Why Creativity Compounds - And Why It Matters for Modern Brands

Creativity is often described as a spark - an inspired moment, a breakthrough, a burst of imagination. But the more we study high-performing brands, the clearer it becomes: creativity isn't just a moment. It’s a well-structured system that allows us to share our most profound and meaningful thoughts and ideas with society as a whole. And when that system is applied consistently, its impact compounds over time.

A recent global study, the Compound Creativity Study, conducted by System1 Group with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), proves exactly that. The findings are powerful, especially for established brands looking to modernize without losing themselves in the background noise of our fast-paced, ever-changing world.

At Blox Communications, this research aligns with what we’ve been building all along: creativity made accessible, structured, and scalable.

Let’s break down what the study reveals:

1. Creativity Works Better When It’s Consistent

The study evaluated over 4,000 campaigns across 56 brands, and the results were striking:

• Brands with the highest creative consistency achieved a 3.3-star rating, compared to 2.6 in the least consistent group.

• These top performers also saw ongoing improvement - gaining +0.2 stars per year, while inconsistent brands saw no growth at all.

So, what can we learn from this? Consistency doesn’t limit creativity; it strengthens it. But for it to really work, brands must first lay a foundation, which involves our 4-phase service offering - Discover, Define, Design, and Deliver. And consistency is not about doing things the same way every time. It’s about the disciplined practice of presenting your brand in a unified, recognizable way across every touchpoint - visuals, voice, messaging, behaviours, and customer experiences. It ensures that no matter where someone encounters your brand, they understand who you are, what you stand for, and what to expect.

Over time, creative consistency builds familiarity, trust, and memorability. It allows your brand to compound in value over time. When brands reuse the right assets, maintain a steady strategic position and message, and build campaigns on a unified strategy, creativity becomes more impactful and easier for audiences to recall.

This becomes the foundation of brand memorability.

2. Creative Consistency Drives Real Business Results

For those who aren’t necessarily ‘creative’ or who don’t understand what it truly is, creativity can seem ‘fluffy’ or intangible. But here at Blox, we thrive on creativity. It serves as the base element that, when paired with foresight and insight, becomes highly measurable and trackable. Here’s a quick reminder about the difference between foresight and insight and why they should work together -

Foresight

Foresight is the practice of preparing for what’s ahead by understanding the forces shaping change.

It’s not about predicting the future - it’s about being ready for it. Foresight helps organizations recognize emerging patterns, shifting behaviours, and evolving expectations so they can make informed decisions today that strengthen their position tomorrow.

It turns uncertainty into preparedness, giving brands the clarity and confidence to adapt with intention rather than react under pressure.

Insight

Insight is the ability to understand what’s true right now.

It is grounded in data, research, audience behaviour, and lived experience. Insight reveals the motivations, gaps, and opportunities shaping current performance. It answers “What’s really happening today?” and turns observation into clarity.

Why Foresight and Insight Must Be Paired

Individually, foresight and insight are valuable. Together, they are transformative.

Insight grounds you in reality.

Foresight guides you toward possibility.

When paired, they create a complete decision-making system:

• Insight shows why the brand performs the way it does now - the gaps, the behaviours, the inefficiencies, the opportunities hiding in plain sight.

• Foresight shows what the brand will need to become - the future expectations of customers, the shifts coming to legacy sectors, the trends that will reshape markets, and the capabilities organizations must build to stay relevant.

For legacy brands especially, this pairing is essential:

• Many rely on decades of experience (insight) but struggle to adapt quickly (lack of foresight).

• Others see the future but lack the internal clarity to act (foresight without insight).

When the two intersect, companies gain something powerful: clarity about where they stand and confidence about where they’re going.

This is why Blox integrates both into our modernization frameworks - from the Blox Brand Audit (insight) to market research and trend analysis (foresight). When legacy companies align present-day truth with future-focused direction, they don’t just evolve - they lead. So, tying it back to the study -

• The most consistent brands generated +27% more Very Large Brand Effects (think: awareness, salience, differentiation).

• They also delivered +28% more Very Large Business Effects - sales, market share, profit.

That means creativity doesn’t just make a campaign look good. It drives commercial performance in ways that compound year after year. And not only that, it can imbue a storytelling narrative that emotionally speaks to your audience. A lot of times, creativity is about a feeling or an experience. So, combining the work we can do across Market Research & Audience Insights, Brand Strategy, Content & Communications Strategy, and Marketing Plan & Campaign Execution allows creativity to find its proper place and become a strong differentiator for your brand.

This aligns directly with Blox’s vision: turning ideas into systems that generate long-term value.

3. Creativity Compounds When Teams Stay the Course

One of the most compelling insights:

Brands that stayed with the same creative consultancy and allowed campaigns to “wear in” performed significantly better.

In other words: stability accelerates creativity.

Campaigns become more effective when they build on each other, rather than restarting every year. Consistency of team, tone, systems, and assets drives exponential returns. And I have found this to be true for our 9-Point Channel Strategy and 4-phase service offering: no matter how fast you want to see results, it takes time because time builds strength and stability. Yes, we are not solely focusing on activity and outputs, but on the value our work brings to clients and business outcomes. And we will always aim to deliver that value early and often, rather than wait for perfection. Still, it takes hard work to build a strong foundation, and that will take time. I typically like to map out progress over 6 months to a year. During this timeframe, there is ample room for us to use the data and insights we’ve collected to learn and build a brand tailored to your needs and challenges.

For legacy companies that have spent decades refining who they are, this is a fair vantage point and powerful competitive lift waiting to be unlocked.

4. Creativity Becomes Stronger When It Becomes a System

The study identified 13 creative consistency features, including:

• A unified brand idea

• Repeated use of recognizable assets

• Characters or brand devices

• Distinct tone of voice

• Recurring audio cues

• Visual identity and composition frameworks

This structured approach mirrors what we do at Blox:

Make creativity usable. Make it repeatable. Make it easy for teams to understand and scale.

Because when creativity stops being abstract - and becomes a system - teams can activate it confidently across channels, campaigns, and customer touchpoints.

That’s when creative work becomes an engine. A force to be reckoned with. A leading indicator of your success and transformation. A cue to modernize and prepare for the future.

5. What This Means for Legacy Brands

Most established companies aren’t suffering from a lack of creativity - they’re suffering from a lack of clarity. They have ideas. They have history. They have depth. But they also carry decades of inconsistent systems, silos, inherited processes, and outdated brand expressions that no longer match who they’ve become.

Legacy organizations often face a modernization gap - a widening disconnect between strong operational performance and outdated branding, messaging, and marketing systems. Creativity alone can’t close that gap.

But creative consistency can.

Legacy brands already have the raw material - reputation, relationships, craftsmanship, and credibility.

What they need is a creative system that makes their strengths visible again:

• Understandable - so internal teams finally share the same story.

• Repeatable - so marketing becomes a system, not a set of random acts.

• Measurable - so creativity connects directly to ROI and KPIs.

• Consistent - so the market recognizes the brand instantly, everywhere.

• Scalable across teams - so modernization becomes sustainable, not dependent on one vendor or one moment.

The Compound Creativity Study proves that when brands commit to consistent creative systems, the impact compounds over time. Results don’t just improve - they multiply.

And for legacy companies, this compounding effect is transformational.

Because consistency does more than create recognition - it restores alignment.

It closes the modernization gap by showing that many legacy firms innovate behind the scenes while still appearing outdated publicly. It brings unity to fragmented teams and inherited processes. It resolves years of inconsistent messaging, design drift, and departmental silos. It transforms modernization from a one-off project into an ongoing capability.

This is precisely where Blox thrives. Our mission as a creative-technical consultancy is to help legacy brands modernize their brands, marketing systems, and customer experiences in a digital-first world.

Through frameworks like the Blox Brand Audit, Blox Brand Compass, 9-Point Channel Strategy, and Benchmark/KPI Review, we don’t just deliver creative work - we provide creative systems that:

• Turn legacy strength into modern relevance.

• Translate history into compelling brand stories.

• Align internal teams and external channels.

• Build measurable, predictable growth across the entire marketing ecosystem.

When legacy companies commit to clarity and consistency, creativity compounds - reshaping not just their brand, but their entire trajectory.

And Blox is built to guide that evolution, one intentional block at a time.

6. The Blox Approach: Creativity Made Accessible

So, what have we discovered in today’s post? Your brand already has the raw material. We help you structure it.

Our frameworks make creativity:

• Clear enough for teams to use

• Flexible enough to grow with your brand

• Data-informed, not guesswork

• Designed to compound over years, not campaigns

We don’t just deliver ideas - we build the creative system that helps those ideas scale.

Because creativity is both magic and a system.

The magic is in your intuitive process and how it connects to the ideas and concepts that you develop when building a brand.

If you can talk about it clearly and descriptively, we can start tying it into your strategy. Once a tangible connection has been made, we begin to execute your ideas and concepts, turning them into reality.

Really, it's about understanding how things relate to one another. How they connect to a bigger picture - often the business goals and outcomes you set for your business.

What are your thoughts on creativity? How do you apply it at work, and do you notice a difference in your results when you approach things with a creative lens?

Thanks for reading!

Blox

The 9-Point Channel Strategy

Marketing in an Age of Complexity

Marketing is an environment defined by complexity and constant change.

For example, AI has automated and streamlined processes such as social media management and content creation. Similarly, over the past five years, the world of SEO has shifted away from simply keyword tactics to a more holistic approach involving the rigorous understanding of user intent and experience.

A recent McKinsey study found that 77% of CMOs believe their role has increased in complexity over the past five years, while other research consistently highlights the importance of integrated, customer-centric approaches for increased growth and revenue.

Amidst this frenzy of marketing metamorphosis, we can now say that leaders need more than campaigns. They need systems. They need ways to leverage digital ecosystems while maintaining a hyper-vigilant approach to customer needs and overall growth. That's where the 9-Point Channel Strategy comes in.

Delving, Developing, and Deducing

This complexity was not theoretical for me - it showed up daily during my Longboard days, when I was part of a small yet mighty team.

A few months into my role, I began to dream about creating a strategy that could answer some of the challenges our team was experiencing - a lack of organization due to poor project management skills, limited human resources to handle social media and email marketing tasks, and most importantly, misalignment and miscommunication with leadership, as well as missed opportunities to collaborate with cross-functional departments.

I wrote a business case and presented it to the CEO.

In my study, I explored all the potential projects and campaigns we could launch if only we were more organized and had more structure to our efforts. It was also the catalyst for doubling our team's size. After a quick presentation of my findings, my request was quickly approved. I finally had the go-ahead to develop the strategy that had been rattling about in my brain.

A Holistic View

The lack of a holistic view is one significant challenge that spurred the need to develop the 9-Point Channel Strategy.

In holistic marketing, departments and the strategy work together to accomplish shared goals and support an overarching purpose. A holistic stance paired with a transparent purpose is pivotal to scaling efforts and driving incremental volume and revenue.

It allows you to step back and review your work, gaining a deeper and clearer understanding of how inputs influence outcomes. With this perspective, you’ll be better prepared to make thoughtful, proactive decisions. Once you develop a holistic view, you can begin shaping content and messaging that resonates across physical, emotional, social, and even spiritual dimensions. At its core, this unification can lead to outcomes that stand out and make a lasting impact.

The 9-Point Strategy

The 9-Point Channel Strategy is an integrated approach to channel marketing where the primary goal is to understand your market segments and audience so you can deliver campaigns and projects that will produce results, all while driving your mission and vision forward.

By organizing each channel according to activity and assigning roles and responsibilities to the team (RACI chart), you can plan your delivery and create an inspiring experience that results in alignment between identity, delivery, and experience. This framework provides marketing teams with a structured, repeatable approach to align business goals, customer engagement, and brand growth across traditional and digital channels.

The 9-Point Channel Strategy model resembles a rotary phone because every channel (digit) must be dialled deliberately, in a sequence, and through a central hub (budget + analytics) to connect the organization to its customer outcomes (the call).

Why Structure Matters in Marketing

Most marketing teams suffer from one of two extremes: ad hoc creativity with little consistency, or rigid planning that fails to adapt to market shifts. Neither delivers sustainable growth.

The 9-Point Channel Strategy strikes a balance.

At its core, it emphasizes organization, planning, and resource allocation. These are not administrative details; they are the foundations of scaling. A Harvard Business Review study found that companies that link project management discipline with strategy execution are 70% more likely to outperform their peers.

By organizing around nine integrated channels - SEO/PPC, Content, Swag & Signage, Communications and Relationship Management, Tradeshows & Events, PR & Media, Website & Apps, Email Marketing, and Social Media - companies create a roadmap that both grounds their brand and gives teams the agility to respond to change.

From Brand Awareness to Measurable Revenue

Marketing is not just about visibility. Done right, it drives the business. Done wrong, it can degrade the brand and dislodge the customer journey.

So, it's vital to understand how each channel works singularly and in groups (Channel Groups). Research by Nielsen shows that brands with strong integrated campaigns achieve 31% more effectiveness than those using single-channel approaches.

The 9-Point Channel Strategy is designed to move organizations along this path. It improves:

• Brand Awareness: By consistently activating channels that reinforce identity and voice.

• Customer Engagement: Through storytelling, dialogue, and relationship management across touchpoints.

• Sales Impact: By aligning marketing activity with measurable outcomes such as lead quality, conversion rates, and pipeline growth.

For example, when I applied this framework in past roles, companies saw up to 600% growth in engagement and $25M in new business pipeline opportunities.

It's critical to understand that this doesn't just happen out of sheer application - it's the targeted execution that matters most. It's like a causeway. You can allocate resources to support your teams, all while understanding your business needs more accurately.

Furthermore, the 9-Point Channel Strategy guides the creation of marketing and sales materials, the development of strategic regional campaigns, and the collection of valuable data using the software and tools you have in place. By investing more time into understanding the potential of your market and the journey your clients take, you can influence product development, boost brand recognition, and more.

You will also improve your breadth of knowledge and meet changing client requirements more quickly and effectively. Client satisfaction will rise, as will your future revenue and profitability. Your reputation will grow as you raise awareness for your company and industry.

The Agile Imperative

No framework survives long if it can't adapt. The 9-Point Channel Strategy incorporates principles from the Agile Marketing Manifesto, which emphasizes experimentation, cross-functional collaboration, and responsiveness to change.

Five rules serve as guiding pillars:

1. Focus on client value and business outcomes over activity and outputs.

2. Deliver value early and often, rather than waiting for perfection.

3. Learn through experiments and data, rather than opinions and conventions.

4. Collaborate across functions, not just within silos or hierarchy.

5. Respond to change by following a static plan.

This isn't just philosophy. According to AgileSherpas, 42% of marketers now practice some form of Agile marketing, and those teams are twice as likely to report success as their non-Agile counterparts.

To put agility into practice, leaders need guiding principles that balance flexibility with discipline.

Principles for Execution

To embed agility within structure, leaders must:

• Align closely with internal and external stakeholders through transparency and trust.

• Encourage diverse perspectives to fuel creativity and innovation.

• Operate at a sustainable pace, balancing urgency with long-term growth.

• Empower small, cross-functional teams who are motivated and trusted.

• Continuously refine brand and channel fundamentals—because agility alone is not enough.

The best marketing programs are not built on one-off bursts of inspiration but on disciplined iteration. As Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder, once put it: "If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."

The Call to Leaders

The 9-Point Channel Strategy is more than a checklist - it is a system for growth in an unpredictable market. By combining structure with agility, organizations can achieve clarity, consistency, and measurable outcomes while staying aligned with their mission, vision, and values.

In an era when customer attention is fragmented and competition is fierce, the companies that win will not be those who do more, but those who do better. Integrated and agile marketing is no longer optional - it is a prerequisite for sustainable success. The 9-Point Channel Strategy offers a path to do just that - driving clarity, consistency, and sustainable growth.

If you’d like to explore how this strategy can work for your business, feel free to reach out to me anytime - info@bloxcommunications.com.

Thanks for reading!

Blox

The Architecture of Bold Marketing

Welcome to our website, and thanks for checking out our first blog post!

Today, I'm going to spend some time describing what we do here at Blox Communications.

So, how did it all come about?

Back in 2005, a few years after university, I partnered with a close friend to start a creative business partnership called Bubbles + Blocks. The venture was a fun-filled experience, where together we led creative direction and strategy for 50+ artists, DJs, and small businesses with branding, design, and musical and artistic consultation. By championing artistic growth and bringing our bold aesthetic to the ‘streets’, we influenced the local creative economy, delivering impactful campaigns, mentoring talent, and driving visibility through community engagement and purpose-driven collaborations.

The reason for our name came about as we were both graffiti artists at the time, and I tended to write in block letters, hence the 'Blocks', while my partner wrote in bubble letters, thus the 'Bubbles'. Our name was also a metaphor for our individual approaches. I was stern and methodical, always concerned with structure and process, while my partner represented the light and fun aspect of our business. Together, we launched an artistic revolution in the small city of Calgary at the time.

Throughout all of this, I maintained my creative moniker - Blox. When the time came to part ways, I wanted to continue my creative efforts, so I casually started Blox Communications. From 2018 to the present, I have explored various creative concepts centred around my 'names' - whether creating bold, fast-forward logos or writing a plethora of articles on my personal blog, Chonablox.

After spending almost 10 years in various marketing positions, I've decided to focus on what I love most - creative strategy and execution. So, the official Blox Communications is born!

At Blox Communications, our specialty lies at the intersection of strategy, brand, and execution - a space where bold creativity meets disciplined frameworks. With a decade of experience in account management and leadership in sales and marketing for B2B/B2C, tech, SaaS, e-commerce, manufacturing, distribution, and sustainability sectors, I've delivered measurable results - 600% engagement growth on social media platforms, $25M in sales opportunities within a single business division, and scalable frameworks that help brands grow with consistency and confidence.

What truly sets me apart is my passionate and dedicated personality. I try to encapsulate this in the Blox Communications ethos, approaching marketing as both an art and a science. The art is in crafting resonant narratives and bold identities; the science is in designing systems and channels that scale with precision. Together, they form the foundation of how I help businesses stand out, connect with their audiences, and thrive.

Here's a bit more about how we work:

1. Strategy a.k.a. The Framework

Our specialty begins with strategy. Chona created the 9-Point Channel Strategy - a holistic, integrated, and omnichannel model designed to unify brand presence across every touchpoint.

• Holistic: A complete wheelhouse where digital and traditional channels complement one another.

• Integrated: Unified, consistent, and repeatable - ensuring alignment across teams, campaigns, and metrics.

• Omnichannel: Being everywhere your audience expects you, leaving a mark that is both bold and measurable.

This framework is not abstract; it's grounded in results. It helps companies move beyond one-off campaigns to an enduring system - one that delivers clout, trust, and demand generation over time. Learn more about the 9-Point Channel Strategy here.

2. Brand a.k.a. Your Presence

Brands often come to me at an inflection point - needing clarity, consistency, or bold differentiation. Here, our specialty is refining what exists or defining what's missing.

• Refining: Elevating an existing presence by sharpening message, positioning, and channels.

• Defining: Building the systems, storylines, and identities that make a company unforgettable.

• Bold & Multifarious: True to the Blox ethos, our work is striking, memorable, and adaptable to any sector or scenario.

This is why I developed the Blox Brand Audit. It breaks down brand presence into three pillars:

1. Understanding the Audience – Needs, Challenges, Pain Points, Problems.

2. Understanding the Marketplace – competitive gaps, industry shifts, and opportunities.

3. Evaluating Brand & Channels – consistency, sharpness, and growth potential.

The audit process creates not only insight but also tactical deliverables - brand stories, taglines, and campaign ideas that transform abstract concepts into articulate, actionable strategies.

3. Execution a.k.a. From Idea to Impact

Execution is where strategy and brand come alive. My approach is meticulous, detailed, and tailored to business needs. Each execution cycle begins with identifying Needs, Challenges, Pain Points, and Problems, followed by aligning solutions through audience insights, competitive analysis, and persona development. Content and communication are two pivotal areas that need to mesh for execution to work.

Execution is guided by three principles:

• The Agile Marketing Manifesto: Campaigns are sustained, disciplined, and resilient. We are inspired by these values and principles.

• Demand Generation: Every touchpoint is aligned to the customer journey - awareness, consideration, conversion.

• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): We specialize in ABM strategies that foster strong, enduring connections with high-value prospects, ultimately converting these relationships into long-term revenue.

Overall, our processes are iterative, data-driven, and enable Tasks, Projects, and Campaigns to adapt and evolve as markets change.

Why It Matters

In today's crowded, complex marketplace, brands don't just compete on visibility - they compete on Clarity, Consistency, and Connection. Our specialty is helping companies sharpen their competitive edge.

• Clarity: Standing out with sharp, succinct messaging.

• Consistency: Aligning voice, tone, and design across every channel.

• Connection: Building trust and loyalty through storytelling and systems.

• All to = Growth: Turning creativity and frameworks into measurable, lasting business outcomes.

Closing Thought

At its core, the architecture of bold marketing is about transforming complexity into clarity and throughout the entire process, keeping bold ideas BOLD. Whether through a rebrand, a campaign, or an entire strategic overhaul, our work ensures that businesses not only grow - but evolve with purpose, precision, and presence.

Let me know if there are any topics you'd like me to tackle! I'm all about the collaborative process, which I've learned is essential in my previous positions. It takes guts, grit, and g̶l̶o̶r̶y̶ consistency to achieve the things we want most in life. Why not apply that mentality to marketing!

Thanks for reading!

Blox