When you think of dynamic duos, you may think of Buzz and Woody, Batman and Robin. Even Bert and Ernie. But what about duos shaking up the marketing world? Our Strategic Planning Director, Louise Rasmussen, and Associate Creative Director, Kyle Briggs, explain why creative and strategy are our ultimate dynamic duo here at LoSasso.
Listen to (or watch) the recording
Right brain, meet left brain
When we think of strategy and creativity, we tend to separate them into “right-brain, left-brain” ways of thought. Creative leads to a more emotional, qualitative approach, whereas strategy leans on logistics and research. Strategy alone can result in a clear, but uninspired outcome, while standalone creative might miss its mark or lack coherence. Combining the two makes a big difference in your approach—the more analytical in play with the more imaginative—giving you the best end results.
Relationship between creative and strategy
Aligning on creative and strategy from the jump is a great way to make sure your team is set up for success. The strategic brief provides the foundation, while creative thought adds the emotional and innovative spark that brings the strategy to life. We like to think of it as a launchpad, designed for creatives (and strategists) to “bounce” off of.
Exploring the relationship between creative and strategy is not a one-and-done interaction. Creatives and strategists need to be in constant communication with each other, “volleying” back and forth and checking in between teams. This ongoing dialog ensures that the project aligns with the audience and meets the strategic goals. Without this synergy, the project will fall flat.
Our Associate Creative Director puts it best: “...If you don't have that strategic foundation under your creative work, then it's not working as well as it could. Conversely, if you do have that strategy but don't have that layer of creativity, you probably aren't connecting and resonating with your audience as much as you think you are." – Kyle Briggs
How do strategy and creative work together?
Have you ever seen an ad that you were inspired by, but couldn’t recall the brand? That’s an example of good creative ideas left uninformed by strategy. In order to avoid creative and strategy imbalances from the get-go, we coined a term: “Noodling.” Louise considers noodling to be essential in her strategy toolbelt, explaining that, “you start very chaotic but then you really start drilling down on what matters most.”
Here are some examples of questions that we ask in our noodling process:
- What are some of the insights around the target?
- What are some of the revolutionary, unique things we can say about the product?
- How does that fit with cultural trends?
Once these broad questions have been answered, it’s important to stay in constant communication with your creative partner (or dynamic other half), asking questions like, “what matters most?” and “is this inspirational to you?” This way, you give your project clear and inspired guidelines from the start. Starting broad, then narrowing the scope keeps both strategy and creative integrated and on the same page, essential for your next big idea.
Ready to start noodling?
As established by our own dynamic duo here at LoSasso, strategic thinking provides a structured framework while creativity ensures that this framework is engaging and memorable. While strategy and creativity alone have their own unique applications, it’s the blend of the two that fosters successful innovations between teams and, ultimately, delivers on the project.
For more on this topic, check out our podcast above or read the full transcript below. Want to put our creative and strategy teams to work for your business? Let's talk.
Read the transcript
Quick note: This conversation was transcribed with the help of artificial intelligence and has been lightly edited for content.
LR: Hi, I'm Louise Rasmussen, Strategic Planning Director here at LoSasso.
KB: And I'm Kyle Briggs, Associate Creative Director here at LoSasso.
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LR: We were tasked with talking about the creative process at LoSasso, but as strategic planners and creatives do, we decided to build upon that topic and talk about the dynamic duo that makes up complementary, but very different roles.
KB: I think what makes this dynamic duo so special and so dynamic is that combination of left- and right-brain thinking, the more analytical combined with the more creative and imaginative and emotional. And I think standing alone, they can't really be as powerful, but together that's really where they start to work really well together.
KB: So when we are talking about what this looks like and kind of pop culture examples, we talked about...Sherlock Holmes and Watson, how Sherlock was kind of that more eccentric personality and Watson was there to even him out and be more grounded.
We also thought about Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and kind of how that dynamic was reflected there as well, with Captain Kirk being more emotional and passionate and Spock, again, leveling him out, being more logical. Making sure he doesn't just blast off into space with his ideas.
And then of course, for the Pixar fans, we love the idea of the dynamic duo of Woody and Buzz. How Buzz kind of has those big dreams and Woody is more rational and brings things down to earth. So this is clearly a dynamic duo that works really well. And we continue to use here at LoSasso every day.
LR: And being that logical research side of things, I decided to do a little survey and get some data behind it. We asked our peers in Slack, you know, if you were to come up with a dynamic duo that really explores the roles between strategy and creative. And we sent that out through Slack and it blew up.
A couple of my faves that weren't kind of your typical character roles, but I think people were leaning into my British culinary, were fish and chips, tea and scones, and then another one, hammer and nails.
And I think just that example shows how they're very different components, but actually when they come together, that gets the best end result. So we wanted to talk about that a little bit today.
KB: Yeah, and from my purview, I love the examples of Thelma and Louise and Bonnie and Clyde, obviously going for different goals there, but I think the message kind of holds true.
LR: So thinking of that combination of skill sets and it's all about the combination. If I was to pose the question, what would one be without the other? So when I think about life without creative from a strategist, I'd be like, “My God, that's unimaginable.” Like, the end result, yes, it might be clear, very strategic, but it'd be really dull, boring, lifeless, kind of soulless.
When I think about what you do to a strategy, it always brings a smile to my face. It kind of moves me. It creates an emotional response that breaks through the clutter and grabs my attention. It's that fresh, innovative, imaginative leap that you bring to it. I just couldn't imagine my job kind of ending off at strategy.
KB: Thank you, Louise. Our creative team really appreciates that, but I do think that without the logic and the strategy behind it sometimes that emotion can ring a little false or not hit the mark.
We were talking earlier today about an ad that you remembered, but you didn't know who the brand was that put it out. And I think that's an example of leading with the creative without that undercurrent of strategy running throughout.
So I think aligning on creative and strategy early on, making sure they are in sync is a great way to make sure we're aligned from the jump with the creative brief and sending our teams down the right path from the beginning with this clearly defined vision that both of us have agreed on.
And we've added our creative twist and our strategic underpinnings to make sure that we're all moving in the same direction, saving time, saving resources. When they come together, that's kind of where we're most effective.
LR: Talking about that very technical term of "jump" from the creative, we wanted to share a couple of insider ways that we work as a combination together with some technical terms. And I think the first key technical term that I would use to describe how we work together is “noodling.”
And for noodling, often the strategy starts off very wide, it's very chaotic. You're looking for what are some of the insights around the target? What are some of the revolutionary, unique things we can say about the product? How does that fit with cultural trends? And so you start very chaotic but then you really start drilling down on what matters most.
And in that process, I'll often come to the creative partner that I'm working with, my partner in crime, and say, hey, here's a couple of "one things," kind of really what matters most is this inspirational to you and you'll often noodle it and we massage in a way that's going to really give us that inspirational leap.
So I think the other word that I would use in our process of this kind of dynamic duo of how we work together is "bounce". And so when I'm giving a creative brief and we're looking at that, what's the most important thing to say?
What I want to do is give you a creative, inspiring launching pad. So, it's that bounce that sets it not only in the right direction, but really projects it, inspires it, to give you some inspirational thoughts to take it and elevate it to that next level.
KB: And that definitely goes both ways just in terms of you sharing your strategy with the creative lead, kind of making sure we're aligned there, but also the creative team sharing back with you to make sure as the expert in the audience that this will resonate with them and appeal to them.
And then our last term that we use a lot is this idea of a gut check. So early and often we'll, on the creative side, touch in with Louise and make sure where we're heading is the right direction. Again, from that lens of the audience expert, knowing everything that she does about that most important message that she's put together in her brief. And make sure we're aligned and we can keep trotting down the road we're going or switch gears if necessary.
LR: I think Kyle, if you don't have that person to volley with and somebody that's a good catcher thrower, then you're just not going to get to the best results.
KB: I think you and I, Louise, would both go as far to say that if you don't have that strategic foundation under your creative work, then it's not working as well as it could. And conversely, if you do have that strategy but don't have that layer of creativity, you probably aren't connecting and resonating with your audience as much as you think you are.
LR: Yeah. And I think one without the other, I would always say you can see an ad that just has strategy. I'm like, oops, strategy showing, and you know when the creative is really not there it's just not hitting the mark it's kind of it is the dull and the boring.
KB: Well and i think too we talked about this a little bit the idea that AI is coming on to the scene it hasn't quite mastered that mix of creative and strategy and i think that's where a lot of our value comes in to take both and turn it into something valuable and something that can't necessarily be achieved by AI yet.
LR: Yeah, that breaks through the clutter and really connects. And at LoSasso, we often talk about marketing that moves you. And I don't think you can get to marketing that moves you if you don't have that dynamic process. If you don't have those different skill sets that are very collaborative and complementary to each other.
So we would say, you know, don't settle for anything less than marketing that moves you, but there's a dynamic duo that really propels that forward. And if you'd like to find out more about that and the way that we work about our creative process, then really we'd love you to get in touch with our team.
