Articulating the creative identity in advertising agencies: a system perspective on advertising creativity.

By the mean of seven interviews with senior creatives and two technology directors in nine different advertising agencies located in The Netherlands, this study aimed at understanding the role played by the changes in the technological environment as well as the sociocultural factors on the articulation of a creative identity in advertising agencies. The research was based on the theoretical contributions of Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on creativity (1988) that offers to take into consideration creativity as a system in which the field, the domain and the creators are in constant interaction for the production of the creative work. Though the original model was proven to be pertinent, this research took into account a fourth influential aspect: technology as a disruptive force. It also took into consideration the components of creative performance such as introduced by Teresa Amabile (1983) to help evaluate the intrinsic qualities of the creators. The results of the nine semi-structured in-depth interviews that were conducted eventually suggest that the creative process is one of internal and external co-creation. Internally, various individuals concur to the ideation of advertising creativity. Externally, clients are more and more involved. They provide with insights regarding their brands and produce feedback for and on the outcomes delivered by agencies. The creative identity is mutually constituted in the internal-external dialectic of the advertising practices and through the changes in the technological environment. Eventually, the creative identity is linked to the shifting perceptions held be creatives on creativity and its process. In advertising, the concept relates to solving problems for clients. Creativity is embedded at three levels. Practically, creativity serves a purpose. Contextually, it is embedded in the physical space and within the interactions that occur in the space. Metaphysically, creativity is the idea expressed throughout the whole process.