There are several aspects to corporate creativity that should be born in mind when it comes to evaluating the nature of creative industries.
Firstly, any company that relies on innovation for competitive advantage must attract and keep talented creative workers. This is itself a competitive business and the best creative thinkers can usually pick and choose their employers. However a general pool of creative people are always needed to inject new ideas and to ensure the corporations stay as contemporary as possible. Large companies frequently locate their creative studios in areas where they are likely to be stimulated by, and exchange ideas with, other creative thinkers. Environments that attract creative people have many characteristics in common. Typically, good quality leisure and entertainment facilities are important as is the availability of contemporary retail facilities, internationally recognised exhibitions and events and well curated museums, libraries and galleries. However, possibly one of the most critical factors that influences the migration of creative people is the easy access to low cost and comprehensive international transportation facilities.
Access to a large flexible pool of creative people is a valuable asset to many industries that work on a project basis. Film, television and advertising are some of the most high profile industries that relay on freelance talent on a ‘by-project’ system.
Design and creative directing services are often bought in on a contract basis for a number of reasons; firstly many company’s design needs are periodic so there is no need to maintain a costly, full time design department. For example, a corporation may wait many years before deciding to re-brand or refresh their identity and when the time comes, will prefer to go to outside resources in order to get a ‘fresh’ look at the company, its products, services and existing corporate image. No corporations, no matter how frequently they advertise, would try to hold talented commercial directors on their payroll, nor would the directors ever agree to be so indentured.
When faced with the need to ‘buy in’ creative services, many senior and middle managers are at a loss to know how to evaluate or even locate the right creative people. Often buying decisions involving design, branding and advertising are made under extreme pressure, involving large budgets and have a high perceived risk. Usually, companies chose to turn to advertising agencies in order to act as filters and ‘middle men’. These agencies, in turn, draw on an international pool of creative talent. There are also a few specialist companies that act as advisors and ‘talent brokers’ however, their methods are far from perfect and have limited ways of finding new talented people from the constantly changing background of creative companies and individuals.
There is an ongoing need for the education of management in all aspects of creativity and a commercial imperative for any innovations company to stay current and aware of future trends. New ideas are the lifeblood of these organisations and access to the centres where new ideas are formed is of major importance.
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