Inputs to the Creative Process Preparation Incubation Illumination

Background Research Only the most foolish creative person or team would approach an assignment without first learning as much as possible about the client's product or service, the target market, the competition, and any other relevant background information. The creative specialist should also be knowledgeable about general trends, conditions, and developments in the marketplace, as well as research on specific advertising approaches or techniques that might be effective. The creative specialist can acquire background information in numerous ways. Some informal fact-finding techniques have been noted by Sandra Moriarty:

• Reading anything related to the product or market—books, trade publications, general interest articles, research reports, and the like.

• Asking everyone involved with the product for information—designers, engineers, salespeople, and consumers.

• Listening to what people are talking about. Visits to stores, malls, restaurants, and even the agency cafeteria can be informative. Listening to the client can be particularly valuable, since he or she often knows the product and market best.

• Using the product or service and becoming familiar with it. The more you use a product, the more you know and can say about it.

• Working in and learning about the client's business to understand better the people you're trying to reach.20

To assist in the preparation, incubation, and illumination stages, many agencies provide creative people with both general and product-specific preplanning input. General preplanning input can include books, periodicals, trade publications, scholarly journals, pictures, and clipping services, which gather and organize magazine and newspaper articles on the product, the market, and the competition, including the lat-ter's ads. This input can also come from research studies conducted by the client, the agency, the media, or other sources.

Another useful general preplanning input concerns trends, developments, and happenings in the marketplace. Information is available from a variety of sources,

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