The creativity conundrum of advertising development: Solving a knowledge resources paradox by activating dynamic capabilities
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Department/School
Marketing
Publication Title
International Journal of Advertising
Abstract
Some presume that advertising quality depends on the calibre of knowledge resources marketing clients and advertising agencies bring to the table: better information yields better creativity. Unfortunately, advertising development is not this straightforward. Although advertising agencies with access to knowledge resources can do great work, clients must also activate their agency’s dynamic capability of creativity by building strong relationships and exploring with their agency. We show data on over two thousand campaigns across two studies demonstrating that advertising development is more than just information flows. Developing great advertising is often about the right motivation and not just the right information.
Link to Published Version
Recommended Citation
Koslow, S., O’Connor, H., Kilgour, M., & Sasser, S. L. (2026). The creativity conundrum of advertising development: Solving a knowledge resources paradox by activating dynamic capabilities. International Journal of Advertising, 45(4), 875–897. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2025.2551393
Comments
S. L. Sasser was a faculty member in EMU's Department of Marketing.