Nurock: How do you define creativity?

Sthanunathan: It's a complex question, there are many layers to the answer. Creativity for the sake of creativity in my point of view, is not the most relevant thing you can do. Creativity has to do a few things:

1) It needs to create a long-term memory structure for what you are saying in the minds of people. A good creative usually lands in the amygdala of the human brain, if I ask you to describe that one event in your life which you can vividly describe, you might be able to describe that event, and those are the ones that get lodged in the amygdala.

2) A good creative has to engage the heart in a big way, you have to feel the creative

3) It has to encourage an action.

If all those three are not done, a creative is not a good creative.

Nurock: It's been proven that great creativity drives brand growth and profits...

Sthanunathan: Absolutely! Time and again we see great creativity drive brand growth without exception.

Nurock: What in your opinion are the greatest challenges facing advertising agencies, particularly creatives at the moment?

Sthanunathan: Firstly I think this is not just a problem that is facing ad agencies, but a problem facing all the marketers across disciplines, whether it is inside, client services, marketers or creatives, and that is the rapid change that is going on. It is almost impossible to keep up with the pace of change, and if you don't keep up you run the risk of getting left behind, and it becomes impossible to catch up.

Secondly, the timelines are shrinking amazingly, so people come and say "I want research results yesterday" and they also say "I want creative output yesterday" and there is an added damage of arrogance when they say "I want creative output yesterday and I want 10 of them," because I am now talking to smaller and smaller groups of people. And now if you have to produce all that content in a short period of time and with a shrinking budget, I think everybody is getting a little overwhelmed. I understand it, I got through it and I'm sure the creatives go through it, it is not an easy situation to be in.

Nurock: Because you, Unilever and such a mass market company, the fact that you are looking at customisation is really inspiring...

Sthanunathan: It's a huge challenge! Do we have answers to all those challenges, I don't think so, but if you don't throw yourself into the deep end, you'll never learn how to swim. So we just try.

Nurock: At Cannes I listened to Keith Weed, and he stated that your sustainable living brands grew twice as fast as other Unilever brands, what do you attribute that to?

Sthanunathan: Ok, it's very simple, if you go and stand in front of a shelf, what you are experiencing today is a world where technology is a lot more accessible to people, and when I say technology I'm not talking about iPhones, but manufacturing technology that is accessible to a lot of people. So the barriers of entry into a new category for a small entrepreneur is practically non-existent. You have a plethora of choice in a cluttered retail environment.

So you're standing in front of that shelf with 20 categories, how do you think they are going to choose? They are going to look at all those things and say "this is good and this one's good," and if I have to make a choice I'm going to say "you know what, this particular brand has got a purpose." Life Buoy saved 5 million children's lives, and if I'm going to be contributing my small might to that initiative of Life Buoy, I might as well buy that brand than another brand, and that's how you create a relationship. Every time you use it, you're reinforced that they're actually doing something to improve the world a little bit more.

Nurock: How do you think agencies can create greater value for themselves?

Sthanunathan: I would probably use a few key words they may want to think about. One is agility, and the second is going with one idea, but in tomorrow's world you need multiple executions for that one idea. How you actually connect with people, because if you have one idea that you connect with people in a way that is meaningful to them and staying true to the idea, but you're connecting with people on their terms, that is a world where everybody is walking into. If you can't figure out how to make that cost-effectively and have the ability to see what is working and pull it out if it doesn't work, and then come up with something new.

The days of coming up with a massive blockbuster brief and putting it on TV, and if it doesn't work, it's up to next year's brief. The annual cycle is a thing of the past.

Nurock: What is your advice you would give marketers in this environment, particularly in regard to creativity?

Sthanunathan: There is one word that comes to my mind and that is empathy, because you and I don't represent the actual person to whom we are selling. Experiencing what they go through on a daily basis is very critical, and I think a lot of marketers could do with being closer to consumers a lot more. You get insights from a PowerPoint presentation, but what you need to do is bring those insights to life.