Big ideas don’t come easily. And even when you’ve stumbled on that one idea, it’s only when you apply the right amount of highly skilled craft that you make your idea pop. Pelle Craen, Creative Director at Altavia ACT*, shines his light on how craft lies at the heart of impactful creative work.
It all starts with an idea
The client has explained a business problem, the creative team has been briefed and they start ideating like mad men. The wheels start turning and it takes a serious amount of pondering, wandering, wondering, imagining until you feel you’re finally onto something. The one idea that you’re convinced will solve the client’s problem – or at least think you’re convinced.
But you’re just getting started
Got a big idea? That’s great. Now how are you going to make it concrete and understandable, so it impacts the consumer in the blink of an eye? How are you going to make sure that its design, its wording, its messaging… is on point? That’s where craft comes into play: the mastery of the specific arts needed for the project, from art direction and graphic design to copywriting and even technology.
It’s a matter of craft
The better the craft, the better the mastery, the higher the level of the finished product, and the bigger the chance your original idea will actually stand out from the crowd. Great craft allows you to dig for details and get every single thing about the work one hundred percent right, so that it impacts consumers more thoroughly and resonates longer with them.
Finding meaning and added value
Of course, it works both ways, as not even the best craft can save an uninspired idea. The idea should come from a true insight and must be developed with a clear purpose in mind. Great craft then allows to build further upon the idea, creating even more added value. It’s what you could call the golden triangle: finding the perfect balance between idea and craft to achieve maximum impact.
Craft requires dedication
Twisting, turning and sweating until you get the craft of every idea right: it needs to be embedded in the DNA of your creative team – and the entire agency. Everyone has to be on board, be equally dedicated and ambitious to keep improving their craft and keep challenging each other. It takes dedication to keep pushing forward until you come up with something fresh, greatly crafted.
Pelle Craen
As a teenager Pelle discovered he had a thing for words. In his twenties he started playing with them and it actually landed him a job as a junior copywriter. As the junior became a senior, things got serious, and by his thirties he was doing freelance work for agencies and brands aplenty.
With a proven track record in both strategy and copywriting, Pelle took the creative lead at Altavia ACT* in 2017, on a mission to make impactful campaigns for clients such as Proximus, Goodyear, Nespresso, BNP Paribas Fortis, Shell, Rémy Cointreau, Tom&Co, Makro and AG Real Estate.
He’s known as someone who digs for purpose, and sinks his teeth deep into every mission. In his spare time he likes to pretend he can sing. He loves his wife and dog more than he loves advertising. And his favorite word is hottentottententententoonstelling. Don’t ask, it’s a Flemish thing.