I don’t know you, but this makes me deeply indignant. The war is at the door and if it enters it will be without calling. Even trusting that the situation stabilizes, the damage to business, the general anxiety and the prosperity of all is already irreversible. Years of work and sacrifice of companies and families depend absolutely on exogenous elements. Now, in these situations we can be flashed like a rabbit before the headlights of the car that comes over or react. And, like it or not, The strategic and meaningful action/reaction is the only answer. Global Financial Crisis, Pandemia, Energy Crisis, Inflation, Populisms, War of Ukraine, Commercial War, Expansionist Delusions, Disruptions on the Geopolitical Board … We read news of potential future asteroid collisions on Earth and no longer surprises us. This is the challenge we face. The constant dystopian sequence and uncertainty as the only certainty. Well, not the only one. There is another: you. You and your creative capacity as a leader or as a brand of making decisions almost in real time with meaning, determination and vision.

On the maps there are no stable lines. On the screens, the distance between conflict and everyday is one click. The war (the real, the symbolic, the economic, the digital) has ceased to be a distant or historical issue: it can break without warning, sneak through the feed, impact on the logistics chain, hit the emotional stability of the equipment or reconfigure the market one day to another.

And before that, people and companies cannot continue to think as in times of stability. It is not about alarmism, but an adaptive mentality. Global uncertainty (geopolitical, climatic, technological) demands a prudent but determined posture. The brands, agencies and creative leaders must review our framework frames. It is no longer worth creating from the plan, the algorithm or the trend of the day: you have to do it from the context, with a broad, critical and useful vision.

Creativity as a resistance tool

History teaches us that Creativity does not disappear in times of greater darkness. On the contrary: it blooms from scarcity, anger, hope or need. But its function changes. In times of war, creativity becomes living memory, as Picasso did with Guernica or Banksy painting in the ruins of Ukraine. Ideas serve survival, as in alert systems developed by civilians or shelters invented with recycled materials. There is no better defense than your own creativity as an organization or better shield than a brand that really connects, from the actions, with your own community. On the other hand, creativity also channels collective identity, such as songs composed in exile or stories that give meaning to pain. But also, and we must not forget it, it can be, it is, a manipulation tool (propaganda, fake news, infoxication) and generate an anesthetic aesthetic of horror, when the creative makeup unacceptable.

The key question for any creator in this context is not “What can I do to highlight?” “What can I create that makes sense, value and coherence with this moment in history.” In this sense, the brands and agencies must be conscious and permeable to the context to adapt the messages that we generate to the reality that is living, suffering or worrying to our audience, our people … because brands are precisely this recognizable promise that is capable of generating communities around it. And, on those communities, build our growth, precisely in moments of uncertainty.

Advertising creativity: act with the awareness of a cultural totem

Advertising has never been innocent. He is a cultural actor. And in times of conflict that role is amplified. The brands become social totems, symbols of belonging, mirrors of values. And his silence, his tone, his action or his omission speak as much as their campaigns. What can and should do advertising creativity when everything trembles?

a) redefine the purpose

It seems that the branding boom with purpose had passed. Nothing is further from reality. It is not the time of empty marketing. Brands should wonder what they contribute to the emotional and social ecosystem of their audience. Sometimes it will be support, sometimes it will be containment, other pedagogy or resources. Or even, emotion, laughs, entertainment or mere information of interest. And, of course, product.

b) Build cohesion and network

In times of war, growth should not be individualistic. Brands, agencies, clients and consumers form a network. Also business. Creativity must reinforce ties of trust, cooperation and shared resilience. Threat and doubt generate natural hubs.

c) Avoid the aestheization of suffering

The tragedy cannot be converted into a color palette or opportunistic storytelling. The brand cannot be the protagonist of the pain of others. And the agencies cannot allow more washings than, beyond the merely ethical, present our brands as interested and hollow.

d) measure different

The kpis must mutate: not only performance, but trust. In addition to notoriety, contribution. Share of Voice but also Share of Soul. Activations in these contexts tend to become real contributions to our communities.

Lead in the storm: creativity as a compass for uncertainty

Creativity is not just a product that is delivered: it is a way of being in the world. And in war contexts, or latent threat, it becomes one of the most powerful tools to lead without certainty. Creative leaders must develop three key attitudes:

1) Strategic environmentalness

Ability to act with decision but without rigidity. Be flexible without losing focus. Plan multiple scenarios. Adapt equipment, processes and messages without betraying the purpose.

2) empathic courage

The war demands courage, yes. But also careful. Creative leadership must be able to sustain the tension between action and containment, between strategy and sensitivity. It is not about being heroes, but about being headlights in the fog. To fight for our business and that of our clients making brave, correct, meaningful decisions. Between the occurrence and the strategic plan carved in stone is the creative leadership, the only mentality that allows us to navigate in reality and also take us to our destination.

3) Narrative of the future

Amid fear, someone has to imagine the “after.” Creativity also serves for that: visualize reconstructions, symbolize hope, design other possible realities. It is a political and poetic act at the same time.

In times of tension, everything is redefined. Also creativity. It is no longer just about “selling more” or “being viral.” It is about preserving humanity from what we are able to imagine, count and build. And ideas, brands, in addition to the most reliable defense system, are the Trojan horse of sensitivity, dignity and force.

Create in times of war is to create from flexibility and courage. From context and meaning. And, above all, from the awareness that, in the worst of storms, the creative remains a form of resistance.