SME Executive Summary on Cliff Quicksell - Marketing and Selling Creatively in Today’s Turbulent Times

The Pendulum is swinging back and as the economy recovers people will begin to buy again. But now they are going to be more cautious about where they spend their money, they will want to measure value and it will take some creative marketing to convince these consumers. This is the basic premise of Cliff Quicksell’s speech on Creative Marketing. The challenge for all marketers, he says, is to be different, stand out and be unique and the only way this happens is if you embrace a health does of risk taking and creatively engage consumers. “If you are not working creatively you are going to have a problem.”

Quicksell points out a long list of reasons companies and executives shy away from being creative from always trying to find the right answer rather than looking at all possibilities, pre-conceived and self imposed limits and rules, a self-fulfilling believe that only some people are creative and logic only thinking. But the one that he seemed to come back to several times was risk-aversion - or more plainly said: Fear. People have a fear of failure and of being wrong or perceived foolish which keeps them from suggesting the creative and out-of-the-box ideas that would otherwise get the most impact for the spend.

And it is this out of the box thinking that clients, customers and partners are looking for. In his top 10 client wants out of a strategic partnership “excellent creative,” “Ability to think outside the box” and “ability to measure ROI and ROO (return on objective) where numbers 4, 5, and 7 respectively supporting his point that results that can be measured are what defines great creativity.

From his presentation I came up with five principles:
1. Creativity comes when you train your brain to see things from a new perspective and seek opportunity as opposed to limits.
2. It is important to stay ahead of the curve and of trends but all great marketing is built upon basics - such as simply asking your clients directly what they are looking for.
3. Asking questions (of clients, yourself) opens you up to the opportunities and possibilities you are looking for out of creativity.
4. Great creative messages engage consumers, appeal to emotions, are targeted at very specific groups of people and surprise.
5. You must be willing to take some risk.

The benefits of being the creative driver in your organization are great. From being the the problem solver, seen as the innovator, a positive risk-taker, sought after expert and the provider of more than one solution.

The example of open and free creative thinking, he says, is that of children who can see a simple box as a multitude of things from a rocket ship, a doll house and a fort. The example we are to take is that whatever our challenge there are many possible solutions if we are just willing to imagine new approaches.

In closing, Quicksell urges that we look for different ways to to promote our brands, live our passions and “get off our duffs and do something.”

(Summary by Dana Montenegro of SeriouslyCreative: dana@seriouslycreative.com)

SME Convention Executive Summaries - 5 min. brief version
(SME Convention Executive Summaries are recaps created by SME members on the speakers at the 2009 Convention. They are meant to help you, the SME member, recall and apply the key learnings from the speakers and provoke discussion. Please feel free to leave comments.)