Unleashing Innovation: Exploring the Power of Creative Strategy with Insights from Showpass

July 13, 2023 | CREATIVE ECONOMY, Creative Strategy, Creative Industry

Want to spark innovation at your organization? 

Looking to challenge the office status quo?

Avoiding work by reading this and accidentally learning something helpful?

We’ve got you covered. In this blog post we’re talking about creative strategy: a way for businesses to push the boundaries of what is possible and foster a work environment where experimentation and risk-taking are encouraged. Plus we had an insightful discussion with Showpass, a Calgary-based event management and ticketing platform to shed light on their creative strategy as well as how they work with the events industry.

What is ‘creative strategy’?

Sometimes it’s helpful to start with what you know. Generally speaking, strategy involves developing a plan to get from point A to point B with specific and measurable steps and objectives. If you think of strategy as the umbrella category, then creative strategy sits underneath. Yes, it is developing a plan to get from point A to point B, but with an intentional emphasis on unique, innovative and creative ways to tackle problems and bridge point A and point B. Here’s a table to break down further differences.

Creative Strategy

Regular Strategy

Employs unconventional thinking and embraces risk-taking to generate fresh ideas and unique approaches

Approach

Often relies on established methodologies, best practices, and proven frameworks

Tackles complex problems through innovative problem-solving techniques that may involve creativity exercises, brainstorming, and hackathons

Problem-Solving

Often emphasizes logical analysis, data-driven decision-making, and systematic problem-solving methods

Encourages experimentation and iterative approaches to refine ideas and adapt to changing circumstances

Flexibility

Favours a structured, consistent, and methodological execution of planned actions

Both creative strategy and regular strategy are important for organizational and business growth and both can develop pathways to important goals. Creative strategy, however, can be a vital way for companies to adapt in rapidly evolving business spaces (are any of us up to date on the latest AI?).

Want to see it in action?

To help us dig into the key elements of what goes into a creative strategy we’re joined by the fun and friendly Stephanie Ross, Marketing Lead of Showpass to share her thoughts on Showpass’ creative strategy and how it has evolved over the past few years. Here, we’ll learn how Showpass navigated its way through the pandemic and how creative strategy plays into its operations today.

Short on time? We understand. Navigate to the most important topics to you by timestamp:

4:45 – How did the pandemic affect the operations of Showpass? What opportunities were uncovered?

9:18 – How does Showpass use creative strategies now?

16:20 – How does Showpass measure success?

20:37 – How does Showpass’ strategy translate to social media?

24:23 – How can users best promote their event with Showpass?

In what ways did Creative Strategy help Showpass?

Differentiation:

In the interview, Stephanie explains that Showpass had a strong culture of creativity going into the pandemic. They decided the pandemic was an opportunity for the company to innovate with its customers. Now Stephanie says that consistent collaboration with venues and industry professionals is a major driver in the development of the unique features that make Showpass easier to use while simultaneously cultivating strong relationships with customers. This creative approach differentiates Showpass from major competitors. 

Effective Problem Solving:

Showpass makes regular use of hackathons to incorporate innovation and creativity into its product and service development, as well as to solve major problems that are presently facing the company. The hackathons are a unique problem-solving approach that encourages teams to think creatively and collaboratively.

Conclusion

Creative strategy is becoming an indispensable element for businesses across industries, offering a pathway to success in a highly competitive world. By embracing innovative thinking, organizations can differentiate themselves, enhance customer engagement, drive innovation, and tackle complex problems. Moreover, creative strategies enable businesses to build powerful brands, tell compelling stories, and forge lasting connections with their target audience.