«Creativity is a skill that can be developed»
CreativityUA is a media about creative industries of Ukraine and of the world and the official media partner of the Cannes Lions Representative Office in Ukraine. Marina Korchaka, the editor-in-chief of the portal and Konstantin Kuznetsov, Chairman of the board of the Creative Industries Association of Ukraine, which owns CreativityUA, shared with us their insights and thoughts on the transformation of creativity in Ukraine.
We created Reklamaster.com - the first Ukrainian media about advertising in 2000. That time few people knew the way to make advertising and the way marketing communications should go. There were people, of course, who developed certain processes, there were consultants, but in general, there was no market yet. However, then this need was already acutely felt, and our colleagues from DIALLA Communications decided to create an online community. It`s main goal was the "crossroads" of ideas. There were chats and author columns, and subsequently people who accumulated knowledge from foreign media or from advertising consultants began to share this experience and develop expert opinion. It was the first and only media at that time, and it became a real driver of market development. The market itself then felt the need for such a resource, and began to pick up knowledge and ideas from there.
CREATIVITY IS NOT ONLY ABOUT ADVERTISING OR ART
We have been preparing for Reklamaster transfiguration at CreativityUA for a long time. We realized that the content on advertising and marketing has gone beyond these areas over the 20 years of its existence. Therefore, the media concept should have evolved, because we started writing about the global market for creative industries, trends in the field of creative communications, business, technology, culture and supporting local and regional initiatives. Therefore, this rebranding has become a logical development stage for us. And the final conceptual changes occurred after our meeting with Marina Korchak at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Our goals and views on the development of creative industries in general and Reklamaster in particular coincided, so we invited Marina to lead a new project as a Chief editor.
Marina Korchaka: Editor-in-chief of creativity.ua portal
A new CreativityUA strategy emerged in discussions: media about the creative economy of Ukraine and the world. We wanted to say on this platform that creativity today is about the search for original solutions in absolutely all areas of life, and creativity is inherent in representatives of all industries: from advertising to IT, from design to science, from culture to sports. Therefore, we decided to explore at CreativityUA the concept of creativity from the point of view of a phenomenon, a process, a characteristic feature or professional ability of a person, a global trend, a way to solve a business problem or influence on the development of society. And also, from the point of view of the creator as a person who creates breakthrough ideas.
We try to attract the market to fill pages with stories about creators, their ideas and projects that drive the process of creative transformation of the world, success stories and life hacks so that the platform becomes a resource of professional opinion and ideas. There is a feedback form on the site where everyone can offer a project or event, the idea of cooperation or become an author of CreativityUA.
In addition, the Association holds annually the Forum of Creative Industries: this is also the place where we get insights about the problems and trends that concern the public in different directions. There are live discussions with recognized Ukrainian and foreign experts. For us, this event is a reference point and at the same time a point of summing up. Over the past few days, we have become acquainted with many people and issues that we can cover together in partnership to communicate our values, provoke discussions and decisions. Now we are updating the list of topics for the Forum in September: we hope it will take place and we will exchange information that will increase the chances for the business survival and provide competitive advantages to participants.
Konstantin Kuznetsov - Chairman of the Board of the Association of Creative Industries of Ukraine
WE ARE INTERESTED IN COOPERATION WITH DIFFERENT PROJECTS
The association provides information support to young projects through CreativityUA, intellectual property rights protection and assistance with funding through partners. We are also developing directions for promoting priority segments abroad, including festivals, including Cannes Lions. We build a work system so that different partners could use our projects and services. The association is interested in collaborating with various projects that have solutions or know-how that they would like to share, or suggestions to discuss with colleagues. To facilitate this, we have developed the “Battle of Creators” format: these are public creative tenders with the participation of various audiences and online voting. We use this format for offline events so that some people can speak, others can watch and learn, jury members can use their time more efficiently, and everyone interested in the result can express their opinions even remotely.
Another of our annual events is the Young Lions Competitions. This is the format of the international Cannes Lions festival, where participation and victory at the local competition is a prerequisite. Selection and awarding are carried out in several categories: design, digital, print, media and PR, and a separate competition for young marketing managers. Young people under 30 receive a brief and a task from a non-profit organization to solve certain social problems, and they have 24 (or 48) hours to cope with this task: to create a certain communication in three categories. Winners get a chance to represent Ukraine at Cannes Lions. This is a crowdfunding initiative in Ukraine - a joint effort of the Association, participants and sponsors. We cover all costs of the festival to the winners - accreditation, flight, accommodation. Last year, our young creators received 2 silver and 1 gold medal at the competition for the first time. This year Young Lions Competitions Ukraine should be held in mid-June, and now it is more important than ever to hold it.
UKRAINE MET WITH PUBLIC NOTICE AT CANNES LIONS
Cannes Lions is the most respected annual seven-day festival that has been held since 1954 at the Palace of Festivals and Congresses in Cannes. Each June, over 12,000 registered delegates from 90 countries attend the festival. Ukraine officially received two bronze awards on it: in 2017 and in 2019. In addition, our teams helped many foreign companies and productions to achieve success, they collaborated with winners from France, the UK, the USA, etc. Over the past decade, the International Festival of Creativity has significantly transformed in accordance with international requirements and has successfully introduces such nominations as "Technology and Innovation", "Entertainment Industry" and "Digital Art". Cannes Lions pick up quickly trends dictated by the global consumer. By the way, the consumer has become more exacting: modern commercial communication should entertain and correspond to certain values, and the product should be of high quality, innovative and convenient. Cannes Lions is one of the few festivals that focuses on the social responsibility of people, businesses and entire countries. Among the cases of the participants, there are many examples where striking and non-standard communication helped to change international law and even the course of history, tended to think about ending armed conflicts through powerful visual messages. Therefore, Cannes Lions notes ideas that not only affect business, but also change world society.
Participation in the Festival is not only the respect of colleagues and a prestigious award, but also recognition from customers. And also the improvement of international relations. This is the merit of our creators: thanks to them, the world learned that somewhere in some Ukraine, which for many is far and unknown, a generation of very creative people is growing. We are brave in ideas. Ukraine was able to meet with public notice: foreign media wrote about us. And this will encourage other creators from other areas to participate and win.
Ukrainian team at Cannes Lions
UKRAINIAN MARKET IS MORE TURBULENT THAN IN EUROPE AND THE USA, SO WE ARE MORE FLEXIBLE AND ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE
The creativity in Ukraine has peculiarity: we continue to create, adapting to extreme situations. In this regard, Europe is more relaxed, since their market is relatively calm. However, our creativity is appreciated, because we can create in different conditions: we must be creative with minimal budgets and as soon as possible, just to stay afloat. The current quarantine situation requires extreme creativity: our ability to survive must be transferred to business - to create creative products and services, new services, change business models, modernize business processes.
AFTER QUARANTINE WE WILL OBSERVE MARKET CLEANING
After quarantine, competition will slightly decrease, and the companies that now think globally and have greater creative potential - first of all, the personnel they grew and develop - will survive due to the non-standard nature of their product or service. During the crisis, first, they pay attention to those people who want to survive, invent and produce something and they remain. For others, less motivated, we see cuts and dismissals.
Now the US market in marketing and creative communications is suffering more than ever: the largest agencies and communication holdings dismiss employees in large quantities. Who is fired first: those who are not motivated and are not key persons. How to become a key person? To apply innovation, to be brave in your ideas and not to be afraid to make mistakes. After all, it is precisely uncertainty that often hinders to carry the project from idea to implementation.
Speed is still important. All other resources are easy to find: investments, people ... But you cannot get the idea done. And if not you, then someone else. Recall the story of the invention of radio: the debate is still ongoing over who created it. And that was in the 19th century. Then there was still some margin of time, and now the reaction occurs instantly in the post-information space. If there could be some kind of patent speculation at that time, now everything is simpler: whoever first wrote “we developed the product” on Facebook won. This is, in fact, an affirmation of copyright for innovation.
TODAY CREATIVITY IS THE RESOURCE OF A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY AND THE QUALITY THAT WORKERS SHOULD HAVE BY DEFAULT
Business and information fields change daily and daily pose new challenges for us: business fights not only with competition, but also with bots and with certain geopolitical information interference, even with the preferences of the consumer himself. Times require using innovative solutions for communication to deliver information, products and services.
Creativity is a resource of a successful company, which allows it to be more active in daily operations and achieving global business goals. At the same time, you will not surprise the employer with creativity: if you dream of career growth, you should be creative by default.
Creativity is a skill, not a gift, it can be developed. Success depends on sense of purpose and firmness of character. Creativity is an ongoing practice. Now there are many techniques, classes on creative thinking. The main thing is to approach responsibly this training. Do not wait for the instant effect, because everything comes with experience (and with mistakes!). And at the start of a career path, do not neglect free internships, because they provide experience and, most importantly, networking. In addition to techniques and training, it is important to communicate with people whom you consider to be creative, do not be shy to ask them to share advices or life hacks, study their projects, analyze ideas and seek insights.
IV Forum of Creative Industries
It is important to apply creativity in everyday life when solving ordinary everyday problems. It is important to read a lot: professional literature, fiction and poetry. It would be useful to understand trends in various fields, even in memes - a bit of everything in order to be inspired and find ideas in related fields.
Another useful quality of the creator is the ability to evaluate critically the relevance of his idea, always overstating the requirements for himself: you did well - try to do better. You`ve done it better - try to make it effective. This quality leads to success. You shouldn`t be satisfied with the ideas that are staring you in the face, you should dig deeper - this is a universal truth. At the same time, the level of doubt should be healthy: you should not cast aside the ideas due to excessive self-criticism and perfectionism. The philosophy of "better done than perfect" works here never better, because while you are sitting and trying to develop your idea to perfect state, someone releases something similar to yours - not so perfect, but already ready, which can be finalized.
CREATIVITY IS A METHOD FOR SOLVING A PROBLEM
Many startups are creating now that are trying to make life more comfortable, easier. Successful projects appear in the segment of design, fashion and architecture. Creative professions are not always taken seriously in Ukraine: we have only recently defined the concept and list of creative industries at the legislative level, and there is still no such position as a “creator” in the classifier of professions. However, we gradually begin to recognize creativity in Ukraine. This is mainly affected by the profitability of the profession and its social value - how much the work of creators affects changes in the quality of life of other people, and what success they achieve themselves outside their sphere. The effect is further enhanced by the fact that foundations and the state (the Ukrainian Cultural Fund, the Ukrainian State Film Agency) began to invest in creative professions, and Ukrainian projects receive awards at festivals. By the way, the cultural and social reforms of recent years have already been implemented, and changes in Ukrainian politics affect the recognition of the relevance and value of creative professions. This is very motivating and proves once again that the ability to think unconventionally and creatively gives an advantage over competitors and can even change the course of history.
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