Effective ideas change the way people live and work.

Great ideas are the source of revolutions and success in the creative economy. It is ideas that have brought about a string of upheavals that in turn have wrought great change in concepts like mass production, the media and subsequently, our everyday lives. Effective ideas produce change in the way people live and work and generate significant wealth.

The creative sector typically represents the sanguine dimension to the global business community in as much as it brings out the positivity of a game-changing raw idea that is developed into tangible brand equity that has balance sheet value. And we know this because anything can be traced back to a raw idea. Every day around the world, creative directors and their minions, with dedicated alacrity, read into new ways to transform their clients’ offering into a successful, marketable prospect by developing treatments that are capable of transferring a finely tuned, elegant message that leads to securing brand equity.

Times have changed in today’s marketing communications arena and moved beyond the traditional approach. It is no longer the time when companies simply develop products and then implement strategies to attract customers.

In today’s world it is the audience that drives the market, making it essential for brands to perceive the market’s mood and be in a position to provide the consumers with what they want. This is where disruptive marketing comes in.

Disruptive marketing is not as deleterious as it might sound. Disruption is about changing the traditional way of thinking to uncover unexpected and winning strategies. A disruptive campaign is designed to service the demand of an emerging market or to meet the demand of customers unsatisfied with the current offering with messages that either challenge the conventional way of thinking in an existing market or speak to a new one.

There are obvious risks involved – however, if the constantly changing face of business had to maintain the same model over time, that would be riskier. If one does not adapt to the market, failure easily follows. On the other hand, many creative agencies run the risk of engaging a fumbled strategy of creativity for the sake of being creative or different. This is still not a winning model. Successful agencies are identified as those that harness creative approaches for the sake of their clients’ profitability.

With today’s technology supporting it, it is easier to apply disruptive marketing, targeting emerging markets or making a product or service more accessible to customers in an existing market. Challenging ideas and disruptive strategies becomes indispensable for a generation of consumers that demands innovation and renewal and dislikes vacuous repetition.

Disruption is about changing the traditional way of thinking to uncover unexpected and winning strategies

There lies a fine line between art and commerce. Nowhere is this more evident than in the creative sector.

Compare commissioning an artist to produce artwork that inspires them from their own innate accord with then slapping on a deadline, time and resource limitation and top it all with a big fat label that says ‘Buy now for €9.99’.

And yet who can deny that there is creative material out there that tugs at our emotions. The creative economy is a testimony to humanity’s suc-cess in coming out as a winner under duress.

This is also why the creative economy persists in transforming ideas into profits every single day, as a reflection of mankind’s ability to survive through positive assessment of different scenarios by originating paths that work. This is seen in every area of the economy that requires innovation and creativity to keep moving forward.

The creative economy mirrors nature’s selection process. Millions of thoughts and ideas are generated constantly worldwide. Not all survive but some of the few that do will grow to redefine the way we think and live. Mutation gives us the exception that with time it becomes convention.

Chris Mifsud is a director of a marketing communications agency and holds an MBA from SDA Bocconi, Milan.