Gabriela Lungu, founder of nomad laboratory WINGS Creative Leadership Lab – There’s no creativity without technology nowadays!

(Gabriela Lungu) Gabriela Lungu, Integrated ECD and founder of the nomad laboratory WINGS Creative Leadership Lab, will be one of the lecturers at the KAKTUS 2018 festival, which will be held on November 12-13 at Hotel Hyatt Regency in Belgrade. Her topic will be: “Creativity. Who does it better?” On this occasion, Gabriela talks about the importance of creative culture, why the cooperation between PR and marketing is important and how technologies define creativity.

Last year, at Praxis in India, you talked about investing in creativity through training courses. How important and valuable is it to have and form a creative culture?

– The culture of creative excellence is of essential importance in the sector of marketing and communications and it has been proven that there is a strong connection between creativity and business success. Still, in many companies, this is not being practiced. There are very few companies, agencies and clients with true creative strategies, and creativity is often merely a matter of coincidence. Leaders do not have a clear understanding of their role in initiating this kind of culture or about specific actions they need to realize. I want to change all that and that is one of the things I focus on with my creative laboratory WINGS.

You also advocate PR professionals’ learning about and building a creative culture, more ambitious than advertising, but also marketing experts’ learning about the democracy of the creative process from PR professionals. As you say, this is the sort of cooperation where ideas are welcome. How hard is this process for both sides?

– There’s so much that marketing and PR can learn from each other. Although many communications groups have both types of agencies, the learning and the integration are much harder processes that some might think. This is because PR agencies are required to make considerable progress in their culture and structure, whereas marketing agencies are required to change their processes and waive their superiority complex. But, this will be the topic of my lecture at the KAKTUS 2018 festival.

Earlier this year, in London, you talked about the connection between courage and creativity. How truly connected are those two things?

– Each new creative idea is an instance of courage. “New” in fact means “never before”. “Never realized previously” means “risky”. You have to be brave to accept a “risky”, never before realized or seen idea. But, I honestly believe that NOT doing new creative things is much riskier for a company than anything else.

How much does technological development define creative thinking today?

– There’s no creativity without technology nowadays. From data-based insight, to channels and measurements... tech is everywhere. These two things are fully interconnected.

Does creativity exist in cycles and is it possible to image us ending up with a Bulova-like static ad again at one point?

– That ad is historically important, but not truly relevant to the modern world or “smart” enough by today’s standards. It was very innovative at the time it was made, but today, it is not, as we say, a “big idea” – it’s only an image of the product with a simple message. I hope I’m right.

But I do love a minimalistic ad with a great idea and I believe we will see more of that. One of my favorite series of ads is “From Sweden not Hollywood” – Volvo’s sponsorship of Ski Atlantic. Simply brilliant.

With the development of technologies, the room for creativity in communications grows each day. How big of a challenge is it to be creative today and to sell the product, while keeping the focus on the product instead of the communication itself?

– I truly believe that this is not a problem. After so many years in this business, I have yet to see a company with excellent communication that failed to bring true benefits for the brand. It’s not mandatory to deemphasize the sale aspect in all campaigns, it’s important to strengthen the bond between the consumer and the brand.

Is an idea possible without an adequate execution?

– An idea is as good as its execution. I hate to see so many ideas go by unnoticed, failing to make the expected impact due to a bad realization. But, there’s also something called “too much craft” – in an era when everything happens too fast, sometimes it’s better to be there at the right time than to be perfect. For example, having a prototype in the market first, even if not realized in the best way, can have incredible advantages. That’s why I advocate “good enough”.

What can we expect from your presentation at KAKTUS 2018?

– My goal is to promote a better understanding and integration between communication disciplines, especially marketing and PR, and to give food for thought to communicators.

WINGS Creative Leadership Lab

Festival of Integrated Communications KAKTUS 2018

Kaktus 2018

Gabriela Lungu

WINGS Creative Leadership Lab

creativity

creative culture

creative industry

advertising

TV commercials

minimalist ad

From Sweden not Hollywood

Volvo

Ski Atlantic