Digital has emerged as the nucleus of creative strategy, key for user engagement, says Anish Varghese of Isobar

The role of creative directors is evolving with the changing times. The CMO’s role has also been changing from the brand standpoint. Their profiles have changed from simply branding towards building success of a campaign keeping in mind the sales view.

In this scenario, an agency’s creative director should modify his or her approach right from the way they start a brief and the way they convince the client.

BestMediaInfo.com spoke to Anish Varghese, National Creative Director, Isobar, to discuss the road further.

What is the role of strategic marketing operations? A gigantic role, he said. “Strategy will help us to understand the bigger picture. It will help us to unlock new and different solutions. Identifying the right remedy for the right problem is the key, it will build the foundation on which creative is going to stay. More important, foundation to be strong enough to withstand the problem identified,” he added.

How is the role of creative directors changing? The new-age medium of advertising and the possibilities in digital make the role changing. Varghese remarked, “Digital being the nucleus, various connecting dots can be designed for the consumers to get engaged in the ecosystem, which can lead to brand love. There is a bunch of planning involved in the ideation process; a creative director has to frame a journey to engage the audience in various touch points. He / she could assume the campaign as an amusement park by planting actionable ideas as solutions, which can lead to closure with the help of narratives, craft and technology.”

One wonders about the need for a modified approach towards marketing. User behaviour transformed a lot with the rise of new-age mediums; nowadays people see advertising differently. “I’m not sure people expect to-the-face kind of advertising now. Their interaction mediums have got transformed, we’ve to find smarter ways to reach our audience. It’s getting better and stronger now,” he observed.

What has the industry been doing? With being digital as nucleus, now a creative has to be planned by keeping a user journey in mind. “In other words, we’re taking our audience in a roller coaster, there is a start and end, in between we could build various touch points, which we can engage the user to build brand love. This could finally lead to the closure part,” Varghese said.

“Not sure creatives were planning like this before. It was to-the-face and direct. Earlier digital was like a topping in the whole campaign strategy, now it’s a nucleus and integral part of the strategy,” he added.

How is Isobar coping with the same? “We already trained our team to be up in the curve, and we’d identified our team by foreseeing this. For us, a creative is a marriage of narrative and brand experience with possibilities of digital, story is the outcome,” he answered.

Is there a shortage of writers, compared to the abundance of art directors? “No, I don’t think so, we just need to inspire them with our work, they will definitely come to us,” he remarked.

It is a question to ponder about if the creative director’s role isn't in that high of demand anymore. “Of course, yes,” quipped Varghese. He is the driving force; his output is the one which the audience interacts. He needs to be skilled more than just art and copy, he has to understand user behaviour, and on that basis he has to design a journey for the campaign, he has to plant interactive elements and build brand experience. “He also has to see whether his communication approach is giving a trigger to our audience for a conversation. Moreover, he has to maintain the culture, so that his team gets motivated every day,” he added.

How does one figure out which roles do they still need inside your agency? “We need more thinkers who can marry art and technology with the narrative. With the changing face of technology and possibilities, it’s very much needed,” he said.

It’s becoming a triad leadership in agencies — art director, creative director and digital producer. “It’s still there, but there is more addition to it. Experience Designers, Creative Technologist, Innovation Head, Agency Producer for Films, Content Head…now a digital creative team is bigger in terms of talent, with the possibilities in the new-age advertising medium,” said Varghese.

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