THE FUTURE OF CREATIVITY
Welcome to The Stream, a newsletter curating cultural, lifestyle and industry trends from across the globe, with a particular focus on Japan / APAC.
Careful, Cautious, Constructive — Developing a Brand Voice in Times of Crisis
During the coronavirus pandemic, many people have quickly shifted into a mode of “self-protection”, where hygiene and security top their list of priorities. Brands, if they are going to communicate effectively, need to show that they understand their customers’ concerns through effective demonstrations of empathy.
Jeff Beer, staff editor at Fast Company, writes that brands can still play a constructive role in these uncertain times. By paying mind to their customers’ needs and wants, companies can move to address those concerns with suitable care, compassion, and honesty.
The brands currently most successful in doing this — Netflix, Slack, and Coors Light — are punctuating their messaging with an authentic tone and personality, using the same “voice” their customers have long come to know and trust.
Ten Creative Trends for COVID-19 Times
Stifling crises demand increasingly creative responses. In the midst of COVID-19, agencies and brands have gone to great lengths reaching out to their customers currently confined at their homes, and online publication Adage has picked out ten creative trends of pandemic-inspired advertisements.
The list varies from tongue-in-cheek tricks, like applying “social distancing” to logos, to more pragmatic approaches, such as marketing user-generated content, or redeploying older works, repurposed with a twist.
Underlying all these trends is a stress for novelty — the constraints created by the coronavirus have left brands scrambling for new ideas to inspire buyers and sustain audience engagement.
The Future of Creativity: 5 Takeaways for Audience Messaging
To connect with your audience in this scattered digital age, you’re going to have to get creative. CMO by Adobe asked a group of industry experts to pick out the five biggest trends they see affecting the future of the advertising industry.
The key takeaway is that mass-targeting no longer works. There is a growing demand for personalized messaging and, if brands are to stay relevant, they will need to learn how to harness digital technology to tailor their communications to personally suit each and every audience member.
The process will require brands to learn the difficult language of balance, of simultaneously being both all-inclusive and incredibly particular, ensuring their offerings maintain relevance and top-of-mind.
APAC: It’s All About Authenticity
The most successful advertising carries messaging that is seamless, minimal and not at all “salesy.” The secret to creating consistent presentation? Authenticity. Campaign Asia is highlighting the power that loyalty can have in connecting with an audience.
Beautiful highbrow visuals are not of much interest to Millennials, who’ve grown to crave products and companies that are “keeping it real.” In this digitally-driven age, where information means everything, customers have learned to be suspicious of impenetrable corporations that are simply there to sell, considered the most banal of one-way interactions.
Therefore, we are seeing efforts in developing the strength of regional teams and cultivating a smaller and more local feel so that brands can leverage the most culturally attuned approaches that are available.
7 Graphic Design Trends in Asia that Are Worth Checking Out
Printi and Zenprint have kept an eye out for the latest design trends to tread on Asian soil. While a few, select styles have been around for a long time now (looking at you, minimalism!), a number of new off-beat trends have exploded in popularity, not least of which is the torn paper effect, a phenomenon from Photoshop that’s turned up everywhere: in company catalogues, in greeting cards and in online magazines.
For those looking to capitalize on a more authentic feel, brands have started mixing the traditional with the digital, coupling watercolor stains with stylized fronts and gracing their corporate landing pages with hand-illustrated logos capturing the charm of imperfection.
Handcraft for the Digital: Type Design from India
Muji’s flagship store partnered with Indian designer Ishan Khosla to host an exhibition celebrating the art of handcrafted typeface. Matching the aesthetics of this highly digitalized age, every word and letter are crafted with carefully selected fonts that perfectly match its intended meaning, making the act of font-styling into an art of its own.
The Typecraft Initiative, Khosla’s self-funded project, is working to integrate this newly found digital aesthetic with the styles and craftsmanship of India’s tribal cultures. The Handcraft for the Digital exhibition is the end product of a project working to preserve tradition amongst the rising tides of modernization.
Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash