How innovation traits in members of advertising agency teams propel the creative process: The professional opinion

Advertising agencies trade on their creativity, which is supplied by teams of creative and account workers to create customer-centered advertising that is both novel and interesting. This research explores the magic of the advertising creative team - the team of creative, strategy and management staff that is responsible for creative execution - to find out more about how creative teams function at the goal level (team effectiveness) and at the individual level (individual cognitive styles). To study creativity and decision making, individuals involved in the creation of ads were tested for their innovator traits. Also, connections were explored between an industry effectiveness award and innovator scores. Innovativeness was judged by individual performance on a scale to measure cognitive style. Effie Awards were not associated with innovation in agency personnel. However, account planners and creatives scored higher on an aggregated innovator scale than did administrative and account executive staff.