Making research play its part not only before and after the creative process, but during the process. Traditionally, research was used to make preliminary studies , then to make tests on the finished advertisement. With the approach which we propose, research becomes much more integrated into the process of creation. Certainly it provides the psychological background and it is responsible for tests to establish the end-results of the communication. But moving beyond this, it also influences the whole creative process. In this area it does far more than bringing techniques of free interviews or of sampling. It brings a certain idea of man and of the type of information likely to influence him. Research creates a whole set of psychological attitudes underlying the whole of creative work.
My paper is a plea for common sense in creative research. Research can make an enormous contribution to the development of effective advertising, but it remains a rough-and-ready affair for all the apparent sophistication of some of the systems proposed. Let us make sure the limitations are widely recognised - and then we can use the results sensibly as "aids to judgement."
The attitude in Benton & Bowles was that research is not a substitute for creativity; instead, research provides the facts upon which the creative team can go to work. Research also provides facilities by which the creative men can find out whether their ideas get across to the population at large and whether or not the message that is communicated to their audience is the one they intend to communicate. The three case histories were not selected to illustrate new techniques. They were chosen to try to show how research was used to work with the creative groups and not to point an accusing finger at creative errors or to take away authority from the creative groups.