1.
Creativity:
How Business
Gets to Eureka!
A Global Research Study from Jack Morton Worldwide

2.
5
Creativity isn’t just for artists and poets—
it’s vital to business. And business
leaders are increasingly recognising not
just that creative thinking is important,
it’s a differentiator:
“As deep knowledge becomes a
common asset, creativity will be the
differentiating factor. Creativity is not
a ‘nice-to-have’ attribute anymore,
it’s a prerequisite for performance,
development and growth—supporting
us in our ability to innovate and drive
change faster and better.”
–Ben de Vries, Head of Brand
Management, Ericsson
But creative thinking doesn’t happen
without people who take risks. People
who believe in and doggedly push
forward big ideas. These are the
people who are the driving force behind
new discoveries, new products, new
ways of working, new solutions and
ultimately new business.
30-Second Summary
So where do creative business people
come from? They’re not as rare as
you think. Research suggests that we
all have the ability to think creatively,
but the likelihood that we will is greatly
influenced by the external conditions.
In other words, it requires the right
working culture and environment.
In this article we explore the conditions
that impact creative thinking—positively
and negatively—and their impact on
business, based on proprietary research
conducted in early 2014. We asked
thousands of people in business across
eleven nations, on five continents:
• Do employers actively create
environments and cultures conducive
to creative thinking?
• To what degree do companies
support and reward creative-thinking
individuals?
• Does the reality of our current
business environment—fast-paced,
focused on immediate results—still
provide the space for ground-
breaking ideas? Is it enough to
schedule a brainstorm and expect
you will have things wrapped up?
• Do people consider themselves to
be creative and would they change
jobs for the opportunity to work for
a company that encourages and
supports creative thinking?
We believe creative thinking can
transform business. And companies can
help make this happen by understanding
and optimising the conditions that support
creativity in the workplace. This article,
and the research it showcases, is
intended to give readers actionable
directions and the inspiration to enhance
those conditions and increase creativity,
results and the attraction and retention
of talent in their business.

3.
Contents
1 Preface
2 About the Study
3 Key Insights
7 Key Takeaways
14 Global Rank
18 About Jack Morton

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• Creativity requires care and attention
and the kind of culture that talks
about it, cares about it and
celebrates it.
• Creativity involves risk. Our mantra
is: be brave.
I hope the following study inspires more
creativity in your work—and please
share your feedback and experiences
with us.
Josh McCall is Chairman & CEO of Jack
Morton Worldwide.
In business, nothing is more powerful
than creativity. Creativity has the
potential to inspire change, to transform
how we work, how we see the world,
how we think and how we feel.
But there’s so much that’s misunderstood
about creativity—even in industries that
are supposed to be all about it. That
in a nutshell is why we at Jack Morton
commissioned the study you’re about
to read.
Years ago, as a marketing student,
I was struck by this passage from
David Ogilvy’s Confessions of an
Advertising Man:
“The creative process requires more
than reason. Most original thinking
isn’t even verbal. It requires ‘a groping
experimentation with ideas, governed
by intuitive hunches and inspired by the
unconscious.’ The majority of business
men are incapable of original thinking
because they are unable to escape
from the tyranny of reason. Their
imaginations are blocked.”
At the time, this statement—a vintage
example of Ogilvy’s flair for the brilliant
truth overstated for dramatic effect—
mostly made me feel sorry for all those
rigid business men stuck in the “tyranny
of reason”. I also thought, “Thank
goodness they can hire professional
creatives to solve their problems.”
Now I realize that none of us—
especially those of us with “creative”
in our titles or at the heart of our
business—can afford to take creativity
for granted. We may not all be
professional creatives, but we all
need to strive to bring creativity to
our professions.
We have to understand creativity
better—thus the research that follows.
And we have to believe in and
advocate creativity and create the
kind of culture that fosters and inspires
creative thinking.
As an ideas-led brand experience
agency, we believe
• Creativity is what separates
effective brand experiences from
the merely acceptable—because
creativity is more effective at
reaching and inspiring people.
The way to people’s minds and
wallets is through their hearts.
Preface
“None of us can afford
to take creativity for
granted.”
By Josh McCall

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CREATIVITY: How Business Gets to
Eureka! is based on an online survey
sponsored by Jack Morton Worldwide
and conducted by OnePoll during
March 2014. Respondents were
employed and aged 18 and older. The
findings are statistically significant at a
90% confidence level.
We spoke to more than 7,000 people
in 11 markets:
• Australia
• Brazil
• China
• Egypt
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
Survey respondents were provided the
following definitions:
Creative thought is defined as: solutions
to problems that are unexpected in any
field of work, not just within traditionally
creative fields such as writing, design or
the performing arts.
Business success is defined as: the
growth in profit, external recognition
of the company (in terms of measures
such as industry standing amongst peers
and clients, media profile and award
recognition) and internal recognition
(in terms of measures such as employee
engagement, retention and recruitment).
About the Study

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Key Insights
86%
• But just 26% strongly agree their
working culture encourages
creative thinking.
• Nearly half of employees (45%)
lack confidence that their company
formally rewards creativity.
It’s been reported that some experts
have highlighted a problem in business
leaders paying lip service to the
importance of creative thinking yet still
making board level decisions based
on the bottom line. They may say
they value creative thinking, they may
even recruit for it at lower levels of the
company, yet the degree to which it is
central to their business is doubtful.2
The potential loss to business that fails
to support creative thinking is great.
The good news: companies can choose
to change this—later in this paper
we will outline what they can do to
achieve this. But first, an essential step
to inspiring more support for creative
thinking in business is an increased
understanding of both how creative
thinking works and who can do it.
Creative thinking has obvious business
benefits. We know instinctively that
it’s crucial to innovation and growth.
But it’s also the cornerstone of talent
recruitment and retention 63% of
employees say the opportunity to work
within a company that encourages
creative thinking would be a key
motivator in accepting a new position.
So inevitably it’s a key concern for
leadership. An IBM Global CEO study1
found that “CEOs selected creativity
as the most important leadership
attribute.” And it asserted: “Creative
leaders invite disruptive innovation,
encourage others to drop outdated
approaches and take balanced risks.”
So we know creative thinking is
important—but is it being sufficiently
prioritised? The research suggests it’s
not. There’s a significant gap between
employees’ hunger to be creative and
leadership support for creative thinking:
• An overwhelming majority of
employees (91%) agree creative
thinking is critical for the success
of business.
• Almost as many (86%) believe
creative thinking increases sales.
believe creative thinking
increases sales.

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How does creative
thinking work?
People may still talk of actively switching
on the right (or creative) side of the
brain, but many neuroscientists now
believe that creative thinking works in a
far less on-demand and convenient way.
It is thought that creative thinking works
by making new connections between
previously stored pieces of information.
Sometimes called “intelligent memory”3
,
it feels like a flash of inspiration or a
Eureka! moment–but this birth of a
brand new idea consists of old elements.
And these Eureka! moments, of course,
often happen when we’re doing
something other than trying to have
an idea. We could be taking a walk,
having a shower, lying in the park—
anything other than sitting at our desks.
Indeed, our research showed that most
people report having their best creative
thoughts during leisure time at home.
We feel flashes of inspiration during
what appears to be down-time because
the mind is relaxed and wandering,
free of any expectations of a solution
and more open to combining different
thoughts. This meditative “presence of
mind” is a state that can be learned—
and indeed meditation techniques
are increasingly being brought to the
corporate world.
“Why is it I always get
my best ideas while
shaving?”
–
Albert Einstein

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Can anyone think
creatively?
We may be able to train ourselves to
achieve “presence of mind”, but can
anyone come up with a great idea?
Or are some people more likely to
think creatively than others?
Certainly some of us are more creatively
talented and inclined than others and as
a result, there’s still a pervasive business
belief that “creative thinking should
be left to the creatives”– those people
whose roles comprise creative duties.
But limiting accountability for creative
thinking to those select few represents
a missed opportunity for business. Why
not inspire everyone to think creatively?
Why put creativity in a box that few
can access?
Creative thinking is often associated
with “creative personalities”—those
people who exude traits stereotypically
associated with creative thinking: risk-
taking, enjoying change, persistence,
emotional volatility and even
procrastination. And the more inclined
they are to exhibit extremes of these
personalities, the more success they are
likely to enjoy. On this basis a company
full of these “creative personalities”
may be brimming with ideas, but
socially dysfunctional and heading
for self-destruct.
But the good news is that we actually
do all have the ability to think crea-
tively—if we have the will and the
necessary support and encouragement
at work. Employers should provide that
environment of support and know that
the vast majority of employees want to
think creatively:
• Almost three in four (72%) consider
themselves to be creative
• More than three in four (76%)
believe people can learn to
think creatively.
That is a massive vote of confidence
from the people who are the raw
materials for business’ next big idea.
72%
consider themselves to
be creative

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What can business do to
support creative thinking?
The vast majority of employees (79%)
say they have their best ideas outside
work—but creativity can happen in the
office (21% say they’re doing it).
So how to inspire more creative
thinking—not just at work, but for work,
whatever the location?
The first priority—since anyone can think
creatively—is for business to encourage
and support all staff.
Secondly, business leaders need to
orchestrate culture and practices
to align with how creative thinking
actually works:
• Only 20% think ground-breaking
ideas are frequently created
under pressure.
• The most commonly cited barrier
(32%) is lack of time.
Therein lies the contradiction at the heart
of how many businesses seek to “be
creative”: we know we can’t just switch
on the creative side of our brain, lock
ourselves into a brainstorm and come up
with an award-winning idea. Yet that’s
the default for many. Almost half (48%)
say the primary method of idea creation
within their company is brainstorms—
which encourage people to think in
a “closed” way. Their very nature
demands logical thinking and narrows
our field of thought.
What’s the alternative? We may not
be able to create more time, but we
can create a culture that provides the
space for creative thinking all of the
time, a culture that feeds our spirits.
“The brain is a wonderful
organ; it starts the
moment you get up in
the morning and does
not stop until you get
to the office.”
–
Robert Frost

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Key Takeaways for Business
44%
aren’t confident their
company would encourage
spontaneous meetings and
discussions.
59%
say their companies
encourage interaction of
employees from different
fields of expertise.
32%
have their best creative
thoughts during play or
leisure time.
79%
have their best ideas
outside work.
51%
say their company allows
them to present and take
creative risks.
48%
lack confidence their
company would allow them
the freedom to fail and put
forward further ideas.
44%
of employees don’t believe
their working environment
allows the space and
inspiration for creative
thought.
45%
aren’t confident their
companies would support
them in exploring creative
inspiration outside the office.
45%
of employees aren’t confident
that their company formally
rewards creativity.
63%
would move jobs to work
within a company that
encourages creative thinking.
Collaboration Play Freedom to fail Ego support Space to thinkIdea Collection

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1. Collaboration
To feed creative thinking you have to
be exposed to other people’s creative
ideas—so sharing ideas at work
should be encouraged both informally
and through more formal platforms.
We’ve all sparked new ideas from
conversations we weren’t expecting,
with people who have different
experiences and perspectives--
so encourage and enable staff to
meet informally around the office.
Getting away from our desks and the
problems we are currently grappling
with gives our minds the opportunity
to be more open to making new
connections and reaching Eureka!
It’s a fix many need to make: 44%
of employees aren’t confident
their company would encourage
spontaneous meetings and discussions.
And more formally encouraging
employees to share and contribute
across both their teams and more
diverse fields of work can be a great
way of stimulating collaborative
creativity and innovation.4
And
companies should find ways to help
collaboration, no matter the obstacles
- Graeme McEwan, Group Director of
Communications and Brand, Standard
Life: “Collaboration is the catalyst
for creativity. But, arguably, most
modern office spaces aren’t designed
to cater for collaboration, and so
creativity becomes isolated and
sporadic. Standard Life’s operations
are worldwide, from North America
to Europe to India and Asia. To help
foster better collaboration, we’ve
been investing in digital technology
to connect our people across the
group, regardless of where in the
world they work. By doing this, we’re
encouraging our people to open up
their ideas, learning and experience to
help others so that creativity, and the
rewards that it brings, can be shared
throughout the group.”
44%
of employees aren’t
confident their company
would encourage
spontaneous meetings
and discussions.

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2. Play
It isn’t just children that learn through
play; it’s important for adults, too.
According to the LEGO Foundation:
“Play is critical to learning, to devel-
opment and to creativity in people
of all ages, but the understanding of
play’s impact is still not widespread
and therefore not leveraged to its full
potential. Creativity is one of the skills
most sought-after by today’s business
leaders, but we lose creativity over
the course of our lifetimes instead
of building it. If we don’t appreciate
the risk-taking, imagination, and
experimentation of play as something
that equips and empowers us for a
lifetime, the world will suffer from
a severe drought of creativity and
problem solving.”5
Research links play to creativity and
innovation.6
It also stimulates the
imagination, increases adaptability and
even improves relationships by boosting
empathy, trust and cooperation. It makes
us more effective at problem-solving
together—so yes, there is actually a
sound basis for those much derided
team-building activities.
The elusive goal for business is truly
playful play. Psychologists argue that
when we’re carried away in the “flow”
of play much deep learning occurs.7
As with casual workplace conversations,
informal play allows the brain to wander
toward that flash of insight. Indeed the
largest proportion (32%) of employees
says they have their best creative
thoughts during play or leisure time.
What does workplace play look like
outside the expected? Google famously
build toys into its working environment.
Others offer art or yoga classes, on-site
gardening, even “playground” breaks
during the working day.
“Work will always be
with us, and many
works are worthy. But
the worthiest works of
all often reflect an artful
creativity that looks
more like play than
work.”
–
James Ogilvy

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3. Idea Collection
It’s one thing feeding inspiration
within the office, but it takes a
brave employer to encourage staff
to seek inspiration outside their
own four walls. Almost half (45%)
of employees aren’t confident their
companies would support them
in exploring creative inspiration
outside the office. Yet it’s precisely
the seemingly unrelated sources of
inspiration—other people’s ideas,
shows, museums, shops, taking a
walk in the park—that can inspire
new connections and new thinking.
It’s very hard to think creatively
on demand.
“We have always been
shameless about stealing
great ideas.”
–
Steve Jobs

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4. Freedom to Fail
One of the biggest challenges for
business is achieving the actual
cultural and organisational change
that’s required to provide one of the
cornerstones of creativity: giving your
people the freedom to fail.
What does that take? Staff need to
be actively supported when they put
forward a new idea. When they do
hit on a winning idea, the team takes
a collective responsibility to develop
and see the idea through to fruition.
The reality of cultural conditions is far
from supportive:
• Whilst half (51%) say their company
allows them to present and take
creative risks, almost as many
(48%) lack confidence their
company would allow them the
freedom to fail and put forward
further ideas.
• And (45%) aren’t confident
making ideas happen is a shared
responsibility in their company.
What employee is going to put their
neck on the line with a truly brave
idea if they fear they’ll be forever held-
back by its failure? The most successful
ideas people—be they entrepreneurs or
scientists or marketers—have many failures
before they hit on the winning idea.
48%
are not confident their
company would allow
them the freedom to fail.

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5. Space to think
Promoting collaboration and idea-
sharing goes beyond the cultural—
it’s also about the environmental. The
space we work in has a great impact
on how we feel and how motivated
we are to come to work. That’s why
brands like Facebook have made
enormous investments in their work
environments. Yet almost half (43%)
of employees are not confident their
working environment allows the space
and inspiration for creative thought.
The ubiquitous open-plan office
is often seen as a one-size-fits-all
solution to creative sharing. It does, of
course, have great potential to be a
collaboration enabler through sheer
proximity of people to their colleagues.
But environmental changes must
work hand-in-hand with cultural ones;
imposing an open plan design on a
non-collaborative culture is a recipe
for conflict. People can feel “perilously
exposed and constantly worn down
by the need to demonstrate unflagging
performance in a permanent
negotiation with peers, colleagues
and associates.”8
It can also be an
environment that is so cluttered with
stimuli it’s hard to have the space to
think. As ad luminary Steve Henry said,
“Open-plan offices are an efficient use
of space. But they are claustrophobic to
work in and you won’t write Mad Men
or Silver Linings Playbook while you’re
in them”.9
So have an open plan environment,
but create alternative areas—meeting
rooms, relaxed seating, formal and
informal spaces with space to think.
43%
of employees are not
confident their working
environment allows the
space and inspiration
for creative thought.

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6. Ego support
And what about once an employee
hits on a winning idea? Your hard work
in creating a culture and environment
that encourages creative thinking will
all be for nothing if you don’t publicly
recognise and reward the contribution
of those originators of great ideas.
Yet more than 23% of employees say
their company doesn’t formally reward
creativity. Even worse, a further 22%
are unsure. If staff are unsure whether
their creativity will be rewarded, at best
their employers aren’t communicating
effectively—and at worst, they simply
lack any way of recognising and
rewarding creative thinking.
Should these companies—the combined
55% that lack a rewards program either
in reality or in their employees’ minds—
be worried? Yes. The two out of every
three employees (63%) who would move
jobs to work within a company that
encourages creative thinking may
well be leaving them.
55%
are not confident their
company formally
rewards creativity.

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Creative Confidence Global Rank*

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%
%
%
49 66 48 32 53 39 35 36 40 36 50
60 79 69 69 65 55 58 53 67 45 69
Australia
Brazil
China
Egypt
Germany
Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
UAE
UK
US
49 70 58 43 51 39 39 42 47 34 51
I am allowed the freedom to fail
%
%
% 75 91 65 48 79 54 62 50 76 56 84
53 73 69 49 58 50 44 52 55 46 62
50 72 54 39 52 44 37 46 54 40 57
I am creative
Company culture encourage creative thinking
I get space and inspiration from working environment
Company rewards creativity
I would change jobs for a creative company
Creative Confidence Global Rank*
% showing positive responses to questions
*The rank reflects individual nations’ confidence in their own creative ability and the support their industries offer to creative thinking. It is informed by nine key questions.
15

19.
Australia
Brazil
China
Egypt
Germany
Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
UAE
UK
US
%
%
% 85 98 91 99 95 90 95 86 95 78 94
84 95 88 99 88 82 95 86 94 72 92
53 68 53 34 53 45 39 46 51 40 56
Creativity important to company success
Creativity important to my role
I can present and take creative risks
$ $ $ $$$
$ $$$ $
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Creative Confidence Global Rank*
% showing positive responses to questions

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Endnotes
1. IBM Global CEO study 2010.
2. http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-
professionals-blog/2012/feb/20/can-creativity-save-business-world
3. Barry Gordon, Lisa Berger (2003). Intelligent Memory:
Improve the Memory That Makes You Smarter. Viking Adult.
4. Miller, Fern & Cardinal (2007). The use of knowledge for
technological innovation within diversified firms. Academy
of Management Journal.
5. The LEGO Foundation is dedicated to build a future where
learning through play empowers children to become
creative, engaged, lifelong learners. In 2013, the LEGO
Foundation developed a report on how to develop a Culture
of Creativity. Cultures of Creativity (2013):
http://www.legofoundation.com/en-us/research-and-learning/foundation-
research/
6. Patrick Bateson and Paul Martin (2013). Play, Playfulness, Creativity
and Innovation. Cambridge University Press.
7. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal
experience. New York: Harper & Row.
8. Collaborative Encounters Movement:
http://www.collaborativeencounters.com/#filter=.tid-2,.reset,.exclude
9. http://stevehenry.campaignlive.co.uk/page/2/

21.
Talk to Jack
Contact
Melinda Lindland
SVP New Business and Group
Account Director
melinda_lindland@jackmorton.com
Read our blog at blog.jackmorton.com
Follow us on twitter @jackmorton
Visit us online at jackmorton.com
About Jack Morton
We’re an award-winning brand
experience agency that turns brands
into verbs and transforms customer
experience into a competitive asset.
We make brilliant things happen for our
clients. We do that by bringing together
brave, creative people who are true
believers in the power of experience
to transform brands and businesses.
We’re experts in brand experience
strategy and activation. Our clients
look to us to define and understand
how their brands should behave in the
marketplace, and create experiences
that bring their brands to life. Our
portfolio of award-winning work spans
75 years and clients like GM, Subway,
Samsung and Verizon in areas like
event marketing, retail experience,
digital, social, mobile, sponsorship and
employee engagement.
Our team works together across
22 locations all around the world.
We’re also part of one of the world’s
leading marketing holding companies,
Interpublic (NYSE: IPG), and
experienced collaborators with a global
network of best-in-class partners.
© Jack Morton Worldwide 2014
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