To Whom Do Advertising Creatives Write? An Inferential Answer

Advertising folklore has it that creative department people have difficulty connecting to their mass media audiences. This article describes research in which creatives and a general sample of viewers responded personally to a range of commercials. Comparing them, creative people responded positively to award-winning commercials (One Show and EFFIE winners); viewers responded positively to advertising that led to feelings of personal enhancement, whether award winners or not. This finding means that creatives respond to advertising that meets professional rather than audience-communication criteria. In turn this implies that creative people produce work that primarily meets professional standards which can differ from those of communicating and selling to the audience. Suggestions are offered to alleviate this situation.