Creative Advantage Wp

TURNING CREATIVITY INTO A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Inspiration comes from many places and it must be made actionable for users, regardless of where they fi nd it.

The right technology creates an environment that supports creativity without stifl ing it.

Inspiration and enablement result in creativity that leads to competitive advantage.

Three in fi ve respondents say that being creative is important to them. Yet the very same study found that only 25 percent of respondents feel that they’re living up to their creative potential.

How’s that?

If the vast majority believe that creativity drives business and economic development, but a similar majority doesn’t think that they are living up to their creative potential—this is a big disconnect. If this disconnect can be overcome, enhancing creativity in organizations can literally change the world.

CREATIVITY: ARE WE OR AREN’T WE?

WHAT’S SO HARD ABOUT GETTING MORE CREATIVE?

Creativity provides competitive advantage. Whether it is innovative design, new functionality, or a way of marketing that taps deep into customers’ needs—creativity can result in “killer” products and services. Companies that embrace and incorporate creativity as part of their cultures tend to repeat success more frequently than those that don’t.

For example, Fast Company’s list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies is led by Apple, and few people would argue that Apple is one of the most creative companies ever. It is no accident that Apple is also the largest U.S. company ranked by market capitalization—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 to customers’ desires, the sooner it will begin to experience growth.

Business success driven by creativity also tends to drive overall economic growth. This conclusion is supported by data in the April 2012 State of Create global benchmark study produced by Adobe. In this study, 80 percent of survey respondents from the U.S., U.K. Germany, France, and Japan said that creativity is key to driving economic growth.

The very nature of creativity makes it an attribute that can be inspired but not imposed. Forget mandates and think play dates. The main factors standing in the way of creativity today include:

LACK OF TIME Creativity requires time and space. While businesses prioritize effi ciency and productivity, creativity includes lots of side trips and non-linear activities.

MARKET PRESSURES In the fashion world, it takes weeks to go to shows, gather content, analyze infl uences, and turn inspiration into production. Accelerating time-to-market for new collections rarely allows time for the cultural and social immersion that drives creativity.

IMMEASURABILITYIt’s hard to measure return on creativity, so many companies are afraid to invest in it.

SYSTEMS AND PROCESSESOrganizational processes and systems designed to hold people accountable for success stifl e a fi rm’s creative teams. A company in which left-brain and right-brain perspectives continuously clash can paralyze its forward motion.

INFORMATION OVERLOADFinally, although the Internet provides instant access to millions of inputs and opportunities, it also can undermine your confi dence that you are up to date and not missing something important.

State of Create global benchmark study, Adobe, April 2012

When Brains Clash

LogicalSequential

RationalAnalyticalObjective

Looks at parts

LEFTBRAIN

RandomIntuitiveHolistic

SynthesizingSubjective

Looks at wholes

RIGHTBRAIN

A regimented system

for creativity will not

work. Right-brained

creatives don’t

want a set of best

practices—they want

an “environment” or

a “playground.”

CREATIVITY DRIVES GROWTH

LET CREATIVITY LOOSEHow does an organization begin to encourage creativity? Regardless of whether you want to inspire fashion designers, truck mechanics, scientists, or retail clerks—there are tangible things you can do to unleash them so that your organization can improve its competitive advantage.

EMBRACE INSPIRATIONYes, it’s messy but you can create an environment that welcomes 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 fi nd it.

PROVIDE TOOLSSurround creative people with outstanding content and workfl ow 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.

USE TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVELYTechnology must support workfl ow. Give people the ability to work with the things that inspire them by making ideas and information easy to 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 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 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 workfl ow tools to make the creative journey more inspirational, as well as more effi cient 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.

LIBERATING CREATIVITY AT STYLESIGHT

FIND CURATED CONTENTAttack information overload with curated content that brings the best, most relevant information and inspiration to the top of the pile. Recommendation engines, curated collections of information, and fi lters help cut down creative “noise.”

SUPPORT SHARING AND COLLABORATION Sharing and workfl ow collaboration is a critical underpinning of creativity. Research shows that most creative people benefi t from working closely with other members of their team. Workspaces that support folder sharing, recommendations, updates, and notes to each other help nurture creativity by simplifying processes.

Effective Tools; A Stylesight Workspace

Sharing and Collaboration


NEW YORK GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS: +1 212 675 8877 | [email protected]

25 West 39th Street, 14th Floor

New York, NY 10018

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.

LONDON EMEA HEADQUARTERS: +44 (0)20 7613 6280 | [email protected]

Unit 1G | Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street

London, EC2A 4HJ

HONG KONG APAC HEADQUARTERS: +852 2530 0553 | [email protected]

702-703 7/F Winway Bldg. 50 Wellington Street

Central, Hong Kong

STYLESIGHT CHINA in partnership with CTIC:

+86 21 6278 7201 | [email protected]

7F32 ShanghaiMart | 2299 Yan-an-xi-lu

Shanghai, China, 200336

For more information visit www.stylesight.com

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Creative Advantage Wp