Creative Marketing: Transcending the Mundane with Kim Martin

Kim Martin is a strategic creative with more than 25 years of agency experience, creating award-winning integrated campaigns for commercial and not-for-profit clients. Kim's experience helps lead the creative department at Flourish, offering direction, copy skills, as well as nurturing young talent and helping to keep creative standards as high as possible.

LBB> What does creativity mean to your brand?

Kim> As exec creative director of a specialist CRM agency creativity is massively important to me, and the brands we’re fortunate enough to work with. Creativity is the way we engage our clients’ customers and donors. It’s the way we provide meaning for, and understanding of, brands in the lives of their audiences. But for me creativity isn’t a standalone ‘thing’. Creativity is the final piece of the puzzle. It’s the ‘right message’ part of the ‘right audience, right place, right time, right message’ Ideal that we’re always striving for. 

LBB> And more broadly what does creativity mean to you - outside of work, outside of the sphere of advertising and marketing?

Kim> Creativity is about transcending the practical or mundane and expressing yourself. And for me there’s nothing more joyous than self-expression. And I’m not just talking about ‘art’. Creativity is everywhere you look; it’s your personal spin on a thing. From dancing to cooking, gardening to playing an instrument. I think it’s human nature to experiment and put something new or different into the world. There’s a reason that every kid who plays football wants to learn the cool skills. Or why some people aren’t content to use a bike as a form of transport but want to do tricks or jumps. It’s all about expressing yourself within a discipline and pushing the boundaries as far as you’re comfortable. Personally, I feel my life would be very bland and boring if I couldn’t express myself through the activities I enjoy. 

LBB> What was the moment or experience in your career that really helped ferment the importance of creativity in marketing?

Kim> Honestly? I come from a direct marketing background, where results are everything. Years ago, at the start of my career, the agency I was working for submitted a DM piece we’d done for a utility company to a famous industry magazine for review. 

At the time you could submit work and it would be reviewed by some big names in the industry. An opportunity to build your agency's name and your own personal reputation. The piece performed really well, and I thought it was great, BUT it got absolutely ripped apart creatively. It was like a punch in the face. BANG! Here were a bunch of Creative Directors I’d read about and deeply respected, absolutely laying into my work. But one of them commented, “I’m sure it smashed its targets, but how much better could it have been with a stronger idea?” That was a lightbulb moment for me. Results will always be paramount, but a great offer, proposition or compelling charity ask will always be better wrapped up in a strong creative idea that resonates with an audience. 

LBB> What have you learned is the key to nurturing fruitful relationships with your creative partners?

Kim> My creative partners are my colleagues within the creative department and the outside suppliers we occasionally engage if we don’t have a skillset in-house. But the way I treat both is the same. I give people room to do what they do best. I trust their expertise. So, my advice to anyone that’s concerned with nurturing relationships with other creatives is to hire the best people you can and trust that they can bring something brilliant to the project. Part of my role is to nurture in-house talent, but I always try and help my junior colleagues explore different avenues, rather than dictating a path they should follow. Creative people respond to positive encouragement and need to feel ownership of the project they’re working on. 

LBB> Which creative campaigns from other brands (past or present) have inspired you most in your career and why?

Kim> Wow. There are so, so many. And I think I’ve been inspired by different campaigns throughout different stages of my career. I’m a copywriter by trade, so early in my career I was massively inspired by The Economist advertising. I loved the idea that whip-smart copy could carry a brand. 

Later in my career I was working on an online betting client. Paddy Power was the big competitor and we watched them closely. I loved how they went about things. As a challenger brand they were disruptive, irreverent, and had great swagger. From PR stunts to advertising they did everything with great humour. They really understood their audience and carved out a distinctive tone of voice. They’ve become part of the mainstream now, but you still see the odd flash of that old school brilliance.

Nowadays, we work with many charities, so I’m much more likely to be inspired by great charity campaigns. I really loved Oxfam’s legacy campaign from Xmas 23 “still in the fight”. It recognised that people likely to be of an age to think about leaving a gift in their Will, were idealistic teens in the 60s and 70s – decades where people were radical and mass protest was common. They might not be joining marches every weekend now, but they could leave a legacy and that could be a radical act. I think it also signalled that, following acres of bad press in the late 2010’s, that Oxfam had found its mojo again. Great stuff!

LBB> What campaign that you’ve worked on has been the most creatively satisfying and why?

Kim> As someone with a good few miles on the clock I’ve worked on many campaigns that have been creatively satisfying. I love multidimensional ideas. By that I mean ideas that have depth – it’s not just the same idea on different canvases. I also derive great satisfaction from our charity clients because I know that successful campaigns mean more donations to spend on their vital work. I’ve been lucky enough to work for a wide range of charity clients over my career on Individual Giving, Regular Giving, Events and Legacy campaigns. I think the work I’ve done for MSF, PDSA, Crisis, NSPCC and Worldwide Cancer Research has been the most satisfying both creatively, but also because of the results they’ve achieved and money they’ve raised.

LBB> Of all the puzzles facing marketers right now, what’s the topic that’s perplexing your team the most right now?

Kim> We’re always looking to address the next challenge. And those challenges keep coming! Often, it’s around changes to privacy and data or changes made by tech platforms that make targeting audiences or the delivery of campaigns more challenging. But of course, the biggest puzzle right now is – ‘where does AI fit into all of this?’ 

LBB> What areas of marketing are you seeing the most exciting potential for creativity?

Kim> Ironically, given my answer to the last question – AI. The potential to create truly personalised customer journeys at scale is so exciting to me. Imagine a database of 100,000 individuals where everyone’s customer journey with that brand has the potential to be unique. The social ad I see looks nothing like yours. The offer I get is unlike yours. What I see and when I see it will be relevant to me and me only – it’s mind-blowing. I come from a Direct Marketing background, so personalisation is something I’ve been obsessed with my whole career. AI has the potential to put tools in our hands that will enable us to reach people with much more meaningful communications. I welcome that with open arms.

LBB> You must see so many ideas pitched to you - and have had to sell in so many ideas to the rest of your company. So, what’s the key to selling a great idea?

Kim> You must take the people you’re selling an idea to with you. There are very few ideas where you can simply present an output, stand back, and expect everyone to bask in the glowing radiance of your creative genius! 

I’m a big fan of storytelling, weaving a narrative around the audience or the product, highlighting a challenge that the creative idea addresses. Also, and this will seem obvious to some, but I see many people fail to do it - when you present creative, don’t simply tell your audience what they are seeing, tell them why it solves the brief.

LBB> In your experience how can marketing teams drive creativity throughout the rest of an organisation?

Kim> This is a tough one. I’m lucky enough to work at an agency that has creativity enshrined in our values. So, everyone from the junior account execs to the MD understands that we’re a creative business. It’s our bread and butter. And what gets us all excited about the work we do.

But senior directors and hard-nosed sales teams that are judged on how many widgets they sell or donations they attract will always be naturally cautious. You’ll inevitably come up against attitudes like; “Why can’t we just show X and put a big price roundel on it?” 

However, in my experience great creative elevates a campaign, making it more successful. More profitable. If you’re unable to convince colleagues that extra investment in creativity will improve ROI, it’s actually a brand challenge. If your organisation’s brand isn’t one that expresses itself creatively, you either need to review the brand, it’s vision, mission, and values – or go to work for a brand that values creativity.

LBB> How do you encourage creative excellence among your team?

Kim> We celebrate creative excellence. We have group chats to share inspirational work from other agencies / brands. And we celebrate the work that we do, calling out individuals, again through an agency wide group chat. In addition, we regularly present the best work we’ve produced in our quarterly ‘all-agency’ meetings. This gives creativity some kudos within the business. We don’t celebrate all our work, we hold up the best of what we do, setting an expectation of what excellence is and a clear standard that we can all live up to.

LBB> The big question. We know creativity is effective but when you’re assessing an idea that’s totally original and new, how do you figure out if it’s brilliant or indulgent?

Kim> I think experience plays a big part. Does it feel right? I also think objectivity is a skill that you need to have. There are certain themes I will always be drawn to, simply because I’m into it. But you must be able to stand back and think objectively. For me it’s all about the audience. In my experience self-indulgent ideas tend to be unsuitable for the audience you’re going after. If the idea is right for the target audience, but still doesn’t feel right, you’re talking about likeability. Now that’s a subjective response but likeability is hugely important in our business. If you’re still not sure? What does the brand say? Your brand is always the ultimate arbiter.  

LBB> Tell us about a time you’ve really had to fight for a creative idea - what was the idea, what was the obstacle and why was it worth it?

Kim> Earlier in my career the agency I was working for was pitching for Camelot’s (National Lottery) digital work. The brief was to get players to sign up to play online and convince existing online players to play another line or a different game. 

We had an idea on the table that had come from the then planning director and creative director, and one that my creative partner and I had developed for the same brief. Suffice to say we were encouraged to develop the director’s idea and park our own. However, we felt that, although their idea was good and brief, it was over complicated. 

Our idea was simply ‘play more’ – our driving thought was that if you make time in your life to mess about a bit, the world will be a happier place. Of course, the ‘play more’ attitude related to playing the lottery too repositioning the pleasure of playing the lottery was the playing itself, rather than focusing on what you could win. Executions involved people going about their day, but messing about – so we had two business people sword fighting with umbrellas, a guy, with his coat tied around his neck and his fist stuck out like he was a flying superhero running through the park. It was simple, positive, likeable, and engaging. We developed our idea in tandem with their idea, fighting hard to keep it in the game. It was a risk, going against the wisdom of very senior people within the agency, one of whom was our day-to-day boss! Eventually, as pitch day got closer the two ideas were presented to the board. They loved our idea and that was the idea that was pitched. We won the pitch and ended up being Camelot’s lead digital agency for eight years.

LBB> What one piece of advice do you have for marketers at the beginning of their career who’re still figuring out how to drive impactful creative marketing?

Kim> I think my one piece of advice would be to collaborate with the best people you can. If you’re not surrounded by people that challenge and inspire you it will never work. It’s ok to argue about the work – the more passionate the better. That means everybody cares. Impactful creative is a team sport! But understand that creativity is just one element of your project. A properly planned campaign that leverages a specific proposition, aimed at a specific audience, with a specific message will always perform well. Communicate it creatively however and your campaign has the potential to go stratospheric!