Creative

The Leap of Imagination

One of the most common errors in fundraising occurs when the fundraiser attempts to predict the success of a message based on his or her personal reaction. A direct marketing message is crafted for a specific audience. The chance of you, the fundraiser, being a member of that audience is very slim.

Creative is often seen as the most imaginative part of the direct marketing process, and it likely is – but not in the way most people suppose.

A direct marketing message will never succeed in getting a subject to do something he or she is not inclined to do. There is no magic in message creation. It is a technical process where words and graphic design are combined in a way that appeals to the audience you have selected. Modern direct marketing creative consists of about 90% engineering and research and about 10% inspiration.

At Amergent, the creative staff works from a creative strategy, developed by your Account Manager in consultation with you. The creative strategy, among other things, describes the audience for the message. The leap of imagination in the creative process occurs when the creative staff do the difficult and time-consuming work of putting themselves into the minds of your audience in order to shape your message.