Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

Advertising creativity: The view across the meeting room and across cultures
Railton Hill Lester W. Johnson Kevin Pryor Mhd. Helmi Abd. Rahim

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Railton Hill Lester W. Johnson Kevin Pryor Mhd. Helmi Abd. Rahim, (2007),"Advertising creativity", Asia
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Advertising creativity

Advertising
creativity

The view across the meeting room

and across cultures
Railton Hill
Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia

Lester W. Johnson
Melbourne Business School, Carlton, Australia

Kevin Pryor

9
Received April 2005
Revised August 2006
Accepted August 2006

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Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, and

Mhd. Helmi Abd. Rahim

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose The study aims to extend knowledge of practitioner beliefs amongst advertising agency
creatives across three countries Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia regarding factors that
impact advertising creative excellence in the advertising agency. The study also seeks to address
views across Australian creatives and their clients.
Design/methodology/approach The design combined preliminary qualitative work using depth
interviews with a subsequent questionnaire-based survey of the various stakeholder groups. Opinions
of Australian creatives are compared, using the same survey instrument, with those of a sample of
Australian advertiser clients. The views of the various national groups of creatives are then
compared using the same instrument.
Findings The results indicated that a group of factors encourage creatives, and to an extent their
clients, to have high expectations of the achievement of optimal creative work. There was more
agreement among the creatives across the three countries than agreement between the Australian
advertisers and any of the groups of creatives. There were also differences evident between the views
of Malaysian creatives, on the one hand, and their Australian and New Zealand counterparts, on the
other. A finding that Malaysian creatives were in slightly more agreement with the Australian
advertisers than were Australian and New Zealand creatives was unanticipated.
Research limitations/implications Identified limitations include failure to collect data from
advertiser stakeholders (clients) in the non-Australian countries. This meant that direct comparisons
of client-agency beliefs could not be made within these countries. The challenge now is to explore the
reasons why the differences and similarities found exist.
Practical implications Changes to practice to be made as a result of this research relate to
management of the structured transfer of information between agency and client stakeholders, and
management of authority issues in this relationship, particularly across cultures.
Originality/value Provides cross-cultural as well as inter-organizational perspectives on
advertising agencyclient relationships.
Keywords Advertising, Creative thinking, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Customers
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
This study compares beliefs concerning possible antecedents of optimal creative work
held by advertising creatives from Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand, and further,
examines the views on this matter of Australian advertisers (clients). Hence it examines
the views held between creatives from these three countries, a view across cultures,
as well as between (Australian) creatives and their clients, a view across the meeting
room. Optimal creativity is defined in the study, specifically, as work likely to achieve
the objectives within an advertisers brief.

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing

and Logistics
Vol. 19 No. 1, 2007
pp. 9-21
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1355-5855
DOI 10.1108/13555850710720876

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10

Creativity has been described as the main raison detre of the advertising agency
and the shiny apples at the front when it puts out its stall (Bernstein, 1989, p. 18).
A significant literature exists on the definition, measurement and enhancement
of creativity in general, and of advertising creativity in particular (Koslow et al., 2003;
El-Murad and West, 2004).
Agencies often exhibit in their own self-promotion a belief that their creativity
provides a competitive edge (Warner, 1995). Korgaonkar and Bellenger (1985) and
Jones (1992) support the importance of creativity relative to a variety of other features
in the success of various types of campaigns. Bell (1992) on the other hand finds there
is a relationship between commercial popularity and advertising expenditure. This
raises the question of what role creativity might play in attaining popularity relative to
reach, frequency and extended continuity. Weissenberg (1995) argues for insightful
strategic research and less emphasis on creativity in typical campaigns for some
categories of product. The normative importance placed upon creativity by agencies
and clients alike, and the major expense incurred towards its attainment, are both
apparent are viewed here as sufficient justification for a study whose ultimate goal is
the enhancement of advertising creativity.
As a form of applied creativity (Hill and Johnson, 2003) the literature indicates a
range of managerial and other factors which may impact upon creative outcomes and
the satisfaction of clients. For example, managers are encouraged to address factors
which may discourage risk-taking or induce fear of criticism (West and Ford, 2001).
Writers have suggested the facilitation of progression through a series of stages, such
as problem finding, immersion, idea generation, idea validation and application (e.g.
Koestler, 1970) is linked to creative outcomes. Links have long been proposed between
creativity and factors such as organizational structure, working culture, security of
tenure, etc. (Damanpour, 1991; Mohr, 1988)
The internationalization of markets is an enduring trend, leading to the creation of
many issues for marketing communicators. Globalization raises both content and
process issues with regard to creative advertising services.
The current study explores the beliefs held by two key stakeholder groups in the
advertising process, those of creatives the agency practitioners who respond to an
advertising brief and the advertiser clients who commission the creative work.
Congruity or difference between the beliefs of these two groups across the meeting
room, as well as between different nationals groupings of creatives (across cultures),
may have implications for both domestic and international management of the
advertising briefing and execution process, as well as for customer (client) satisfaction
with creative services.
Overviewing key issues in international advertising, Miracle (1984) called for more
comparative studies which collect data in more than one country. Taylor (2002)
regarded the control of international advertising campaigns . . . (and) of the extent to
which they are effectively implemented as a key research issue. In 2005, Taylor called
for a focus on how clients and agencies interact in planning communications strategy
(Taylor, 2005). Overwhelmingly, however, the focus in international advertising
research has been on issues associated with advertising content under the impact of
globalization, not on the processes behind the generation of creative work. For
example, of 14 papers published in a major recent collection of papers on New
Directions in International Advertising Research (Taylor, 2002), only two (Chandra et al.,
2002; Oh and Kim, 2002) deal directly with the service management issues arising from
internationalization.

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The current study concerns the service management/delivery of creative ideas. In

examining the expectations of creatives in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, a
basis for decision-making regarding the customization or transferability of creative
service delivery processes between these markets is explored, rather than the more
commonly discussed advertising content issues. As noted by Chandra et al. (2002, p. 71),
through the standardization of a firms advertising development and implementation
processes, a firm can capitalize on economies of scale and scope . . . (as) signaled under
the business maxim of Think Global, act local . . . firms can maximize the benefits of
standardization . . . by developing consistent global processes across markets . . ., while
simultaneously adapting programs to specific markets. By this means the possibility
exists that firms may capitalize on the cost advantages of the development and
implementation of worldwide best practices . . . .
The research objectives then are:
(1) to delineate factors which advertisers and/or creatives believe enhance creative
outcomes,
(2) to test empirically for differences in these beliefs between creatives and
Australian advertisers, and
(3) to test for differences in these beliefs between Australian, New Zealand and
Malaysian creatives.
Because data is not currently available from New Zealand and Malaysian advertisers,
no testing is possible for any general differences between the beliefs of all three groups
of creatives and their specific advertiser clients. Comparison is possible, however, with
the beliefs of Australian clients, a useful exercise as Australian firms are increasingly
attempting to move off shore.
Antecedents of creative excellence
As noted, creativity is a key expectation of the clients of advertising agencies. The
relationship between agencies and clients in Australia was described as one of
glasnost following deregulation, with one survey finding agreement amongst a
majority of marketers that traditional agencies were becoming less relevant to
marketing plans (Petty, 1998). Unsatisfactory agency performance, particularly in
creative work, is a key reason for account shifting by advertisers (Dowling, 1994;
Michell, 1984, 1986, 1988; Michell et al., 1992). Rust and Oliver (1994) suggested that
despite the death and resurrection of advertising in the internet age, creativity will
remain the core competence sought after from advertising agencies. There is, however,
little evidence of increasing levels of client satisfaction with creative product at this
time, although literature is replete with a range of likely antecedent factors for both
general and advertising related creativity. A number of these are discussed
subsequently.
Customer expectations are thought to play a key role in both the service quality
(SQ) and customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (CS/D) approaches to service excellence
(Oliver, 1980, 1993) Expectations research remains a live issue within services
marketing research (Voss et al., 1998; Coy, 2004), and specifically within professional
(Ojasalo, 2001) and advertising (Hill and Johnson, 2006) services. This study probes the
expectations of creative practitioners in working to achieve optimal creative work,
across three different countries, namely Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, where
optimal work is defined specifically as that which achieves the communication

Advertising
creativity

11

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12

objectives of clients. We do this by exploring the beliefs of senior advertising agencyemployed creatives, and of Australian clients (advertisers), relative to a variety of
antecedents of excellent creative work.
Research design
The design involved content analysis of a series of depth interviews with all
stakeholders in the creative process (advertisers, creatives, account directors and
researchers), the development of a questionnaire based on this analysis, and a
subsequent survey of the beliefs of senior creatives in advertising agencies in the three
countries. We further surveyed Australian advertising clients using the same battery of
expectations questions and compare these results with the expectations of creatives
across the three countries.
Qualitative phase
A series of ten in-depth interviews were carried out, by appointment, in Australia with
a range of participants in the agency: account executives, creatives, a researcher and
creative directors in both large and small agencies. The interviews were very open, and
participants were encouraged to suggest factors that they believed enhanced or
decreased the likelihood of attainment of an optimal creative product. Interviews,
conducted at participants offices, were recorded, transcribed and manually content
analyzed by the researchers. Sixty-nine elements which respondent proposed to
influence creative performance (other than the skill of the practitioner) were
condensed, after the removal of repetition and overlap, to 33 elements. These are all
listed in Table I.
As noted, factors derived for testing from this qualitative work are in some cases
also suggested by careful examination of the literature. For example, several items (1.2,
1.32 and 1.33) allude to adequate time available for creative thinking, reflecting and
exposition . . . and similar notions. This is a similar concept to the investment
argued to be necessary (Steinberg and Lubart, 1996) in a conducive work
environment (items 1.6, 1.8, 1.21, etc.), a further factor repeatedly cited in the literature
(Steinberg and Lubart, 1995). El-Murad and West (2004) underline the notion of the
intrinsic excitement or passion associated with work as a factor promoting excellent
work, echoed in an item (1.10) which states that A creative who finds a particular brief
likeable or exciting will be more likely to generate an optimal advertising
execution. Several items (1.14, 1.16, 1.18, 1.23, 1.24) allude to the management of
perceptions of risk of various types. This idea is quite strong in the literature (West,
1999; West and Ford, 2001). A detailed knowledge base is also mentioned in the
literature and is reflected in the suggestions of interviewees (items 1.26, 1.29, etc.)
A number of practical matters are raised by the qualitative responses which do not
seem prominent in the literature however. These include such notions as the
importance of the brief being written, a meaningful deadline provided, a linkage to
practitioner self image (1.3 and 1.13), recognition for excellent work (1.7) and even the
age of members of the creative team (1.5). As is appropriate for an exploratory study,
the precedents of optimal creativity tested in the survey instrument are derived both
from the literature and from careful grounding in practitioner experience as tapped by
the initial qualitative work. Face validity accrues from each of the literature and
qualitative findings being in apparent support of the other.

1.1 Creatives should be involved early in the development of a brief, well before the
brief is settled
1.2 The knowledge that there will be adequate time available for creative thinking,
reflection and exposition will improve the creative product
1.3 Most creatives want to see themselves as creating brilliant work
1.4 The agency must deal mainly with senior management in the client organization
when presenting creative ideas which have been developed
1.5 The optimal creative execution is most likely when most people in the creative area
are young
1.6 It is necessary for creatives and account management to trust each others work
1.7 The optimum creative execution is most likely when creatives know that excellent
work will be recognized
1.8 A conducive work environment is an important factor in ensuring the best possible
creative product
1.9 Strong advertising knowledge on the part of a client will mean good decisions are
made by that client about creative work presented
1.10 A creative who finds a particular brief likeable or exciting will be more likely to
generate an optimal advertising execution
1.11 A work environment conducive to optimal creative execution will include mainly
strongly committed people
1.12 Creatives should be involved in an ongoing manner as the brief is refined
1.13 It is necessary to harness the desire of creatives to be brilliant to ensure they
achieve optimal advertising execution
1.14 It is destructive of creative morale if a successful execution is vetoed by agency
management on grounds which were not included in the brief
1.15 If clients have adequate depth of knowledge of advertising to be able to make good
decisions on creative work, this encourages optimal creative execution
1.16 A sign off process with the client should ensure that ideas and executions creatives
see as optimal will not be rejected later by someone else in the client organization
1.17 A high level of trust between creatives and account management will greatly assist
in achieving the best possible creative product
2.21
2.05
2.21#
1.79
4.32
1.78
2.79^#
2.42^
1.95
2.26
2.32^#
2.16
2.37
2.53^
1.84*
2.47
1.63

1.69*
1.86^
1.65
4.47
1.76
2.16*^
2.08*
2.40
2.38
1.75*^
2.18*
2.59
2.04*
1.96*
2.18*
1.76

Malaysian
creatives
(n 19)

2.01

Australian
creatives
(n 51)

1.72

2.17*

2.33

1.78*^

2.11

1.78*#
2.17

2.00

2.39

1.78*^

2.00*#

4.61
1.78

1.89

1.44*^
1.33*^#

1.67

New Zealand
creatives
(n 18)

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5.940 (0.001)
3.573 (0.015)
21.462 (0.000)
0.335 (0.800)
4.618 (0.004)
7.060 (0.000)
3.353 (0.020)

2.21**
2.02*
2.99***
4.47
2.22***
2.87**
2.38**

1.521 (0.211)
10.472 (0.000)
3.372 (0.020)
5.144 (0.002)
13.122 (0.000)
7.963 (0.000)
5.084 (0.002)
8.358 (0.000)
(Continued)

2.52
2.42**
2.60*
3.06***
3.01**
2.61**
2.85**
2.31***

1.377 (0.251)

8.710 (0.000)

2.90***

2.45

F (sig)

Australian
advertisers
(n 99)

Advertising
creativity

13

Importance of factors
as influences on
expectations of an
optimal advertising
execution: agreement
with statements ANOVA
(means in cells)

Table I.

Table I.
2.79
3.53^
2.00
1.68*^
2.26^#
2.16
1.95
1.37*^#
1.89
2.53
1.53*^#
1.63
1.63
1.68
2.68

2.86
2.80*^
1.80
2.29^
1.69^
2.25
1.75
2.04^
2.00
2.63
2.56^
1.92
1.60*
2.02
2.37

2.33

1.67

1.72
2.24
2.33#
2.06
1.50*

2.11#

1.94
1.78

1.28#

1.61
2.28

2.33
3.06

1.67

New Zealand
creatives
(n 18)

3.26***

2.36***

2.59***
2.99
2.80*
1.89
1.99**

2.21*

2.55
2.11

2.80***

2.69***
2.46*

3.71***
3.57*

3.23***

Australian
advertisers
(n 99)

8.186

4.433 (0.005)

6.844 (0.000)
2.290 (0.080)
6.590 (0.000)
0.946 (0.419)
2.760 (0.044)

3.858 (0.010)

1.490 (0.219)

27.180 (0.000)
2.118 (0.099)

16.983 (0.000)
2.639 (0.051)

15.015 (0.000)
5.385 (0.001)

26.237 (0.000)

F (sig)

Notes: ***in Australian advertisers column means significantly ( p 0.05) different from all creatives. ^ or # indicates that pair of means for creatives are
significantly different ( p 0.05) Qs 1.1-1.23: 1 Agree strongly; 6 Disagree strongly, Qs 1.24-1.33: 1 Extremely important; 6 Completely irrelevant.
Items were all four groups agree are italicized. * or ** indicates significant difference ( p 0.05) from one or two creatives as indicated

2.05

1.92

Malaysian
creatives
(n 19)

14

1.18 Dealing mainly with senior management in the client organization is an important
factor in ensuring that good creative work is not rejected
1.19 A work environment conducive to optimal creative execution will include mainly full
time people
1.20 A brief should always be short
1.21 A work environment conducive to optimal creative execution will include mainly
people with a strong sense of respect for ideas
1.22 Creatives need a detailed knowledge of the product to be advertised
1.23 If agency management has a known pattern of stepping in to veto good creative
work, this undermines creatives confidence of achieving the best creative outcome
1.24 Creatives need to know that clients will not reject creative work without a good
and valid reason
1.25 A brief should always be in written (rather than verbal) form
1.26 The brief for a major campaign should include high quality positioning research
(High quality information on target segmentation, consumer profiling, product
differentiation etc.)
1.27 Better creative work is prepared when the client is not rigidly expecting one
type of advertising
1.28 The form and content of the creative brief should match the creatives needs
1.29 A brief should contain all necessary information on the client, its business etc.
1.30 A definite, meaningful deadline for completion should be given in every brief
1.31 The brief should contain a carefully distilled, precise proposition
1.32 The best possible creative work is much more likely to be achieved when all
stakeholders have agreed to a realistic timeframe
1.33 Creative people need to be confident that an adequate production budget will be
available

Australian
creatives
(n 51)

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Quantitative phase
Australian creatives (n 51). A questionnaire-based survey of senior Australian
creatives was carried out. It tested, how broadly beliefs concerning factors that either
help or hinder creatives in doing excellent work, which had emerged from the depth
interviews, are shared.
Instructions to respondents were very explicit:

Advertising
creativity

(1) that the term optimal was to mean that which will best achieve client
communication objectives;

15

(2) that the term execution refers in the questionnaire to the whole creative
process from idea generation forward, and

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(3) that the questionnaire was concerned with a major new campaign; e.g. a new
product launch or repositioning campaign.
These stipulations assisted in ensuring valid responses against a shared
understanding of the creative task under discussion.
A questionnaire was devised utilizing two six point scales, 1 agree very
strongly to 6 disagree strongly for the items 1.1-1.23, and 1 extremely
important to 6 completely irrelevant (as an influence) for the items numbered 1.24
to 1.33.
All creative directors in Victorian (Australian) agencies with ten or more staff as
listed in Adbrief Register were approached. Victoria is a large centre of advertising
activity and can be expected to reflect practice throughout Australian business. Sixtythree senior creatives in fifty-seven agencies were targeted. Fifty-one completed
questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 80 per cent. The response rate from
agencies is slightly higher at 82 per cent.
Malaysian creatives (n 19). The Malaysian advertising industry, worth RM3.72
billion (A$1.6 billion) in 2003 (Marpar, 2004), is developing in line with the very
rapid economic growth evident in the nation. Nearly 400 advertisers advertised
approximately 900 brands (Advertisers Guide, 2003). The Media Guide (2003)
identified 125 advertising agents and counsellors in the country. Fifty are identified as
offering comprehensive advertising services, thirty as offering only media services and
another forty-five as purely creative agencies. The agencies can be further subdivided
into multinational agencies, local agencies and companies that are the result of mergers
between multinationals and local agencies. Almost 95 per cent of the agencies are
located in Kualur Lumpur, the national capital.
A sample of 35 agencies was selected from the full service agencies for the
Malaysian sample, with deliberate inclusion of agencies from each of the three
categories noted above. An identical English language questionnaire, pre-screened for
any comprehension barriers, was used as the basis for these interviews. Respondents
were approached personally for completion of the survey.
Nineteen responses were received, a response rate of 54.3 per cent. The demographic
information collected indicated broad compatibility of the two groups of respondents
in terms of age groupings, years of industry experience, etc.
New Zealand creatives (n 18). Australia and New Zealand are often grouped
together on the basis of geographical location and shared cultural background. Many
marketing textbooks have Australia and New Zealand (Australasian) editions,
suggesting that doing business is seen as being very similar in Australia and New
Zealand. Undoubtedly, the countries share a great deal: the British Commonwealth

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16

background, English language, institutions and culture, a reliance on primary industry

and relative isolation from traditional trading partners such as the USA and UK.
The New Zealand advertising industry turnover was A$2.2 billion in 2003
(Mediacom Marketing Digest, 2004), and has experienced rapid growth. It is
characterized by a mix of local and international agencies, though traditionally even
the international agencies are largely run by home nationals. About 20 agencies
dominate the market in mainstream advertising, although 76 communication
agencies are listed in the CAANZ Directory (2005). This industry employs about 1,000
people directly and contributes to a further 10,000 jobs in related industries.
A sample of 20 full service agencies was selected for the New Zealand sample.
Questionnaires were administered by mail or fax. Eighteen of the twenty senior
creatives contacted responded with completed questionnaires. Survey terms were
tested for functional equivalence within the New Zealand industry, with no problem
terminology identified.
Australian advertisers (n 99). A total of 127 of Australias largest advertisers (in
terms of advertising spend) were selected from the Adbrief listing of all Australia
advertisers. Large advertisers were selected, despite the possibility of skewed
responses associated with the size of advertising spend, in order to ensure that
respondents actually dealt with creative briefing tasks regularly enough to have
extensive recent experience in the matters surveyed.
The survey was targeted at the manager in each client organization with actual
responsibility for dealing with the generation of creative work. These respondents
were qualified by prior telephone call. The survey was distributed by mail with a
covering letter, offering feedback on the findings if desired. It was clearly explained to
respondents that they were being asked to indicate not what you think the creatives
would say assists them, but what you believe will actually assist them. As in the other
samples, it was stressed that optimal results were to be defined in terms of what will
best achieve client communication objectives, and that the statements made referred
to a major new campaign; e.g. a new product launch or repositioning campaign. Two
mailings were performed in all, generating 99 responses, a response rate of 78 per cent.
Results
On the basis of obvious cultural similarities and differences, our expectation was that
Australian and New Zealand creatives would be very similar in their responses, while
Malaysian creatives would exhibit some differences. Also, given the commonly alleged
concern of creatives for the winning of awards, perhaps even at the expense of the
attainment of objectives in the brief, we expected that the advertisers would exhibit
differing expectations from the creative groups. Table I contains sample means of the
33 expectations questions across the four samples, as well as results of analysis of
variance (ANOVA) tests carried out to examine whether there were statistically
significant differences in means across samples.
The ANOVAs suggest that 12 expectations are similar across all four groups. Hence,
all groups disagree with the statement that people in the creative area should be young
(1.5), and generally agree that client advertising knowledge means good decisions
on creative (1.9), that knowledge about the client business is necessary (1.29) and
likeable or exciting briefs are more likely to generate optimal advertising execution
(1.10). They also concur that creatives need to know that clients will not reject creative
work without good reason, that a brief should always be in written rather than verbal
form, that it should meet the needs of creatives, and have a definite, meaningful

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deadline for completion (questions 1.5, 1.9 and 1.10, 1.24, 1.25, 1.28 and 1.30). There is
agreement amongst all groups on a third of items, covering a range of key issues.
On all of other questions in Table I, there is at least one group that is different from
one or more other groups. This is particularly the case for the Australian advertisers
who have a different mean response from at least one (using a Post Hoc test of pairwise
mean difference) of the creative groups for 22 questions. Indeed, they are significantly
different from all three creative groups for nine of the questions (1.1, 1.4, 1.6, 1.13, 1.17,
1.18, 1.19, 1.21, 1.23). Furthermore, the disagreement is always in one direction.
Advertisers seem to disagree more with each statement than any of the creative
groups. In fact, there are no instances where advertisers have a statistically significant
lower mean agreement than any creative group on any question. (There are two such
instances with the differences very minor and not statistically significant.)
Specifically, Australian advertisers appear to believe less strongly than creatives as
a group that creatives should be involved early in the development of a brief, that
agencies must deal mainly with senior management in the client organization when
presenting creative ideas, that it is necessary for creatives and account management to
trust each others work, that it is necessary to harness the desire of creatives to be
brilliant to ensure optimal executions. Clients and creatives also differ in their views
regarding the importance of staff being full time, having a strong sense of respect for
ideas and the avoidance of a pattern of intervention against good ideas by client
management. In general, this cluster of differences in view seems to reflect a desire by
clients to maintain control over the work which they, ultimately, are paying for.
Remember, however, that these are views which are still supported by clients, but less
strongly.
As expected, there was very little difference between the beliefs of Australian and
New Zealand creatives. Only for one item (1.3) do creatives in these two countries differ
in a statistically significant way, New Zealanders believing more strongly that most
creatives want to see themselves as creating brilliant work. One difference out of 23 is
what would be expected just from chance, since all tests were done at the p 0.05 level.
Hence we conclude that there are few, if any, significant differences between the beliefs
of Australian and New Zealand creatives.
For 14 of the questions, there was no statistically significant ( p 0.05) difference
between the mean Malaysian creative response and that of creatives in both Australia
and New Zealand. There were differences in mean response between Malaysians
and Australians on five questions (1.7, 1.11, 1.20, 1.22 and 1.23). These suggest
substantially lower Malaysian support for beliefs that optimum creative execution is
most likely when creatives know that excellent work will be recognized, that strength
of commitment is a key factor in the presence of an environment conducive to optimum
creativity, that a brief should always be short, and that creatives need a detailed
knowledge of the product to be advertised. The Malaysian creatives are also not so sure
that a known agency management patter of stepping in to veto good creative work will
undermine creative confidence.
There were differences in mean response between Malaysians and New Zealanders
on nine questions (1.2, 1.3, 1.7, 1.8, 1.11, 1.14, 1.23, 1.26 and 1.29). Some of these relate to
the same issues found with the beliefs of Australian creatives. The additional beliefs
which Malaysian creatives responses indicated to be less strongly held were that
adequate time be availability will improve creative product, that most creatives want to
see themselves as creating brilliant work, that a conducive work environment is an
important factor in ensuring the best possible creative work, and that it is destructive

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of creative morale if a successful execution is vetoed by agency management on

grounds which were not included in the brief. A further difference was found
concerning whether a brief should contain high quality positioning research, and all
necessary information on the client and its business.
Overall, Malaysians exhibited less agreement than either Australians or New
Zealanders except where they agreed more that creatives need a detailed knowledge of
the product being advertised (question 1.22). Interestingly, Malaysian creatives agreed
more strongly than their Australian and New Zealand creatives counterparts
concerning the importance of the brief, suggesting that Malaysian creatives prefer to
be very closely guided in development of the creative output.
The reason for these findings concerning a range of differences between the beliefs
of Malaysian creatives on one hand, and Australian and New Zealand creatives on the
other, is open to conjecture. The above explication of specific differences suggests an
explanation could flow from cultural differences in the advertising industries in
Malaysia and Australasia. In particular, there seems to be a different, and more
accepting attitude towards authority, for example, the authority of the agency
management and also of the client as a less direct employer, amongst the Malaysian
creatives. The dimensions proposed by Hofstede (1980), such as power distance,
represent one framework which addresses cultural difference in the workplace.
Conclusions and recommendations for further research
We have examined the beliefs of advertising creatives across three cultures and found
that Malaysian creatives have a somewhat different view of advertising creativity than
do their Australian and New Zealand counterparts. Now the challenge is to dig deeper
into the reasons why these differences exist. On the other hand, there were very few
differences in the views of Australian and New Zealand creatives.
We found the expected differences in the views of advertisers when compared to all
groups of creatives (across the meeting room, in a sense). However, there was
significant overlap of views as well. Further work is needed to explain the specifics of
the differences found. What was surprising was that the views of Malaysian creatives
were often closer to those of the Australian advertisers (although still generally
different) than were the beliefs of either Australian and New Zealand creatives. This
suggests a fertile area for further research, perhaps again, regarding cultural
differences towards authority, but also in how creatives actually view the advertisers
on whose briefs they work. These advertisers are in one sense their real employers,
even though the relationship is a one mediated by the agency that pays their salary.
Future research can also attempt to fill in the cells by obtaining data from
advertisers (clients) in New Zealand and Malaysia. Clearly, this would enhance the
study, allowing a range of additional valid comparisons to be made and strengthening
the overall design. Further, the views of advertising stakeholders in other countries,
both similar and dissimilar in cultural and economic terms to those researched here
(e.g. North American, European, Middle Eastern), could be useful. Such replication and
extension builds towards more confident generalization. For example, on the basis of
these findings, North American or Western European beliefs would be expected to
replicate the New Zealand and Australian ones. Creatives in Middle Eastern or other
Asian cultures may or may not be found to have similar differences from Australian
counterparts as do the Malaysian practitioners.
In terms of management implications, it is critical that stakeholders on both sides of
the meeting room (advertisers and their agencies) are familiar with, make allowance for

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and actively manage the differences in perceptions which clearly do often exist
amongst them. The study shows that there exists a range of differences in the views of
advertisers and creatives concerning the factors which enhance creative results. It is
clearly in the interests of both to understand and actively engage with the beliefs which
underlie and guide the work of their partners in the creative endeavour. Such
understanding may well prove to be an important factor in achieving ultimate
communications objectives.
The insights gained concerning the beliefs of these stakeholders will be of value
within further work on CS/SQ within advertising creative services, given the criticality
of expectations in the formation of both these constructs.
For both clients and agencies working across cultures, for example, marketers
penetrating into new international markets, especially, Malaysia or markets which
may share cultural similarity to Malaysia, or agencies seeking to service such
internationalizing clients, understanding of the differences highlighted here can
provide a competitive edge. The beliefs held by key stakeholders concerning factors in
individual and managerial practice which assist or hinder the generation of optimal
creative work and how these vary across cultures are a little researched factor in global
advertising management.
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Corresponding author
Railton M. Hill can be contacted at: rhil@swin.edu.au

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