Creative industry

I was listening to a podcast of BBC Radio 4's "The Bottom Line" recently where they talked about innovation and creativity. The panel (James Dyson, Martha Lane Fox and Adrian Ringrose) pointed out strongly that creativity did not just belong in what we know as the "creative industries" but can exist and should be a part of all businesses.

This set me thinking about creative marketing. Of course, marketing is often creative. Each new campaign needs to be created from scratch and we marketers are constantly on the look out for new ways to communicate.

But just as creativity can exist in all industries and in all roles, so in marketing we can be creative in all the elements. From trying a different planning process (involve someone new, change the format) to tailoring messages for the recession or even for "green shoots of recovery".

How can you adapt your marketing creatively to a wet summer, an England Ashes win, stock market rises, Microsoft and Yahoo's tie up or a birthday in your team? There is so much raw material that can drive our creativity.