Why Creativity is the Currency of the Future

The following was written by Gustavo Martinez for Linked-In:

“Attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos was an enriching experience for me—both as an economist and as the Worldwide Chairman and CEO of J. Walter Thompson Company.

Top of mind this year was the Fourth Industrial Revolution, broadly defined as the set of changes resulting from the Internet’s seamless integration into the physical world. This process is creating a new way of life, as radically different from the past as those created by steam power, electricity, and the first networked computers.

In this new world, creativity will be our most precious and powerful resource. The most successful companies will search for it across the whole world, not just in the biggest cities of Europe and North America. Success will depend on the ability to quickly deploy diverse creative talent in a global marketplace.

As the global economy changes at an exponential rate, even the deepest technical expertise can become obsolete overnight. This means that a general capacity for thinking critically and innovating is vital. Many businesses have already realized this. The World Economic Forum’s latest Future of Jobs report anticipates that, by 2020, creativity will be the third most valued skill, up from tenth place in 2015.

As the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds dissolve, so do the boundaries around discrete industries and jobs. Industrial firms now publish their own media content. Media brands are growing their own technology capabilities. And infrastructure technology firms are chasing consumer-level cachet long associated only with media brands. All work is increasingly being categorized under the general heading of “professional services.”

J. Walter Thompson Company has adapted to this shift in the global marketplace. We have significantly expanded beyond our traditional advertising offerings. We now provide total, pioneering solutions to our clients.

Last year, in partnership with Group SJR, a division of Hill + Knowlton Strategies, we launched Colloquial, our content marketing unit. By creating custom publishing environments for our clients, Colloquial lets us build audience loyalty by delivering high-quality, creative content that customers connect with organically.

In January 2015, we announced the launch of Mirum, a cutting-edge, global, full-service digital agency that brings together technology and creative expertise across 17 countries.

Even more recently, we announced our strategic partnership with Mio Global, a leader in wearable technology. This partnership has allowed us to open our own in-house health and wellness lab, linked with our existing Innovation Group. The lab brings together Mio’s rich store of data, mobile-sector expertise, and customized fitness algorithms with J. Walter Thompson's unparalleled creative vibrancy and consumer insights.

Our partnership with Mio will drive innovation in the work we do for all our clients. We will create products, services, and content that could never have been dreamed of before, not just in fitness and health, but across all sectors, including food, consumer goods, and financial services.

By blending technology and creativity, we will solve our clients’ toughest problems. I envision the J. Walter Thompson Company of the future as a creative network, poised to deliver the total solutions that global brands will need to stay competitive.

There is tremendous economic opportunity in the expansion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A good example is the Internet of Things (IoT). Though consumers and businesses in the developed world are long accustomed to receiving information and content digitally, IoT systems are still in their infancy. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, just 18% of U.S. industry has fully realized the potential of the IoT. In China, despite explosive growth in other parts of the economy, IoT adoption is happening three times slower than it is the U.S. And 84% of Africa’s one billion people have yet to connect to the Internet at all. IoT systems are expected to add anywhere from $4 to $11 trillion of value to the global economy within the next decade. But taking advantage of these new opportunities will require courage, adaptability, and—above all—creativity.

As the distinction between digital and physical blurs, what companies produce is increasingly limited not by physical constraints, but by what can be imagined. Communications and creative services won’t just disseminate innovations, but shape them from inception.

When what we can dream and what we can realize are closer than ever before, it is the bravest dreamers among us who will prevail.”

Citation: (Martiniz, G. (2018, January 22). Why Creativity is the Currency of the Future. Linked-In. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-creativity-currency-future-gustavo-martinez/)