The document discusses how creativity can provide competitive advantage for companies. It argues that embracing creativity and making inspiration actionable, regardless of where it comes from, is important. It also notes that providing the right tools and environment can support creativity without stifling it. Inspiration and enabling creativity in this way can lead to success through innovative products and services.
1. TURNING CREATIVITY INTO A
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Inspiration comes from many places and it must be made
actionable for users, regardless of where they find it.
• The right technology creates an environment that supports
creativity without stifling it.
• Inspiration and enablement result in creativity that leads to
competitive advantage.
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2. CREATIVITY: ARE WE WHAT’S SO HARD
OR AREN’T WE? ABOUT GETTING
Creativity provides competitive advantage. Whether it is innovative
MORE CREATIVE?
design, new functionality, or a way of marketing that taps deep into
customers’ needs—creativity can result in “killer” products and The very nature of creativity makes it an attribute that can be inspired
services. Companies that embrace and incorporate creativity as part but not imposed. Forget mandates and think play dates. The main
of their cultures tend to repeat success more frequently than those factors standing in the way of creativity today include:
that don’t.
For example, Fast Company’s list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative LACK OF TIME
Companies is led by Apple, and few people would argue that Apple is Creativity requires time and space. While businesses prioritize
one of the most creative companies ever. It is no accident that Apple efficiency and productivity, creativity includes lots of side trips and
is also the largest U.S. company ranked by market capitalization— non-linear activities.
outpacing the second-place corporation by $106.85 billion (Online
Investor, December 5, 2012). Creativity drives success, and the faster
that an organization can marshall its creative assets and apply them MARKET PRESSURES
to customers’ desires, the sooner it will begin to experience growth. In the fashion world, it takes weeks to go to shows, gather content,
analyze influences, and turn inspiration into production. Accelerating
Business success driven by creativity also tends to drive overall time-to-market for new collections rarely allows time for the cultural
economic growth. This conclusion is supported by data in the April and social immersion that drives creativity.
2012 State of Create global benchmark study produced by Adobe.
In this study, 80 percent of survey respondents from the U.S., U.K. IMMEASURABILITY
Germany, France, and Japan said that creativity is key to driving It’s hard to measure return on creativity, so many companies are afraid
economic growth. to invest in it.
SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
CREATIVITY DRIVES GROWTH Organizational processes and systems designed to hold people
accountable for success stifle a firm’s creative teams. A company in
which left-brain and right-brain perspectives continuously clash can
paralyze its forward motion.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Finally, although the Internet provides instant access to millions of
inputs and opportunities, it also can undermine your confidence that
you are up to date and not missing something important.
A regimented system
State of Create global benchmark study, Adobe, April 2012
LEFT RIGHT for creativity will not
BRAIN BRAIN work. Right-brained
Three in five respondents say that being creative is important to them.
Logical Random
Yet the very same study found that only 25 percent of respondents feel Sequential Intuitive
creatives don’t
that they’re living up to their creative potential. Rational Holistic want a set of best
Analytical Synthesizing
How’s that? Objective Subjective
practices—they want
If the vast majority believe that creativity drives business and economic
Looks at parts Looks at wholes an “environment” or
development, but a similar majority doesn’t think that they are living up a “playground.”
to their creative potential—this is a big disconnect. If this disconnect
can be overcome, enhancing creativity in organizations can literally
change the world.
When Brains Clash
3. LET CREATIVITY FIND CURATED CONTENT
Attack information overload with curated content that brings the
LOOSE best, most relevant information and inspiration to the top of the pile.
Recommendation engines, curated collections of information, and
filters help cut down creative “noise.”
How does an organization begin to encourage creativity? Regardless
of whether you want to inspire fashion designers, truck mechanics, SUPPORT SHARING AND
scientists, or retail clerks—there are tangible things you can do to
unleash them so that your organization can improve its competitive
COLLABORATION
Sharing and workflow collaboration is a critical underpinning of
advantage.
creativity. Research shows that most creative people benefit from
working closely with other members of their team. Workspaces that
EMBRACE INSPIRATION support folder sharing, recommendations, updates, and notes to each
Yes, it’s messy but you can create an environment that welcomes other help nurture creativity by simplifying processes.
inspiration when it shows up. Embrace the fact that inspiration doesn’t
just come from one place or at certain times. It can come from a
website, blog, magazine, billboard, overheard conversation, personal
experience, and other creative people. It can not show up for weeks
and then suddenly explode. Help users feel powerful by making all of
their inspiration actionable, regardless of where they find it.
PROVIDE TOOLS
Surround creative people with outstanding content and workflow tools
that help them imagine and produce. Provide the left brainers with the
systems and structure they need, such as spreadsheets, databases,
and analytics systems. Give the right-brainers the playground they
need with tools such as media, images, video, access to inspiration
worldwide, and others. Sharing and Collaboration
USE TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELY
Technology must support workflow. Give people the ability to work with
the things that inspire them by making ideas and information easy to
LIBERATING
collect, store, and use. Do you see a great shoe in Paris? Take a picture
and upload it to a cloud-based content folder. Read a product review
CREATIVITY AT
in a trade magazine and decide you need to have it? Make it easy to
source materials. Can’t attend a key trade show? Make it possible to STYLESIGHT
download the presentations and videos.
Stylesight is the industry-leading content and technology solution
for professionals in the style, fashion, and design sectors. Our
mission is simple—to inspire and enable creativity. The Stylesight
platform provides a system for management to inspire creativity with
demonstrable cost savings and return on investment. At the same time,
it provides creatives with unmatched breadth and depth of images,
proprietary expert content, curated information, and tools for search,
storing, arranging, and sharing ideas and inspiration.
Our 200+ person team combines proven forecasting and trend
analysis, the industry’s largest image library, and workflow tools to
make the creative journey more inspirational, as well as more efficient
and cost-effective. Today, 3000 companies rely on Stylesight every day
to be their eyes and ears in the most important fashion cities and to
provide the latest trend, business, materials, and sourcing information.
Our mission—to inspire and enable—is changing the face of fashion
every day.
Effective Tools; A Stylesight Workspace
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4. Stylesight is the industry-leading content and technology solution for professionals in the style, fashion, and design sectors. Our
mission is simple—to inspire and enable creativity. The Stylesight platform provides a system for management to inspire creativity
with demonstrable cost savings and return on investment. At the same time, it provides creatives with unmatched breadth and depth
of images, proprietary expert content, curated information, and tools for search, storing, arranging, and sharing ideas and inspiration.
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Central, Hong Kong Shanghai, China, 200336
For more information visit www.stylesight.com
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