calling the actual ads 'creative' is common parlance in the display ad space. ( former Doubleclick employee )
When reading the link I quoted from, I actually didn't realize it was talking about ads. I thought it was talking about any kind of content. I do wonder about something. I thought that Mobile platforms have a distinct advantage in displaying ads, in that most people (for example me) do not run any form of ad blocking on their mobile devices.
If this is true - and if the page a bit upthread that I'm talking about and quoted from is talking about ads - then when doesn't that page mention this advantage at all? (From the advertiser's perspective.)
No, that's wrong. "Creative" is professional jargon, it refers to the content of the ad when divorced from the medium or the delivery channel.
But otherwise "stuff" is an ambiguous term and "creative" is industry jargon.
"We have to work on the creatives to show to the client next week."
and
"We have to work on the ads to show to the client next week."
(in the way that a programmer could just as easily write, "I have to make some changes to the code" and "I have to make some changes to the program.")
? If, however, you're not equally likely, is it because the second one has some different meaning? What is that different meaning?
This is way less awful than KPIs, by the way.
You're overthinking it. It's not akin to saying "electronic computer program"; it's akin to a programmer saying "code" as opposed to "software" or "an app." It's a building block, just as a piece of software often requires front-end and back-end development, the "ad" is in reference to both the creative element on its own and the mechanism that puts it there.
>I work in marketing, "creative" is used for pretty much any kind of ad/marketing product while in the production process.
that it was limited to ads. I didn't realize it would also be used for other things.
> the "ad" is in reference to both the creative element on its own and the mechanism that puts it there.
This is interesting, thanks. But what I was trying to get at, is to make sure you guys aren't confusing each other, are you careful to use 'creative' instead of 'ad' (since the latter can include the mechanism)? Or is this not a distinction you're careful about?
I'll give you an example - programmers are careful to say "binary" or "executable" if they want to talk about the program as compiled as opposed to as written (source code).
so is "creative" also something that you would use to be careful to distinguish the "creative element on its own" as opposed to the mechanism?
It sounds like your answer is yes, that's correct - I'd just like to get a confirmation.
"Our creative review process is taking too long."
"Can you pull all the ads for that creative?"
"How good the creative is matters a lot more than how you deliver it."
(I haven't worked in ads since 2012, though, so my memory of the jargon may be off.)
The others are clear.
It smacks of desperately wanting to be hip and cool.
It's just industry jargon that evolved over time. It's used because it compresses a key industry concept.
There's about as much motive to use the term "creative" to sound cool in advertising as there is to make "dongle" sound sexual in consumer electronics.