Paradox, advertising and the creative process

Creativity often is perceived to be an elusive and unmanageable dimension of advertising, typically delimited to the work of the “creative” copywriter or artist. But creativity pervades the advertising process. Moreover, it can be understood and managed. In this review, we illustrate that paradox also pervades the advertising process. We propose and demonstrate that confronting and comprehending the oppositional forces of paradox can lead to creative thought and activity throughout the advertising process, from account management to sales performance.