Revving up the economy: Let’s ALL get creative
Jul 12 | Dan, Creative Director
As the creative director at Patterson/Bach, I normally use this forum to write about things such as how to write a great headline or great body copy. You know, creative stuff. But creativity goes far beyond writing and advertising, and as I scan the latest news on our economy—the good, bad and the ugly—it seems to me now is a good time for all of us to get creative about getting America’s economic engine revved up and cranking again. This, I believe, is something we can all do, not just writers or art directors or “creative people”, but anyone who has a stake in the economic well being of our nation.
Now more than ever, we need to think how our businesses–be it marketing or banking or construction or whatever–can help revitalize, say, our local economy. Perhaps we could form alliances with other businesses to promote each other to our individual client bases. For example, a marketing firm with a banking client might look for opportunities to introduce the bank’s services to its other clients, while the bank make its clients aware of the marketing firm’s services. Another thought is for businesses in different categories to join together and brainstorm economic development ideas. Say a bank, a construction firm and a marketing firm meet informally—over lunch or whatever—just to kick around some “What If?” ideas on local economic development. Getting groups of entrepreneurial minds together in this manner … well, it couldn’t hurt, could it?
This isn’t the time or space for a detailed manifesto on recharging the economy. My purpose is simply to suggest that business people of all walks and disciplines—not just “creative people”—can and should join together and think creatively about how to get our economy humming again. We have the brains. We have the creativity. And by harnessing these invaluable assets, we have the solutions.