Tamara Norman
U.S. CEO, Ketchum
June 13, 2025
For decades, many leaders have viewed “creative” as a defined role, department, or end product for a campaign. In today’s rapidly changing environment—where tech-fueled disruption runs rampant and where expectations for business outcomes keep growing—creativity is, in fact, not a role – it’s a mindset. It’s everyone’s job, and it needs to be everywhere, embedded and nurtured in every corner of the organization, permeating the enterprise.
If you look around, you’ll already see it at work in plenty of places across your business. It’s the driver of innovation in all its forms—sparking new product ideas, helping improve processes, and providing ways for your business to manage change. It’s a powerful and proven tool for progress.
So how can you put creativity to work in more parts of your organization? And how can you get even more value from creative thinking—whether for your own business or a client’s business? Here are some important things to keep in mind as you look to unleash the greater potential of creativity.
Cultivate a culture of creativity.
At Ketchum, where we have been creatively solving the challenges of leading brands for more than 100 years, creativity has become woven into everything we do—from core business processes to client services to campaign activation. We foster it through a culture that values proactive communication, risk-taking, “fail fast” experimentation, and continuous learning—all key contributors to creative collaboration and thinking.
But tapping that creative power depends on your ability to recognize it when it appears. For us, that means understanding that incredible ideas can come from anywhere—from our summer fellows, who are often at the forefront of cultural trends, to our senior leaders, who draw upon years of experience moving our clients’ business forward. Listening for and looking for unexpected brilliance is everyone’s responsibility.
Make the connection to business value.
Creativity when harnessed correctly has a measurable impact on the business. Creative ideas can lead to new efficiencies, increased revenue, cost savings, time savings, enhanced reputation, and more. But that connection between creativity and ROI is often overlooked. Help people see the business impact of creative thinking and you increase the appetite for new ideas.
Be relevant. Be human.
Generative AI (genAI) obviously will play an important role in the future of creativity, supporting and enhancing human work, prompting ideas, and accelerating the innovation process. But it is no substitute for the human mind. It does not feel, and it can struggle to keep pace with the speed of human nuances—cultural, emotional, and even spiritual. Great creative must be human-centered and human-driven. AI can be the spark, but it cannot be the fire.
Be thoughtful and intentional.
Creativity is like a muscle. You have to find the space to exercise it, and you must allow it time to grow. At Ketchum, we’re doing that by providing our employees more opportunities and tools to explore innovative ideas and free their inner creative.
To support that vision, we’ve dedicated the month of June to creativity in all its forms. Events like our “Creative Magic Master Class,” open to all employees, not just traditional creative employees, allow everyone at Ketchum to hear firsthand insights from leading industry professionals, artists, and others—providing a window into creative processes and best practices outside our four walls.
Open the door. Invite others in.
Changing your environment can do wonders for creativity. Something simple like getting out of your normal physical space or changing up your daily routine can open the door to new creative thoughts. So can changing who you collaborate with. At Ketchum, for example, our brainstorm sessions include teammates who are not in traditional “creative” roles, working together to solve clients’ problems.
If you’re attending the Cannes Lions 2025 International Festival of Creativity beginning on Monday, you’ll see plenty of real-world examples of how creativity is driving measurable progress and how the best idea wins the day. Send me a message or find me onsite to chat more about creativity’s potential – because when creativity is everyone’s job, finding that winning idea comes faster and easier.
