Media creativity can bring more to the table than traditional advertising agencies, according to Charlie Crowe, CEO of London’s C Squared and organizer of the Festival of Media in Valencia, Spain.

Crowe took to the stage during Media Day at the 2nd annual Marketing Week, to share case studies from award winning media executions from around the world. 

Why can media professionals contribute more than advertising agencies? Because, as Crowe suggests, big ideas must now be filtered through a multitude of small channels. Channel creativity counts as much as, or more than, the big idea.

“The answers to all your communication problems don’t sit in a copywriting department,” he said. “Sure, some might, but think broader because your problems are broader now.”

Crowe said the best media executions are brave, helpful and engaging.

To demonstrate bravery, for example, Crowe pointed to India where Gillette’s Mach 3 razor was 10 times the price of popular straight razors. Gillete initiated an AC Nielsen study to determine whether the country preferred its men stubbly or clean-shaven.

“It’s brave because they didn’t know what the outcome of that study would be… and they invested the marketing capital in that research.”

The study, which led to a national media-supported, events-driven PR campaign, saw trial of the product increase 400%.

Crowe also hailed Unilever Canada’s Body & Soul play for Dove soap as a brave venture for taking a marketing initiative into the theatre world. Despite the risk, it saw large-scale brand and awareness metric increases.

“You can scale that so many ways,” he said. “That could be a big international campaign. We see so many great ideas from local markets, but so many advertisers haven’t figured out how to share and reapply that creativity in different markets.”

Crowe ended his presentation with the idea that there are many media opportunities in countries with gaps in public service spending. Crowe acknowledged, for example, The Clorox Company for distributing Glad garbage bags during Toronto’s garbage strike this past summer.