Dr. Marie Taillard, Director of the Creativity Marketing Centre at ESCP Europe Business School, and Judy Bayer, Director Strategic Analytics for Teradata International, recently published a blog on the Harvard Business Review suggesting that bringing together team members from different functions into an analytics team can boost performance.

Three 'received wisdoms':

We can't all be Picasso - well of course we can't - creativity skills are not evenly distributed (the age old 'born or made' question). However, we can all get better at creativity and it's not only a few geniuses who get access to the Muse - even knowing that may help to free up ideas and release the unconscious. Maybe release from triple espressos, email tyranny and smartphone addiction could help - some of the apparently idiosyncratic behaviour of advertising agency Creatives, (at least to the 'management' and sometimes the client) illustrates this point.

At the CMC, we think that consumer creativity accounts for a lot of the (perceived) value that consumers experience in the act of consumption. We believe that much of the act of consumption occurs through creative processes. But one of the questions that many find challenging is: ‘what exactly is consumer creativity’? Is consumer creativity simply about the many ways in which individuals consume goods? Oreo cookies, for instance, can certainly be consumed in many different and creative ways. Or is consumer creativity something even broader, that includes the integration of the many associations we have with the brand (e.g. childhood memories of eating Oreo cookies…), or multiple encounters with brands (through advertising, product placement, etc) with our own life experience. I would argue here in favour of a broad understanding of consumer creativity, as a process of integrating our current experience of consumption with a set of associated and related memories, perceptions and emotions involving brand-related and product-related experiences. In other words, consumers re-interpret the value proposition while consuming the goods they purchase, and integrate it with the brand eco-system and their previous experience.

A series of recent events, aptly entitled the 'Swap Shop' series, gave my fellow MSc in Marketing and Creativity students and I a chance to hear our colleagues discuss their previous work experience. These events (of which this was the second) have made for a thoroughly engaging six hours in total. Four classmates discussed their wonderfully diverse experience, skill sets and prior roles in the most recent Swap Shop.

One classmate had spent time on an intricate part of the marketing strategy for a bullet-proof fashion label in Colombia, and shared a fascinating overview of his work. It was interesting to see how this company continuously responded to its market and customer base. The company didn't reinvent the wheel, but came to an existing market with an innovative attitude and a fast response to consumer need as its competitive advantage.

Dr Ben Voyer discussed a report by Which? showing how manufacturers are 'shrinking' products, instead of increasing their prices. Dr Voyer explained the psychological mechanisms which make consumers less susceptible to notice the implicit price increase. He highlighted the importance of consumer education to help consumers resist being manipulated.

ESCP Europe Business School is delighted to be hosting the London edition of the 'Business in Europe' seminar, which has a special focus on creativity and innovation on 6th and 7th March.

All Master in Management students at ESCP Europe take part in four fascinating seminars as a part of their programme. Having completed the Start@Europe event in Strasbourg as well as the Business Simulation Game and Research Methods seminars, the final-year Master in Management - or M2 - students will now come together for 'Business in Europe', hosted by Prof. Pascal Morand.

This two-day event begins with roundtable discussions with special guest speakers on a variety of subjects. The second day introduces a selection of companies with problems to solve, after which students take part in five creativity workshops to discuss how these issues might be resolved.

ESCP Europe is offering a special Early Bird discount of £2,000 for candidates applying to the Executive Master in Marketing and Creativity (EMMK) before 1st April 2013.

In addition, the School offers some scholarships to participants entering the EMMK in 2013, each worth £3,000.

The Creativity Marketing Centre at ESCP Europe Business School is hosting a series of academic research seminars in London for spring 2013, focusing on new, exciting, and creative topics and approaches to the broad field of marketing. The seminars feature leading academics in the field to discuss their current research with the CMC team and guests.

Eric Arnould of the School of Management at Bath University, UK and the University of Southern Denmark kicked of the series with the seminar 'Consumer fetish: The symbolic imaginary of consumer research'.