How do Clients Judge Magic?

Advertising creativity is widely seen to hold ‘magical’ properties; it can transform the effectiveness of advertising and significantly impact upon advertising profitability. Yet, due to its subjective nature, creativity... [ view full abstract ]

Advertising creativity is widely seen to hold ‘magical’ properties; it can transform the effectiveness of advertising and significantly impact upon advertising profitability. Yet, due to its subjective nature, creativity can be difficult for clients to evaluate objectively, which can lead to conflict within the client-agency relationship. This study explores the challenges posed by clients’ appraisal of advertising creative, drawing on in-depth interviews with UK agency account managers, and delivering new insights. Findings reveal that client’s subjectivity, risk aversion, differing associations with imagery, and senior management’s late participation, can each negatively influence the clients’ assessment of advertising creative. This study makes an important contribution to academic literature, significantly identifying that good creative work should make clients feel uncomfortable, an underlying dimension of advertising creativity that has been overlooked in previous studies. Methodological limitations and areas for future research are discussed.