A McKinsey study found that companies that prioritize creativity have 67 percent above-average organic revenue growth and 74 percent above-average net enterprise value.
Creativity has a superior business value, yet it is too often siloed in “creative” departments, like design or marketing. This is understandable: traditional companies organizationally separate idea generation from idea commercialization.
It also doesn’t work anymore.
A lot of creative industries have been forced to accelerate their creative
output, in the always-on cadence. Pressure for immediate productivity leads to unremarkable work, and is a reason for endless sequels, reissues, archive reboots and self-referencing across creative industries. Productivity pressure also leads to creative directors’ short tenures. For the time they are given, creative directors can, at best, offer their interpretation of the brand codes and archives. The newness imperative and the compressed business calendars don’t really let them come up with original ideas, much less allow those ideas to grow and mature.
Paired with this creative acceleration is a business pressure to execute and to hit quarterly financial targets. Business performance is designed to be short-term, together with accompanying metrics and expectations of commercial results.
When Pierpaolo Piccoli left Valentino, the fashion industry reacted with a cry for “a need for the intangible, for that magic alchemy that creates and delivers dreams.” Tell that to a CFO.
The disconnect is growing between creative industries’ need for time to develop and unfold an original idea, which is unpredictable, and a rigid financial calendar that demands predictable financial outcomes. Long-brewing brand desirability goes against the quest for immediate returns. Calvin Klein’s Jeremy Allen White campaign from January generated 40M views on CK’s Instagram and drove 85 percent YoY brand engagement increase. At the same time, Calvin Klein’s stock fell 20 percent and sales in North America dropped 8 percent YoY.
“The dismal sales figures are a reminder that turning around a brand as big as Calvin Klein takes time — and more than just one campaign,” concluded the Business of Fashion.
Read the full analysis below:
https://lnkd.in/eNKXzXsZ
