ABSTRACT This study examines IMC media use by advertising agencies from a perspective of how creative and media implementation effects impact the scope of media selected for campaigns. The study was based upon a quantitative analysis of 872 advertising campaigns from 309 respondents from the largest advertising agencies in New York and Detroit. Overall, campaigns contain more integrated media when there is solid consumer research, formal advertising testing, diverse media experience, agency industry specialization, and high agency motivation. Creativity is positively correlated with wider IMC media use, showing that integrated interactive media campaigns using a broader media palette can be highly creative. However, neither the presence of strategy in the client's brief nor the perception of the campaign being “on strategy” has any effect on the scope or number of media used.

This paper examines the influence of marketers on the creativity of their advertising agency. There are three main ways in which marketers affect the creativity of their agency: (1) setting direction, (2) resource allocation, and (3) evaluation. These ideas were empirically measured in 1,011 advertising campaigns via questionnaires given to agency personnel. Strategy has often been a focal point of advertising studies, but this research finds that some sources of strategy are better than others. Merely having strategy in client briefs has little effect on creativity, but the client's willingness to explore new strategic ideas with the agency does have a substantial impact. In general, better-resourced agencies do more creative work, and a key resource is access to top managers. However, sometimes, top-management involvement may lead to counterproductive effects on creativity because of the fear this induces within agencies. Sophisticated, high-ranking clients appear to send a "chilling" effect throughout the agency, thus dampening creative potential. Although this study is based on advertising agency responses rather than advertising client responses, it provides insight into the complicated notion of agency accountability for campaign creativity. In many cases, marketers seeking accountability for their campaign creativity need look no farther than themselves.

The authors apply recent advances in creativity theory to discover perceptual differences in the factors of strategy, originality, and artistry among creatives and noncreatives. It was found that current advertising position influences subjective perceptions of what constitutes creative advertising. Creatives tend to perceive advertisements as more appropriate if they are artistic, but account executives tend to perceive advertisements as more appropriate if they are strategic. The study also indicates that creatives have a distinctive preference for a strong originality component to strategy. To be original within the confines of a tight strategy is perceived as the most creative by advertising creatives. Account executives are so focused on strategy, they will often accept artistic advertisements as a substitute for truly original work. The authors consider future research implications of the study and its limitations.

A number of critical questions have arisen surrounding the value of using empirical data and analytical procedures in the formulation of social and/or public policy. This exploratory study illustrates how multivariate analyses can contribute to an objective formulation of compromise positions on a complex public policy issue. Both multidimensional scaling and analysis of variance were used to study how the perceptions of three divergent key influential groups could be integrated into a final legislative package. This researchbased methodology provides a more logical approach to public policy formulation than that typically offered by political compromise.