In recent years, advertisers have turned to entertainment and social media in unlocking the best of marketing communications. Pepsi got the World Okurrr with Cardi B. Doritos staged a rap challenge between Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage – two unlikely rappers. Anthony Joshua fought himself for Under Armour. Guinness served us the first black undercover stories with Michael Power. Glo encouraged the Nigerian tenacity, again with Anthony Joshua. The power of imagination through creativity and entertainment has never found more purpose than in the last few years; fully funded by marketing budgets.

The reason is not far-fetched – we are in an era when the consumer can tell when it’s advertising and change the channel, skip ads, or tune off. However, marketing through entertainment and influencers provides one thing; the ability to excite audiences while embedding a marketing message without the consumer skipping ad, changing the channel or tuning out.

Entertainment in the age of digital has also been able to unlock and key into a crucial human behaviour – the need to share. 

Consumers now share marketing content the way they share interesting social stories or national issues or a shocking episode. And it doesn’t matter if at the end of the shared content, they realize it’s sponsored entertainment. Marketing content has become art-for-entertainment, by unlocking the power of creativity.

Now more than ever brand-sponsored skits are at an all-time high and so is imagination among creators. Sports stars and celebrities are the new advertising models. Creatives and content creators have to constantly delve into their imaginations to find a middle ground between the influencer’s persona and the brand.  Entertainment websites are not left out either; an entire entertainment ecosystem is being empowered – from content producers and writers to film makers, artistes and artists – by marketers.

The best of imagination and creativity is constantly being channelled to the consumer and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. In this, advertisers struck gold.

For many advertisers, the process and purpose is largely the same: reach consumers via shows, pages, places, sites, shops that they love to visit and convince them to buy our product or service. For creators however, the how has to keep changing.

The other day in traffic, a colleague was looking at a traffic vendor who sells caps. The vendor caught his eyes and in that spare minute, the vendor tried to figure out whether he had a ready consumer interested in buying his caps.

As marketers, we are like that cap vendor. In the crowded market place where there is a lot of buying and selling going on, we try to identify who really wants our product or is passively considering it at best. We lock eyeballs with them and wait for them to make some sort of sign that indicates we might have something they want. Then we walk up to them dangling our product in their faces in the form of advertisements, promotions, engagement, publicity stunts, and in this age, prime creativity through entertainment – sometimes to the point of harassment. Whatever gets the consumer buying. At that moment, we are salesmen waiting to convert or create awareness or generate buzz.

Therefore, the journey from interest to sales begins with the consumer.

There are dynamics that influences the consumer; interests, passions, behaviours, routines, likes, dislikes, insecurities, emotions, biases, etc. Also, there are friends, family, relationships – all of whom influences what eventually gets bought. And like you, there are a million and one salesmen (advertising agencies) and advertisers looking to get this conversion. So, it’s never enough to simply tell the consumer why he should choose your product over the next. Neither is the answer always in your product (some of the time). The answer to striking gold is the consumer himself. What are the needs he has identified or yet to identify and how do you get his attention?

This is where imagination becomes essential and creativity is key. The consumer becomes the critical factor in determining how creators must craft messaging. This How is further informed by how far in the imaginative well creators can dig. This means that creators have to be on constant search for the next high or dig deep into their private, social, familial, communal or personal experiences enriched by books, movies, conversations, engagement, economy, study, games, social situations, music, news, etc.

Imagination is the how. How you reach the consumer and convince him/her to buy your product.

Imagination can bring to life something entirely new. Imagination can also make an existing thing, idea or concept better. It is through exploring imagination that we can write great stories, create skits, produce movies, write poetry, create art and beauty thereby exciting the consumers’ emotions enough to override logic and get them to make a purchase.

Imagination in marketing gets the consumer to listen and consider you; and in today’s world, that can be the difference between a successful brand and a struggling one.

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