of how it all happened, demonstrating how their understanding of Budapest's rich and complex culture and heritage helped them grow a successful business in a challenging economic environment.
Other sessions planned include exploring how to develop winning creative, improving a business proposition, winning more pitches and creating more growth opportunities.
"Our aim is for our agencies to leave with a full suite of assets to deploy back at their agencies, including presentations and 'how-to guides,'" said ICOM Executive Director Emma Keenan.
Another featured session is a workshop, "Creating Ideas Which Create Business," conducted by Ravid Kupenberg, a partner in Mindscapes, a firm that offers innovation and creativity training, based on Mindscapes' own proprietary methodology. The firm identifies recurring thinking patterns and has developed a set of practical thinking tools to direct the mind into specific thinking paths.
Executives from Prezi, a Hungarian tech startup that believes in the power of visuals, stories and conversations, will lead a session on how to make impressive presentations become more meaningful and ones that encourage engaging exchanges. Professionals from Hello Wood, an architectural and design studio that creates temporary installations for major European events, and experts in team collaboration, will lead participants through a team-building workshop.