Creativity Is Not a One-Person Show

The AVV Marketing School as the educational arm of the dnaunion group held a two-day course on July 26-27 with an aim of analyzing the performance of the Cannes Festival and its effect on the advertising industry. Jamshid Alamouti, course lecturer who is a Berlin School professor, in addition to analyzing works presented to the Cannes Festival also reviewed the creativity role in Iran’s industry and its differences with the world advertising. To become further acquainted with the educational course we interviewed Alamouti and a number of course participants.

Creativity should be manifested in all the dimensions of a promotional work

Jamshid Alamouti, the course lecturer dubbed “Analysis of Cannes Festival Performance” said: “In this course by reviewing the advertising of the clients we asked ourselves from how many dimensions can the art of creativity be manifested in an order!

Is creativity similar to artistry? That is to say if someone designs an attractive caricature with a desirable slogan has he completely performed the art of creativity on an order? Or, can the problem of the clients of advertising companies be removed with creativity?

In this course, we asked the participants who were all active in the domestic advertising that what was their goal of making an advertising program? Is it only to help increase the sales of the brand or is there a higher aim behind advertising? And in order to reach that sublime goal what dimensions of creativity should be performed?

Also in this course, a comparison was drawn between the quality level of the advertising made in Iran and those made in the world. In this comparison dimensions which created differences between domestically-made and foreign-made advertising were reviewed and some questions were raised in this regard; questions that prompted answers which scrutinized the roots of these differences. Questions such as:

Is it the taste and demand of the Iranian people which caused these differences?

Is it the outlook of those ordering the package which makes these differences?

Is it because the level of capability of those active in domestic and foreign advertising is different from each other?

After finding the roots of the differences we were after ways to find mechanisms to remove them in order to upgrade the quality to the ideal level.

Alamouti further remarked that in this course the Cannes Festival was not considered the best festival in the field of advertising rather it was considered a scale in this regard. “In the course we discussed that the Cannes Festival is not the only festival that awards creativity in the field of advertising. Other festivals such as DandED in Britain have dealt with the issue. In this course we somehow dealt with the meaning, concept and value of the award that the Cannes Festival presents to the works received.”

The course participants were told that the Cannes Festival has not been organized to merely present awards; rather creators from all over the world gather in the festival to celebrate their one-year activities together. The creators decided to present awards to the top works as well. These awards gradually became valuable for the advertising agencies and the clients gradually shifted towards the companies which had received more awards.

This prompted the advertising agencies to think of a stronger presence in the festival and thus they thought they should gain more awards in order to attract more customers. To this end, receiving awards was turned into a tool for sales by advertising companies.

Of course this issue or this tool was just important for the heads of the advertising agencies and for the creators only the good feelings they sensed after receiving the award was attractive. When the creators received the Cannes Festival awards they felt that they were successful in their job and this was pleasant for them.

In the case of companies and attraction of customers this issue has somehow lost its importance and those who gave orders when realized that by entering into a company they would face several wards, they became indifferent towards those wards.

Despite all these explanations, these days the Cannes Festival award has been turned into a criterion for appreciation of the activities of the creators in the area of advertising and companies take less commercial advantage out of it.

At present what is important is the vision the festival is pursuing and its impact on the world advertising. Therefore, our goal is to consider the Cannes Festival as a scale and make a survey on what instruments the Iranian companies need to enter the festival. The Cannes Festival is considered a scale for the assessment of the works that have been done in Iran. Keep in mind that the creativity managers in the advertising agencies cannot create a creative advertising work alone.

Other people should also get involved for the shaping of a creatively different work and certainly put creativity in action in different dimensions in an advertising agency. In advertising companies one person cannot take the helm and manage the others. Those present in an advertising agency should perform one dimension of creativity in fulfilling a promotional work.

Below you will read interviews of the AVV School reporter with a number of course participants analyzing the performance of the Cannes Festival:

Market leader absent in Iran’s advertising

Farshad Mahmoudi, Market Development Manager of dnaunion, commenting on the AVV course to analyze the Cannes Festival 2016, said: “This course is an educational course to get prepared for presence in the next year’s Cannes Festival. In this course, by reviewing different works presented at this year’s festival we evaluated our capability. However, Iranian companies have not been present in the festival yet and holding of such courses can familiarize them with the atmosphere. For example, the factors the jury pay attention to and the angle from which they look at the works presented.

“The advertising works published in Iran are way behind the works received by the Cannes Festival and this gap becomes shorter with the analysis of those works. Advertising is a young industry in Iran and those active in this industry are far behind what` is being published in the world. Somehow Iran’s advertising industry is behind the world advertising and those active in it have not acquired the knowledge of the day.

“Another problem is that there are no experts equipped with such knowledge so that those active in this field could learn from them. This is another reason that advertising works in Iran are not produced in a concentrated manner and no company or person is the leader in the advertising market in Iran. The level of marketing maturity in Iran is very different from that in the world. This issue is not confined to our country and most of the neighboring countries face the same situation.

“However, Iran’s doors for the presence and activities of major advertising companies are closed for now. If they had a more active presence perhaps the Iranians would make greater efforts for learning the modern techniques in this field. Lack of their presence has caused the Iranians not to act in accordance with the principles and standards.”

Admission to festivals not an easy and convenient job

Siamak Pourjabbar, the Creativity Manager of Eshareh advertising agency who was one of the participants in the course to analyze works in the Cannes Festival 2016, said: “It is for sometimes that receiving awards in international festivals has become important for domestic advertising companies. Some of them have made efforts in this regard but have not achieved remarkable success. Entry into such festivals is not an easy and convenient job. They have to become acquainted with the level and different rankings of such festivals. Now holding such courses will help these companies to become familiar with the atmosphere of the Cannes Festival and realize that for presence in such festivals what factors are needed.

“In this course by reviewing different works one would find out whether with the works produced in Iran they are capable of attending such gatherings or they should increase their capabilities. Somehow the works presented to the Cannes Festival act like a scale for those active in the field of domestic advertising who can evaluate their works in comparison with the works presented to the festival. “Also in this course the participants became acquainted with the process of judgment in the Cannes Festival. Based on the remarks made during the course, domestic advertising companies should take a long way to reach the Cannes Festival. In this course reference was made to the Iranian football team. The team should enter into the World Cup with the same capability it plays in Asian games. A team with such conditions cannot be expected to become champion. In this course capabilities of domestic works were assessed and it was discussed whether the Iranians can enter into the festival. If they have the capability they should make efforts for entry otherwise they should work more on their capabilities.”

Creativity Is Not a One-Person Show

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