Cultivating Innovation: Viewing Constraints As Opportunity

With business growth as the goal of most brand strategies, innovation has become a necessary aspect of making market impact. Within the creative industry, stakeholders are faced with a daily challenge – given a set of guidelines to create the next big thing. To some, this process can be seen as daunting, cumbersome and even stifling with no creative outlet. But the reality is that creativity can actually flourish under pressure.

When it comes to design, campaigns and brand initiatives – constraints may actually enable true innovation. Without this material direction – the process can continue without resolution, and therefore continues to loop. Giving form to the process ensures that the ideas and material that make it to the top can be realized, turning into projects that can authentically support the brand.

Creative Positioning

Once constraints are viewed as opportunities, there arises a positive tension that can be seen as an invisible ally. This tension creates motivation within the creative process that gives a team something to work against. The term ‘think outside the box’ is often used when the desired outcome is to be unique. Constraints create this ‘box’ and if you don’t have the box, you cannot think outside of it.

The Collaborative Process

Through a series of collaborative sessions between client and creative team, critically valuable information is uncovered as engagements and activities with stakeholders, marketers and owners develop. These insights, perhaps backed by analytics and research, can help designers in creating rich experiential products that exceed expectations across all platforms, ultimately leading to the ideal material representation of the brand is reached.

Delivery, Launch & Result

Pushing boundaries beyond what is expected within the constraints outlined tend to generate the most forward-thinking results. Even though a brand might know what works for them, providing a direction that has not been explored is the job of a creative agency. Afterall, great things never happen by playing it safe all the time. Evaluate the creative results with the initial goals and data to ensure alignment has been met, making adjustments where needed. This process should feel much like a puzzle coming together. Regroup with clients to review versioning and modify where needed.

If the creative process has been collaborative and backed in comparative analysis as well as research, the end result should fit into the box of the ‘constraints’ provided initially, giving way to a transformative end product and sustainable relationship.