What is the next creative renaissance?
The original Creative Renaissance heralded the 15th Century rebirth of art and science. Now, we’re embracing the next Creative Renaissance, where emerging technology can magnify the human ingenuity of great ideas, advancing creative teams and marketers into a new era of storytelling mastery.
“We need new masters in terms of storytelling, new Da Vincis and new Boticellis, who can tell stories and train artisans,” says CJ de Silva-Ong, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Juice Philippines. But these modern storytellers won’t be limited to the singular art style of the previous Renaissance. Instead, technology will bring about diversity. “With TikTok, a lot more marginalised groups have their own platform.” In fact, digital video overtook traditional TV this year, signalling a shift away from monoculture. And unlike the shiny, filtered ‘grams of the past’, today’s viewers are also creators, making content that’s rough and ready, and highly tailored to specific subcultures.
For brands, catching up is about progress over perfection. Marketers needn’t worry about labouring over perfect, high production-value creatives. By investing and innovating on subculture-centric platforms like TikTok, they can achieve strong ROI while standing out.
Marketers are striving to do more with less in an uncertain economic environment, and an obvious reflex is to scale back budgets on creative ideas. But decades of research demonstrate that brands that disrupt in a downturn are rewarded with possibility. To be truly impactful today, boldness is needed.
Often, marketers and creative teams are rushing to generate a constant flow of new creative assets. In this new era, we should look to streamline our production process to make time for true creativity. TikTok’s new Recut, Remix, Reimagine framework includes a suite of solutions designed to ramp up and diversify creative output.
According to Adobe’s 2023 Digital Trends Report, 79% of senior APAC marketing executives say demand for content has significantly increased. But only 25% of brands rated themselves as ‘good’ at creating and delivering such content, as traditional methods can no longer keep pace.
A huge portion of the content we consume everyday is a remixed version of something else that existed before. With the right tools, brands are able to customise messages and remix content that’s enriching to specific audiences and subcultures – hyper-relevant content that people want to engage with, play with, and take ownership over. This type of creativity is batted back and forth, evolving as it goes, like a video duetted a million times on TikTok.
Trends now start online, before transforming into cultural movements. Even audio memes can become a major trend these days, morphing into something new with every reuse. Most often, these trends gain traction in micro-cultures, which are now easily accessible thanks to modern digital technologies. This gives brands an unprecedented opportunity to show off their personality, if they can contribute meaningfully to these communities. So, get creative! Recut, Remix, and Reimagine, to turn your creative assets into something more.
According to TIkTok’s Future of Commerce 2022 research, 77 % of APAC consumers purchase decisions were influenced by entertaining content.
As the potential of mid-funnel marketing continues to reveal itself, marketers are searching for the best ways to access the engagement and consideration in these micro-cultures. TikTok often tops the list, as the platform naturally showcases products while eliciting delightful and joyful discoveries.
The Next Creative Renaissance beckons. Are you in?