The 'Creativity Economy' Is Changing the Way the World Does Business

Monday, October 09, 2006 NEW YORK, October 9, 2006 - The advent of a “Creativity Economy” underscores the increasingly vital role of marketing and communications according to a new survey released today by global public relations firm Weber Shandwick and KRC Research. For purposes of the survey, the Creativity Economy¹  is defined as an economy based on ideas and innovation rather than knowledge and education.

The Changing Face of Marketing and Communications in Today's Creativity Economy found that marketing and communications are being widely embraced by C-level and senior executives as leading drivers of top-line growth. In fact, a large 86 percent of executives report that marketing and communications have become more important to company success over the past two years.

“The rise of the Creativity Economy is fundamentally changing how companies need to think about business and more important, forcing them to reevaluate how they reach their key audiences,” says Billee Howard, Weber Shandwick's executive vice president and managing director of the Global Strategic Media Group.

Heightened Relevance of Marketing & Communications
A majority of senior business executives surveyed agree that the Creativity Economy is here to stay. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) indicate that a creativity- and innovation-based economy is permanent compared to less than one quarter (24 percent) who consider it temporary. The remaining 13 percent are not sure. Other key findings are:

As Jennifer Risi, executive vice president of Weber Shandwick's Global Strategic Media Group explains, “The genesis of the Creativity Economy is relatively easy to trace. The twin forces of globalization and easily accessible information, thanks in large part to the Internet, means that knowledge has become a commodity. Thanks to advances in manufacturing and productivity across virtually every sector, once-vital business factors such as quality, price and product are now easily duplicated across the world. Since product innovation is much harder to achieve, leading companies are coming to view intangibles such as creativity and innovation in business processes as paramount to future success."

“The growing impact of the Creativity Economy on the entire business spectrum should not be underestimated,” adds Risi. “As an increasing number of senior executives realize how innovation is redefining business, companies will need to embrace genuine change and actively take steps to market themselves accordingly in order to remain competitive.”

Customers at the Core of Innovation
Central to a Creativity Economy is customer-driven innovation - that is, incorporating the customer's viewpoint into marketing and R&D processes. When executives were asked how they incorporate the Creativity Economy concept into their plans today, the top three strategies mentioned are greater emphasis on understanding and incorporating customer viewpoints, providing customers with all the information needed to make informed decisions and actively anticipating customer needs beforehand.

How Your Company Is Incorporating the New Creativity-

and Innovation-Based Economy?

	Total
Greater emphasis on understanding and incorporating customer viewpoints	65%
Providing customers with all the information needed to make informed decisions	63
Actively anticipating what customers will want or need before they articulate it	58
Shifting to marketing and advertising expenditures that enhance the way you think and talk about the company, not just the products themselves	58
Working directly with customers to create products they want or need	58
Shifting from marketing products to marketing “intangibles” such as brand experiences and business processes	46
Shifting focus from sales to innovation	43
Readjusting demographic and/or geographic profiles of target audience	39
Shifting focus from product to process	38
None of the above	5
Do not know	5

Source: Weber Shandwick and KRC Research 2006.


“This is truly a watershed moment for business and our industry,” says Howard. “The message is clear - innovation is now more important than ever and much more than incremental product improvement. The expanding opportunity has never been greater for marketing and communications professionals to shape the business landscape.”

¹  “Creativity Economy” is a term coined by BusinessWeek used to describe the new economic environment. You can obtain additional information at www.businessweek.com

The Changing Face of Marketing and Communications in Today's Creativity Economy A total of 104 senior executives (CEOs, presidents, chief marketing officers and other top executives) were interviewed by telephone from June to August 2006. KRC Research conducted the survey for Weber Shandwick.