Gretchen Henkel

Art for art's sake is by its nature not commercial. The most engaging creative in commerical application is found in a well spoken narrative. It is important for people to understand how every element works together to convey a story that addresses their own hopes, desires, and interests. So I agree with Mr. Scarpelli that context is critical but so it scale, channel, emphasis, and engagement.

Posted by Gretchen Henkel | November 28, 2007 2:54 PM

C. Harnell

Gretchen has a point about engagement. We get so caught up in our own mindgames and self delusion in design. We strive for beauty and perfection without realizing that it is an absolute waste of time. The only thing that matters is people dig it and buy it. I can tell you that there are way too many frustrated artists applying their craft commercially. They know they can never afford a meal out on the sales of their art so they end up doing logos and commericals - and they largely suck.

Give me a designer who understands business and we can move the world.

Posted by C. Harnell | December 1, 2007 11:40 PM

Ali Zafar

I agree with Bob!
Based on my limited experience, I will add that the challenge is to absorb the environment and be able to clearly see what elements of it are to be considered. There is no hard and fast rule. It will be a function of variables ranging from the depth of Brand/Consumer understanding to the ability of simulating the impact of your idea before it hits the market.
Simply put, we need to develop the ability to look at the trees and the forest!

Posted by Ali Zafar | December 3, 2007 7:29 AM

Jean Ruiz / Designer

Yes i totaly agree

But is necesary that the client is aware of the notion of context, if not the design and creative process doesn't work as smooth as we want.

Posted by Jean Ruiz / Designer | December 7, 2007 6:19 PM

Hal Wentworth

interesting discussion but i believe that context needs context. allow me to explain. design and creativity is not the result of anything we appear to be discussing. the result is to improve business performance so the overall context is a commerical/capitalist one which is fine in this arena. working from that starting point, the notion of context in a design situation is guided by what one is attempting to achieve from a business perspective. the harley-davidson exapmle provided is a good one. that company may tell a story and may understand context but it is driven (excuse the pun) by sales and loyalty to the product and its culture. thank you.

Posted by Hal Wentworth | December 9, 2007 1:54 PM

Samuel Dingba

Unanimously, i ve a dispute in that context, based on that creativity cannot be measure, which in the same scenario have the same spare head in marketing?
How can it be measure while marketing can't be? how do u explain branding while its relate to marketing?

How?

Marketing produces a win-win situation because:

* Customers have a product that meets their needs and
* Healthy profits are achieved for the company. (These profits allow the company to continue to do business in order to meet the needs of future customers.)

Stated another way, focus on what the customer wants is essential to successful marketing efforts. This customer-orientation must also be balanced with the company's objective of maintaining a profitable volume of sales in order for the company to continue to do business. Marketing is a creative, ever-changing orchestration of all the activities needed to accomplish both these objectives.

How Are The Customer And Business Objectives Met?

The American Marketing Association's definition of marketing is: the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

You see in the above definition that the process of marketing begins with discovering what products customers want to buy. Providing the features and quality customers want is a critical first step in marketing. You'll be facing an uphill battle if you provide something you want to produce and then try to convince someone to buy it.

The marketing process continues with setting a price, letting potential customers know about your product, and making it available to them.

What Activities Are Included In Marketing?

Marketing activities are numerous and varied because they basically include everything needed to get a product off the drawing board and into the hands of the customer. One look at our Marketing Mall Directory shows that the broad field of marketing includes activities such as designing the product so it will be desirable to customers, using tools such as marketing research and pricing, and promoting the product so people will know about it, using tools such as public relations, advertising, marketing communications, and exchange with the customer (through sales and distribution).

It is important to note that the field of marketing includes sales, but it also includes many other functions. Many people mistakenly think that marketing and sales are the same -they are not.

How Does Marketing Fit into the Company?

Another way to describe marketing activities is to consider the big picture of how they fit in with the other business functions.

Through marketing efforts, decisions are made and strategies are implemented concerning:

* What products (goods, services or ideas) are to be offered

* To whom (the target market)

* How (how to inform potential customers of the offering, how to make the transaction, etc)

Products are created through production efforts. Capital and operating funds are managed and tracked in the accounting-finance area; the focus of the human resources area is employees and the policies concerning them. Oftentimes, a marketing approach relies upon the coordination of several business areas to be successful. For example:

* The product might need some tweaking by producer of the product to respond to customer complaints.

* The person who handles human resource issues might be asked to develop compensation plans that reward sales people who build significant relationships that have tremendous potential, but are slow to close.

* Special payment plans might need to be implemented by the accounting staff to accommodate a variety of customer needs.

As a result, marketing usually crosses more departmental boundaries out of necessity than other business functions do. Marketing requires the orchestration of ideas and creativity, which will translate into good brands that cannot be measure.

Samuel Dingba
+2348060374414

Posted by Samuel Dingba | January 23, 2008 5:17 PM

Tobin Brogunier

I like this discussion - particularly the parts which validate my work, which is both context and story driven. I want to thank C. Harnell (of DDB I assume) for providing this quote for my latest email campaign:

"We get so caught up in our own mindgames and self delusion in design. We strive for beauty and perfection without realizing that it is an absolute waste of time. The only thing that matters is people dig it and buy it."

I have been doing very compelling, human nature insight kind of photography work independently for years. My ideas have been hijacked by TBWA (they based and ad campaign on a photography essay on Black Cowboys I published in 2002 - called me for contact info on models, then did a media buy in Vibe, etc) - yet I have yet to crack this industry, and I believe it's a combination of industry blindness and my own inability to communicate with production values.

Where the web has gone, my work with context and storytelling were there long ago. I utilize irony, narrative, and naturalism: all keys to the more sophisticated visual palate we are experiencing in a fully mediated society, a kind of Europeanization of American aesthetic.

Yet the whitewashing continues - or if it's gritty, it has to have a cheap ironic twist. I'm ready to start working with people who understand there is a long form, there is a long sell, there are themes which can be orchestrated and worked to show subtlety within the organized effort. Everything "happens in an instant," but at the same time, we are literally in the same place we were and will be for a long time - in a chair in front of a computer. That's captive. Why not work on the long themes? The narrative.

Thanks for listening - I'll repost this at my blog www.culture-builder.com as well. Cheers, Tobin

Posted by Tobin Brogunier | February 29, 2008 10:11 PM

L. Shaw

Samuel makes many very valid points and highlights the role of marketing within the organization today. Marketing has become very broad and is far more holistic in its need to be integrated throughout the entire organization.

I just want to raise a point about product development according to what the customer wants. Does the customer really know what they want every time? Henry Ford has a great quote: If I'd asked the customer what they wanted they would have asked for a faster horse. Product development and design still needs to take risks.

Posted by L. Shaw | March 5, 2008 3:41 PM

Joseph Steel

I remember reading bits and pieces from the ad industry on how reading was a thing of the past for the consumer. Then along came online blogs and social networks.

When a movement becomes institutionalized it simply turns into one more 800-pound gorilla in the living room.

Posted by Joseph Steel | April 1, 2008 7:21 AM

Michael

I just came across this looking for the "next larger..." quote, but I think it was actually Eliel Saarinen who said it, not FLW...

Posted by Michael | April 10, 2008 10:24 AM

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