A survey report shows that 65% of PR professionals criticize the PR industry for lacking creativity. But why do PR practitioners, who claim to be creative workers, say that PR lacks creativity? Perhaps the question we should ask is, What causes the lack of creativity in PR? And what can make PR full of creativity?
The research report lists 10 reasons for the "lack of creativity in PR," with the top three factors being:
• Lack of time: PR consultants are notoriously busy, often working long hours at their desks, and creativity requires time, but the PR model limits the time consultants can spend on clients. So, creativity is a daily task for every PR professional, but compared to advertising, PR often lacks big ideas in terms of creativity.
• Lack of budget: Many netizens joke, "If you have money, you do advertising; if you don't, you do PR." Advertising budgets are always much higher than PR budgets, but fortunately, clients' budgets for PR are increasing year by year, and PR can do more creative work (it is said that Ogilvy's most profitable department is not the advertising department but the PR department).
• Lack of understanding from clients: Clients often expect PR to be more productive rather than more creative.
In general, PR event creativity = strategic creativity + format creativity + execution creativity
The core of PR is to enable mutual understanding between brands and consumers and enhance brand awareness. For a brand, there are various event formats to achieve PR goals. Creativity naturally manifests here. Therefore, it can be said that the highlights of an event and the formation of news topics are inseparable from good creativity.
Overall, the creativity of PR events first revolves around the annual PR strategy (brand philosophy, core selling points, products), aiming for psychological alignment with the target audience; then it is tactical format creativity, which fully embodies the strategic creativity, pursuing resonance between strategic creativity and the target audience, and vertical communication between brand culture and audience emotions.
As for specific format creativity, whether to choose press conferences, roadshows, talent shows, sports, music, entertainment, sponsorships, event marketing, new media or other formats depends on the situation.
Finally, execution creativity aims to attract the target audience, such as article titles, slogans, event execution, event highlights, media hotspots, and other detailed presentations. The two most critical points of execution creativity are the "restoration" of the event scene and the extent of subsequent media promotion. The comprehensive and reasonable use of these means is the key to the success of PR events.
Eight common rules for successful PR creativity:
1. Strategy determines everything
PR strategy is the brand's annual strategic plan, hence the saying "PR goes first." Events are just one manifestation of PR. Therefore, when we receive a PR event brief, the first thing we need to understand is: What is the brand's PR strategy for this year or the recent two years?
Any PR event is a partial operation of a brand strategy. The key to a successful PR event lies in its pre- and post-event operations, as well as the scope and duration of its influence.
2. Insight into brand needs
The PR industry is highly competitive, and international brands often use major PR events for high-profile promotions. Nowadays, PR agencies are segmenting and specializing, which requires us to have more professional insight into brand needs:
1. What is the purpose of the PR event? What effect does the brand want to achieve through the event?
2. Create PR events that highly align with the brand's tone and surpass competitors.
3. Visual creativity: no detail is overlooked
Creativity can make PR events play an unlimited role in limited space. Looking at the PR activities of well-known brands at home and abroad, it is not difficult to find that whether behind the scenes or on stage, their control of the entire event, attention to detail, and structural transitions are always ingenious and creative. Under the guidance of the "Big Idea," products and brands shine, enhancing audience awareness and recognition, thereby increasing consumption. Turning familiar brands into consumer favorites is also the core benefit and ultimate goal of PR events.
Visual creativity in PR events is divided into three sections:
1) On-site design creativity: graphic design, spatial display, stage design, etc.;
2) Event execution creativity: highlights, interactive videos, high-tech presentations, etc.;
3) Sensory installation creativity: scent, sound, atmosphere, etc. Every detail must be flawless, providing guests with a full sensory experience.
Let guests know what kind of brand this is after the event, with impressive highlights that have a profound impact and form word-of-mouth communication.
4. Creativity vs. fidelity
How to create perfect creativity with limited budget and time—this is extremely challenging for PR agencies. Actually, there's no need to complain about the budget; with a budget, anyone can create an event like Chanel. There are many forms of PR event creativity, and what matters most is the final fidelity. Here, fidelity is not just about material production but all creative forms in the event, such as atmosphere, highlights, videos, interaction, media effects, etc.
Of course, in the end, fidelity is reflected in execution and details. Clients are most afraid of encountering PR agencies with "rich creativity but poor execution." Black creativity or white creativity, only deliverable creativity is good creativity. Only with on-site visual presentations that exceed expectations will you win high recognition from clients.
5. Distinct theme, create a creative atmosphere
Event creativity often encompasses a brand story, brand philosophy, core advantages, products, marketing and other brand content.
In a large space, without an engaging theme, the rhythm of the entire event becomes loose and dull. Conversely, if more effort is put into theme positioning and planning, such a PR event is already half successful. Creativity is definitely the smart stroke that lights up the space.
Therefore, closely following the theme and creating an atmosphere is the most effective way to reasonably shape the space, and if applied properly, it will yield unexpected results.
6. Instant highlights, lock in memorable moments
Every event has a specific purpose, whether it's to maintain the target audience, promote sales growth, or increase attention and influence. So it's not one-way communication; it exists for a certain relationship.
We can't expect the target audience to remember all the content of the entire event, nor do we need to. What we want is for them to remember the highlights in the process. So creativity must effectively convey certain information and be memorable. Cleverly integrating the cultural connotations, design concepts, and life philosophy contained in each brand into the design of the entire event is perfect creativity.
Excellent creativity, like "inspiration," can stimulate people's self-imagination. In this regard, the presentation details of creative arrangements are essential, and the choice of venue is also crucial.
A good beginning is half the battle. Such an innovative opening is bound to whet the audience's appetite, and the effect can be imagined.
This is exactly what Lingyi is good at. With a unique interpretation of the brand, precise positioning and design like a scalpel, we continuously elevate the brand connotation, not only making the audience continue the brand's appeal and actively spread and share after the event, but also amplifying the success effect of PR. Lingyi understands what the highlights of the entire event are, when they appear, where they appear, and in what way they appear. We have considerable experience in these aspects, but we break through every time.
We are more adept at cross-border integration, making traditional things fashionable and familiar things fresher. We like to carefully craft various unexpected ignition points because we know how to lock the most brilliant moments into wonderful memories.
7. Creativity must be done to the extreme
What exactly is Victoria's Secret?
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is hailed as a landscape at the top of the sexy pyramid in the world, and is regarded as the world's top fashion show in the minds of many viewers.
The Victoria's Secret lingerie show pioneered a diversified show structure and superb camera work. The world's top models are proud to be selected for the Victoria's Secret lingerie show, and the global audition for new "Angels" starts half a year in advance, which can be said to have done full preliminary groundwork for the event.
Therefore, every selected model is deservedly a current international supermodel, which lays an ultra-high-end standard and tone for the event.
The official motto of the Victoria's Secret show is so domineering: Every year's show makes the brand worry about how to surpass itself in the coming year.
If you watch the entire show, the answer will naturally be revealed: What exactly is Victoria's Secret? It will tell you the reason why women all over the world love it deeply.
The Victoria's Secret show is done to the extreme, capturing all beauty lovers. Whether it's the preliminary warm-up, on-site decoration, stage lighting, costume selection, or performance interaction, everything is flawless.
8. Cross-border, diversified integration to enhance creativity
Event creativity is not limited to the event site; cross-border marketing and interactive marketing are now widely used in PR activities. But to achieve unexpected results, the integration capability naturally needs to be refined to an astonishing level.
So-called cross-border is not a rigid combination, not a forced pull, nor a random match. Otherwise, it not only fails to spark creativity but also easily backfires and damages the brand image.
Having shared so much, what exactly makes PR full of creativity? What elements should a creative PR plan include? "Creativity in PR" provides the following points for your consideration:
• Great storytelling: Storytelling is the basic skill of PR copywriting and writing, requiring proficient narrative techniques. In addition, a creative PR plan always creates an emotional connection or resonance between consumers and the brand through a story.
• Audience insights: PR creativity is inseparable from in-depth analysis of the target audience, accurate grasp of consumption habits and preferences.
• Content creation: PR constantly tracks trends and hot topics. When a timely hotspot appears, can your plan seize the opportunity and respond quickly?
• Purpose: In issue management, a common expression in PR planning is "change people's perception/behavior towards..." Digging into unique issues can also make a PR plan creative.
In fact, there are many creative ideas for PR events. With today's advanced technology, the rapid development of the internet and self-media, the experience and interaction methods of PR events are constantly changing. New forms of expression and different combinations can spark stunning creative ideas. To stay at the forefront of creativity, it is essential to pay attention to trends, predict trends, and have forward-looking insight. All changes are inseparable from their roots. The above eight rules basically lay the foundation for success.
(Content reproduced from China Planning Academy)