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Strategic Creativity: A Business Field Guide to Advertising, Branding, and Design
The secret weapon for business experts to ensure strategically creative results, this is an indispensable field guide to evaluating creative advertising, branding, and design ideas and solutions, and to working with creatives.
Strategic Creativity is a fundamental resource that enables business professionals to stand out amongst their colleagues and enhance their ability to communicate the creative why throughout their organizations, and it covers what every business expert should fully comprehend about the creative process. To effectively grow a business and reach the right audience or move a brand forward, advertising and branding need to be relevant, engaging, and worth people's time. This book contains what a CEO, CMO, manager, business owner, or client didn't learn about the creative side of advertising and design in business school.
Featuring insightful conversations with creative experts, this book will earn a place on the desks of executives, leaders, managers, and middle managers across industries, whose work requires them to understand and execute on branding initiatives, advertising campaigns, social media, and other customer-facing content.
Strategic Creativity is a fundamental resource that enables business professionals to stand out amongst their colleagues and enhance their ability to communicate the creative why throughout their organizations, and it covers what every business expert should fully comprehend about the creative process. To effectively grow a business and reach the right audience or move a brand forward, advertising and branding need to be relevant, engaging, and worth people's time. This book contains what a CEO, CMO, manager, business owner, or client didn't learn about the creative side of advertising and design in business school.
Featuring insightful conversations with creative experts, this book will earn a place on the desks of executives, leaders, managers, and middle managers across industries, whose work requires them to understand and execute on branding initiatives, advertising campaigns, social media, and other customer-facing content.
194 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2022
6 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Robin Landa
55 books25 followersRobin Landa holds the title of Distinguished Professor in the Robert Busch School of Design at Kean University of New Jersey. She is included among the teachers that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching calls the “great teachers of our time.” Most recently, Landa was a finalist in the Wall Street Journal’s Creative Leaders competition.
Professor Landa has won many awards for design, writing, teaching, and creative leadership, including: National Society of Arts and Letters, The National League of Pen Women, New Jersey Authors Award, Creativity, Graphic Design USA, Art Directors Club of New Jersey, The Presidential Excellence Award in Scholarship from Kean University, and the Rowan University Award for Contribution to Design Education.
Landa is the author of twelve published books about graphic design, branding, advertising, and creativity including Graphic Design Solutions, 4th edition (Wadsworth), Advertising by Design, 2nd edition (John Wiley & Sons), Designing Brand Experiences (Cengage Learning), and Thinking Creatively (HOW books). Her books have been translated into Chinese and Spanish.
Co-authoring with her colleague Professor Rose Gonnella, she wrote Visual Workout Creativity Workbook (Cengage Learning); and co-authored 2D: Visual Basics for Designers with Gonnella and award-winning designer Steven Brower. Known for her expertise in creativity, Landa penned Thinking Creatively (HOW), and co-authored Creative Jolt and Creative Jolt Inspirations (North Light Books) with Rose Gonnella and Denise M. Anderson. Robin’s article on ethics in design, “No Exit for Designers,” was featured in Print magazine’s European Design Annual/Cold Eye column; other articles have been featured in HOW magazine, Step Inside Design, Critique, and Icograda. Robin’s Amazon Shorts—“Advertising: 11 Insights from Creative Directors” and “Branding: 10 Truths Behind Successful Brands”—both reached the #1 spot on the Shorts best-seller list.
Robin has lectured across the country at the HOW International Design Conferences, Graphic Artists Guild conference, College Art Association, Thinking Creatively conference, Art Directors Club of New Jersey, and the One Club Education Summit. She has been interviewed on radio, television, in print, and the World Wide Web on the subjects of design, creativity, and art.
Professor Landa has won many awards for design, writing, teaching, and creative leadership, including: National Society of Arts and Letters, The National League of Pen Women, New Jersey Authors Award, Creativity, Graphic Design USA, Art Directors Club of New Jersey, The Presidential Excellence Award in Scholarship from Kean University, and the Rowan University Award for Contribution to Design Education.
Landa is the author of twelve published books about graphic design, branding, advertising, and creativity including Graphic Design Solutions, 4th edition (Wadsworth), Advertising by Design, 2nd edition (John Wiley & Sons), Designing Brand Experiences (Cengage Learning), and Thinking Creatively (HOW books). Her books have been translated into Chinese and Spanish.
Co-authoring with her colleague Professor Rose Gonnella, she wrote Visual Workout Creativity Workbook (Cengage Learning); and co-authored 2D: Visual Basics for Designers with Gonnella and award-winning designer Steven Brower. Known for her expertise in creativity, Landa penned Thinking Creatively (HOW), and co-authored Creative Jolt and Creative Jolt Inspirations (North Light Books) with Rose Gonnella and Denise M. Anderson. Robin’s article on ethics in design, “No Exit for Designers,” was featured in Print magazine’s European Design Annual/Cold Eye column; other articles have been featured in HOW magazine, Step Inside Design, Critique, and Icograda. Robin’s Amazon Shorts—“Advertising: 11 Insights from Creative Directors” and “Branding: 10 Truths Behind Successful Brands”—both reached the #1 spot on the Shorts best-seller list.
Robin has lectured across the country at the HOW International Design Conferences, Graphic Artists Guild conference, College Art Association, Thinking Creatively conference, Art Directors Club of New Jersey, and the One Club Education Summit. She has been interviewed on radio, television, in print, and the World Wide Web on the subjects of design, creativity, and art.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 27, 2022
A few months ago Robin Landa contacted me about her latest book. Strategic Creativity: A Business Field Guide to Advertising, Branding, and Design. I would like readers to know I truly appreciate the way this book is broken down into chapters that are easy to understand. Furthermore, I feel this book is well-detailed with useful information, guides, and exercises. I've listed highlights and my favorite parts of the book by chapter below. If you've read this book feel free to express what ideas you took to heart.
The book starts off by stating that the value of outstanding creative work is born out of strategic creative thinking.
Chapter 1, Why Strategic Creativity, looks at The Value of Strategic Creativity and C.H.O.I.C.E. Thinking. It speaks of the effectiveness scale and how it is used to engage your target audiences. Moving on it discusses listening and observing to aid in brand pairing. I like that it points out the importance of not sacrificing quality and the need to avoid mediocrity. A Field Guide to Strategic Creativity is available and Chapter 1 ends with an Interview with REI INAMOTO, Founding Partner of I&CO.
Chapter 2, Thinking Creatively, provides many highlights that are human-centered. My favorite was the reminder that Feynman recognized his Nobel Prize came about by his observation of a man throwing a wobbling plate in the air. (Dr.Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who, among other things, worked on the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, NM.) An Interview with RICK COSGROVE, President of Agency EA rounds out Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 Strategically Creative Ideas begins with the question, "What's in it for me?" It reviews the S.U.I.T.E.S of benefits. There were many strategies listed and I keyed in on idea generation and social media listening. Chapter 3 ended with an interview with ROSS CHOWLES, Professor of Practice at Michigan State University
Chapter 4 Strategically Creative Copywriting, started with Think like a Copywriter. This drew my full attention. There were guides and exercises in writing. I appreciated the contrasting images, reinforcing identity, and comedic pairing that made up a portion of it. The chapter ended with an Interview with NICK SONDERUP, Executive Creative Director at Pereira O’Dell.
Chapter 5 is Strategically Creative Design. Many years ago I worked with a graphic design team. I felt it made perfect sense to address that Good Design is Good Business. Notably, this chapter reviewed the structure, composition, and principles of design. The details on the concept of Visual Hierarchy and Illusion of Spatial Depth were included and I liked the exercises and checklists provided. There was an interview with GAIL ANDERSON, Designer, Writer, and Educator. The chapter ended with an interview with ALEXANDER ISLEY, Alexander Isley Inc.
Chapter 6, Branding and Art Direction discusses worldbuilding and provides a useful Efficacy Tool. The chapter is filled with affective imagery. Most notable to me was the direct mail 'I am Ann' using typography/ hand lettering. Lodestar Ideas are provided and the chapter ends with an Interview with LISA SMITH, Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie
Chapter 7 is on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Purpose-led Marketing. Above all content provided, I appreciated the Social Responsibility Evaluation Scale which notes that we should do good as people learn from what they see and with that thought in mind recognize that design should be about interrogating with a purpose. An Interview with RICH TU, Vice President of Digital Design for the MTV Entertainment Group at Viacom CBS, and an Interview with OLU ADEWALURE, Art Director at The Bloc ends the chapter.
Chapter 8, Building a Culture for Results, speaks of purpose, positivity, and productivity. It is followed by the index.
The book starts off by stating that the value of outstanding creative work is born out of strategic creative thinking.
Chapter 1, Why Strategic Creativity, looks at The Value of Strategic Creativity and C.H.O.I.C.E. Thinking. It speaks of the effectiveness scale and how it is used to engage your target audiences. Moving on it discusses listening and observing to aid in brand pairing. I like that it points out the importance of not sacrificing quality and the need to avoid mediocrity. A Field Guide to Strategic Creativity is available and Chapter 1 ends with an Interview with REI INAMOTO, Founding Partner of I&CO.
Chapter 2, Thinking Creatively, provides many highlights that are human-centered. My favorite was the reminder that Feynman recognized his Nobel Prize came about by his observation of a man throwing a wobbling plate in the air. (Dr.Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who, among other things, worked on the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, NM.) An Interview with RICK COSGROVE, President of Agency EA rounds out Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 Strategically Creative Ideas begins with the question, "What's in it for me?" It reviews the S.U.I.T.E.S of benefits. There were many strategies listed and I keyed in on idea generation and social media listening. Chapter 3 ended with an interview with ROSS CHOWLES, Professor of Practice at Michigan State University
Chapter 4 Strategically Creative Copywriting, started with Think like a Copywriter. This drew my full attention. There were guides and exercises in writing. I appreciated the contrasting images, reinforcing identity, and comedic pairing that made up a portion of it. The chapter ended with an Interview with NICK SONDERUP, Executive Creative Director at Pereira O’Dell.
Chapter 5 is Strategically Creative Design. Many years ago I worked with a graphic design team. I felt it made perfect sense to address that Good Design is Good Business. Notably, this chapter reviewed the structure, composition, and principles of design. The details on the concept of Visual Hierarchy and Illusion of Spatial Depth were included and I liked the exercises and checklists provided. There was an interview with GAIL ANDERSON, Designer, Writer, and Educator. The chapter ended with an interview with ALEXANDER ISLEY, Alexander Isley Inc.
Chapter 6, Branding and Art Direction discusses worldbuilding and provides a useful Efficacy Tool. The chapter is filled with affective imagery. Most notable to me was the direct mail 'I am Ann' using typography/ hand lettering. Lodestar Ideas are provided and the chapter ends with an Interview with LISA SMITH, Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie
Chapter 7 is on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Purpose-led Marketing. Above all content provided, I appreciated the Social Responsibility Evaluation Scale which notes that we should do good as people learn from what they see and with that thought in mind recognize that design should be about interrogating with a purpose. An Interview with RICH TU, Vice President of Digital Design for the MTV Entertainment Group at Viacom CBS, and an Interview with OLU ADEWALURE, Art Director at The Bloc ends the chapter.
Chapter 8, Building a Culture for Results, speaks of purpose, positivity, and productivity. It is followed by the index.
January 16, 2023
While there are some gems in here for new and experienced professionals, they often felt buried. This book deserved a stronger edit.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews