Art evokes feeling in people. Museums are built for the explicit purpose of showcasing art. People weep at the sight of the David by Michelangelo. The Bell Jar generates tidal waves of emotion in people. Everything from the Sistine Chapel to street art create a reaction in people. We are emotional beings. So it’s really no wonder why people will, sometimes without even knowing it, buy a product simply because of the image or headline on the package. Perfume bottles are beautiful, and that’s not a coincidence. Have you ever been out, maybe looking to buy some soap, and stopped because the packaging on that one bar of soap was just so eye-catching, so aesthetically pleasing? We’ve all been guilty of buying something just because it looked nice or cool or fun. This is just how the consumer brain works.
People buy with their feelings. It’s been researched and studied. So the creative aspect of marketing is monumental. If a website isn’t visually appealing to the user, the visitor is less likely to explore anywhere beyond the homepage. The first impression a consumer has of a brand is the creative work that was put into branding and making a campaign. First impressions are almost always a visual thing, and are hard to change once they’ve been made. So it would seem to follow that creative is integral to creating an impactful and beneficial marketing campaign. However, there is more to creative work in marketing than just creating beautiful designs and clever headlines.
At Torque, a creative firm in Chicago, we have high standards for originality and also relevancy. We find that the integration of strategy into our creative work yields the best results for the client. We maintain that creative work can’t simply be stunning or elegant. It must also keep the values and message of the campaign as a whole. Often times a marketing campaign will be worked on by several different companies, one focused solely on creative work and others for strategy and brand identity and others for other aspects. The problem with this particular setup is that the company’s message and overall values can become lost and uncommunicated to the agencies being hired to do this work. Our creative services at Torque try to avoid this with the combination of strategy and creative.
All the creative work done at Torque is done with the consumer and the company values and message in mind. Everything that comes from the creative work is born of designers and copywriters who create with a specific understanding of a brand and company and its ideals in mind. The strategy of a campaign or brand is always in the back of our minds when we create. Some examples of the integration of strategy and creative:
Web Design
Website design is taken to the next level by considering user experience while creating the user interface. Responsiveness of a website is also considered, designing to artfully collapse the desktop detail to fit any other screen size from a tablet to a phone.
Copywriting
Copy must convey the proper information in a clear way, but can also be used to help create a brand’s voice, tone, and add to its emotional appeal. Everything from headlines and taglines to body copy are written with strategy in mind, and help create a feeling along with the imagery.
Print Design
When designing, we consider all aspects of the final product. For example, we consider paper type, how the image will print, and much more when marrying materials, colors, and shapes to evoke a look that is both unified and elegant and maintains the feel and story of the brand.
Video
Video is a combination of many different genres of creative work. It integrates almost all of the previous forms of creative into a single and cohesive entity. This includes script writing, storyboarding, editing, cinematography, sound design, and post production. We consider length, imagery, wording, narration, and more when creating videos to be on-message and on-strategy in the most appealing way.
Photography
The right photograph in the right lighting or the right setting can encompass a feeling and help express the brand story. Whether in choosing the right photos or shooting the right photos, photography is given much careful consideration.