Enough with the Magic, Creativity Is a Discipline

Creativity is revered in marketing, yet often misunderstood. It’s treated with near-dogmatic reverence, spoken of as the single most powerful driver of effectiveness, yet rarely explained in practical terms. If we can’t define it, we can’t teach it. If we can’t teach it, we can’t scale it. And if we can’t scale it, we don’t deserve to celebrate it.

Let’s be more precise. Creativity in marketing is the process of generating original ideas that deliver tangible value, ideas that solve problems, shift perceptions, and provoke response. It's not just artistic flair; it's a business tool. And like any tool, its effectiveness depends on how it's used.

Other industries have faced the same mythologising. Cooking was once seen as instinct, until molecular gastronomy revealed the science behind flavour. Wine-making relied on intuition, until data and climate modelling refined it. In both cases, breaking down the magic didn’t destroy greatness; it made it more accessible. Demystification doesn’t eliminate brilliance, it raises the average and clears the path for more of it.

In recent years, the marketing industry has increasingly embraced the concept of structured creativity. This approach recognises that frameworks and guidelines don't stifle innovation; instead, they provide a foundation upon which creativity can flourish. By integrating structured methodologies, brands can ensure consistency while still delivering compelling and original content. Structure isn't the enemy of originality. Done right, it’s the scaffolding that allows creative thinking to scale, repeat, and endure. That’s especially vital in a marketing world

It’s also why structures like the nine-box grid, while seemingly arbitrary, have endured—they shape how ideas are received and remembered. As one strategist once told me, 'Nine boxes is how you tell a story.' Odd as it sounded, she was right. Matrix tools work because they align with how the brain chunks and visualises information. Structure doesn’t just organise ideas; it helps them land.

Attention is Scarce. Creativity Can't Be

As AI-driven agents claim more of the digital terrain, the spaces left for human-facing media shrink. Fewer chances to be noticed. Less oxygen for brands. That makes the rare moments where people do look up all the more precious and all the more demanding of creativity.

Most advertising is ignored. Attention is short. Waste is costly. Creativity can’t be a luxury for showreels it must work in every format, every day, everywhere.

Creativity and effectiveness are no longer separate pursuits. Just ask the two biggest arbiters of marketing value. Karen Martin has put creativity at the heart of the IPA’s effectiveness agenda. Cannes Lions has elevated Creative Effectiveness from bolt-on to headline act. When both the IPA and Cannes converge, the message is clear: separating creativity and effectiveness no longer makes sense.

Effectiveness isn’t just about outputs. It’s about outcomes. Structured creativity drives memory and salience by showing up in the right place, with the right idea, at the right time. It’s how we build brands people remember and make easy to buy.

Stop Making Bad Work. Then Make Great Work

Most creative work doesn’t need to be revolutionary. But it does need to be good. That’s the floor. Great work redefines expectations. That’s the ceiling. We need both.

AI and frameworks aren’t here to replace creative thinking. They’re here to stop bad work from happening in the first place. Raising the floor means fewer careless ads, more intelligent defaults, and quality at scale.

But let’s not pretend good is good enough. Breakthrough ideas matter. They shape culture, bend expectations, and remind people why your brand exists.

Raise the floor, and the ceiling rises with it. Teach creativity as a skill, not a gift and the worst work disappears. But something else happens, too: the best get better. True talent thrives in capable company. Not despite it because of it. Creative excellence doesn’t fear broader access. It demands it.

Some think AI will take care of that floor. But tools can only take us so far. AI can remix. It can improve the average. But it can’t leap. That’s still our job. As Alex O’Connor put it, AI can’t even picture a full glass of wine because it’s never truly seen one. Human imagination isn’t just pattern, it’s provocation.

From Theory to Craft

1. Creativity in the Everyday
   The best work doesn’t just live in brand films. It lives in carousels, banners, and shelf wobblers. These aren’t side projects, they’re opportunities to surprise, entertain, and make the brand stick. Make the ordinary unignorable.

2. Consistency as a Creative Weapon
   Distinctive assets, logos, tones, characters are not repetition for its own sake. They’re compound interest for memory. Familiarity breeds fluency and fluency breeds fame. Done right, consistency becomes charisma.

3. Creative Reach Is Cultural Reach
   The best ideas don’t just land, they travel. Into WhatsApp chats, TikTok riffs, parodies. Paid media buys attention; great creative leverages it. And when it does so, reach goes fractal.

Teach it. Scale it. Demand it.

If we want to build brands that grow, we need to treat creativity not as rare genius but as a repeatable craft. That means respecting creative instinct, yes but also giving it the tools to thrive at scale.

Structured creativity isn’t a contradiction. It’s a necessity. Our job isn’t to wait for inspiration it’s to build the conditions where it strikes, over and over again.

Creativity isn’t a department, nor elusive skill available to only the select few. It’s a discipline. One every marketer must practice. And crucially, it’s a discipline that must be taught in tandem with effectiveness, because one without the other is a half-finished thought. Yet too often in our industry, people fall into one camp or the other. We teach effectiveness to planners and creativity to creatives, as if the two were incompatible. They’re not. In fact, the best work and the best marketers come from those who’ve practised both, across a career, not just at its start.

And perhaps most importantly: if we want to scale creativity, we must first be able to define it. Not as mystique or personality, but as the act of solving commercial problems with originality and impact. That’s what we should be teaching. That’s what we should be demanding.

And once we define creativity, we can integrate it. Because it’s far easier to build measurement systems, performance frameworks, and cross-functional partnerships when everyone knows what we’re talking about. Precision requires definition. And without it, our industry ends up building dashboards for magic tricks.

In a world of noise, creativity is still our sharpest tool. But only if we have the discipline to use it. If we can’t define it, we can’t teach it. If we can’t teach it, we can’t scale it. And if we can’t scale it, we don’t deserve to celebrate it.