“Creativity is not tactical or technical—it’s emotional.”

Creativity is turning new ideas into reality, thinking upon it and then producing something which is not ordinary. When we bond this creativity with public relations, it is thinking about the audience’s perception towards a cause. It is like a public relation currency, boosting the inherent value of any campaign tactfully. In this field, the professional needs to constantly generate fresh ideas and concept can make the simplest of an idea or outside the box idea which can make a hit campaign. The creativity is not required while just making a campaign for a client but for them to communicate in general with the public through various media.

 The sky with no limit to alterations can be thought of as creativity. Public Relation campaigns are designed in such a manner that the connect leaves its foot print on the target group’s mind and they never get tired of it. Creativity is intrinsic to public relations. Without creativity, public relation would lose its true essence.

The communication and media industry has been through several rapid revolutions which have changed the way of connecting and communicating with people. Today, with so many interactive platforms and crowded bazaars it is becoming essential to curate authentic creative content that will ‘cut through the noise’ and grab the attention of the target audience. PR is strengthening the roots and spreading its wings via different PR tools.

When I talk about an international PR campaign which left a long-lasting impression, the “Fearless Girl” campaign is a good example. The campaign talked about the female empowerment which involved putting a bronze statue of a girl standing fearlessly across the iconic Wall Street charging bull. It draws attention to its ‘SHE fund,’ which invests in companies and putting women in top jobs. The statue is a sign of ‘extremely courageous girl’ who did wonders for the brand.

The campaign had the key element of emotions to connect the audience with the brand by putting a girl statue for their company. The campaign had an essence of emotions which very well-connected the audience with the brand. The message was crafted very creatively to get noticed. It stood out; people connected and thus was impactful.

Clients are likely to approach public relation teams for creative ideas. Creativity helps the organization to dive in deep into their values and dynamically aligning with the audience. No organization can do without creativity; creativity is the only tool to tell the large part of the story.

A public relation campaign is not done only for a client’s reputation, a product or a brand; but there are campaigns which make a difference in the community. In the common to the campaign on gender equality was shown through a short film “Daughters of Mother India”. It is the film which was a representative of India’s side of Nirbhaya’s story which did not sensationalize the issue of gender violence. The campaign was manifested towards a different angle. It exhibits the society and law enforcement to work together in a safer association of people.

The film shows women police officers taking calls specifically from sexual assault and rape victims because of the serious increase in the number of women voicing their story because of terrorizing incidents taking place in the hub of the country. Every day we are listening to negative news this campaign arises hope and acts toward eradicating the myth of an unsafe capital. It conveys the message that gender violence laws are now becoming strict and how the mindset of society is changing in this situation. The campaign portrays a leap of faith to the audience as it delivers a different message than others.

Public relation creates a likable company image for the public, and how it impacts public opinion. It is one way that companies seek to shape public opinion. Creativity in public relations is the perfect convergence between “what to say” and “how to say”. A message that is in sync with the issue at hand as well as relevant to its target audience. The message should be crafted in a way that gets the dissimilarity, the attention, the interest, the sympathy concludes in a want to take part and engage. In reality, creativity comes into play right from the beginning when the building of PR strategies is done for clients and it is the last output in public relations.

While talking about creativity in public relation, it reminds me the checklist of Chip and Dan from the book ‘Made to Stick’ where they outline a formula for judging and creating ideas that will ‘Stick’ to the audience. There checklist consists of five ideas for a story to stick which they claimed it as ‘SUCCESs’ for any idea. The idea should be creative in such a way that it is Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Stories. It explains what it is that makes you notice an idea, understand them, and act on them. The simple answer is the way we ‘present’ our idea. (Reference book: Made to Stick)

 ‘Power of Words’ is a game-changer in public relations when it comes to creativity. From crafting press releases to building a reputation, it’s the power of language that keeps it going.

Related Post – Creativity in Public Relations

In recent days, social media has allowed full remit of public relations and not merely focused on media relations. This has broadened the impact and importance of creativity in PR, massively increasing the stakes, the rewards, and the opportunities. The creative ladder has been introduced to encourage the employees to talk about new ideas and creative campaigns to modern and socially appealing agendas. This helps to raise the profile of creative thinking and quality of creative ideas.

Creativity is important in all aspects of public relations as it can be used in numerous ways. It can mean different things to different people and that is how exactly I feel towards the creative world of public relations is.

–Neha Goyal

Neha Goyal is a Alumna of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai. She completed her winter internship with Genesis BCW, Mumbai. She is currently an Account Executive at Adfactors PR.