Creative methods of individual project activity management in creative industries

Introduction. Design approaches to solving creative problems are a very common practice in the creative industries. The tasks of increasing labor productivity based on special creative methods of project management in the creative industries are an urgent task of marketing as a management tool in the communication sphere.

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to substantiate, develop, and conduct a primary study using secondary statistical data on the creative industries of the Rostov Region. This study aims to identify the characteristics of the individual creative process in the marketing and communications sphere and methods for stimulating individual creative activity when designing marketing and communications products.

Methods. The presentation of the study results follows the IMRaD formula (Introduction-Methodology-Research Results-Conclusion). The theoretical and

methodological framework for the study is based on the authors' work exploring the management of intellectual and creative organizations and the creative process, as well as the characteristics of individual creativity. The research methodology synthesizes secondary and primary research and includes statistical data analysis to describe trends in the creative industries and substantiate the need to develop creative methods for stimulating individual creativity. Comparison, experimentation, and observation methods are used, as well as a structural-semantic analysis of experimental results. A classification method is used to summarize information on the use of individual methods for stimulating creative activity obtained through the experiment. A case study method is also used to elicit reflection on the use of methods for stimulating individual creativity. The primary field research presented in this article is the second stage of a series of studies devoted to the study of creative methods for project management. It focuses on identifying the specifics of creative methods used in the individual creative process. The object of the study was the development of marketing and communications projects in the advertising sector, and the subject was methods for stimulating individual creative activity.

Results. The study identified, described, and classified methods for stimulating individual creative activity used by young professionals in the creative industries when developing marketing and communications products. These methods include incubation, enhancing creative potential through physiological and emotional stimulation, socialization and obtaining approval from professional representatives, references and benchmarking, and configuring the environment for individual creative activity through the creation of an atmosphere and the use of rituals. However, the study revealed the limited use of specialized professional creative techniques for developing creative communications in the creative process.

Conclusions. The results of the study demonstrate the importance of describing, systematizing, and developing a methodology for using creative techniques in the development of communication products and communication projects based on a developed strategy, including strategic elements such as product concept and image, insights, values, and motivations of target audiences, key messages, key images, and creative strategies, with their subsequent implementation in the management practices of creative industries enterprises and individual creative processes. The scientific significance of this study, which combines primary and secondary methods, lies in the fact  that the authors demonstrated the need to develop a special area of marketing management – managing individual project activities based on creative methods. They also identified, classified, and described the creative methods used by young creative industry professionals in the development of communication products. The practical significance of the conducted research is that the authors presented the possibilities of increasing labor productivity and improving the quality of marketing and communication products by incorporating creative techniques for creating communication products and communication projects into the management system of individual creative project activities based on the developed strategy, which includes such strategic elements as the concept and image of the product, insights, values and motives of target audiences, key messages, key images and creative strategies.

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