How To Solve The “Best Practice” Conflict Between Marketing And Creative

Why "Best Practice" May Not Be Best Practice

Widely embraced by consultants and corporations since the 1990s, "best practice" holds a compelling promise – "leverage the past experience of others to ensure the most likely chance of success".

I've seen this concept used, I almost want to say leaned on, by many marketers over the years. It's so obviously the right way forward. Why wouldn't we benefit from these proven experiences?

On the other hand, in the creative world, "best practice" is almost the opposite of innovation. It can stifle creative potential and restrict the evolution of ideas and directions. In an environment that exists to develop concepts that break new ground, "best practice", based as it is on its potential to be replicated with success, is the antithesis of creativity.

This is often a source of conflict between marketing and creative teams. How can these two viewpoints be reconciled to the organization's benefit?

How can "best practice" be used to produce creative results?

Certainly, there are components of the creative process that can leverage "best practice" with success, but these must be subordinate to the higher goal of fresh and successful ideas.

The question"what is" kicks off the first stage of classic Design Thinking methodology. It is here that "best practice" can be most useful in highlighting where we are and how we arrived. It can use the limitations of "best practice" to help vault our ideas out of the ordinary.

Instead of asking: "how can we use "best practice" as an outcome for our project", instead we ask "what does current "best practice" say about the situation, and how can we use that to support new thinking?"

Formalizing the incorporation of "best practice" in this way has two primary advantages.

First, it allows the relationship between data-focused marketers and creative-driven designers to meet at a mutually satisfying level. Any "best practice" seen to apply to the project is whole-heartedly integrated into the process.

Secondly, it adds to the overall Design Thinking approach in a position that respects the procedure and provides additional useful data.

The apparent conflict between "best practice" and breakthrough creativity is only in the application.

If you would like a plan to formalize this for your organization in a way that both marketing and your creative team can equally benefit, click the link below to arrange a no-obligation discussion.

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