First, let’s define ‘creative’ which, for the purposes of this little ditty, is commercial art, not fine art. We’re talking about stuff that’s going to hang in the subway, not the Louvre. And that’s okay, because people who know and pay attention to such things are fully aware that both can be equally beautiful.

It’s also not technology. As inherently imaginative and, in many ways, creative, as some techno practitioners may be, the utilities and apps and widgets they come up with aren’t the subject of this piece.

And now, on with the show…

A lot of what makes up great creative is really basic art/copy stuff: Color. Layout. Typography. Composition. Grammer Grammar.

And then there’s the business angle, which tends to be far more open to interpretation and is comprised of big-brain subjects like strategy, messaging, resonance, etc. (Note: The aforementioned items should be read with steepled fingers and a furrowed, serious-looking brow.)

To make really great creative, though, you need both–and you need to express both in compelling ways. That is to say, you can get everything technically right–alignment, palettes, value proposition–and still end up with something that simply doesn’t work. Or what’s commonly referred to in the trade as ‘crap.’

So, what’s compelling?

Well, for one thing, compelling’s got a friggin’ concept behind it. It’s poignant/smart/thought-provoking/funny in a way that makes the subject matter relevant. (For anyone still reading, Yes, that last was nothing more than a re-hash of the old adage ‘Advertising is the art of selling people stuff they don’t need.’)

Compelling is also the artful, almost seamless melding of design and copy such that the two seem destined for each other; as if they came out of the same ridiculously enlightened brain.

But the big thing about compelling is the way it makes people feel. Not to get all new age-y about it, but the best creative work does more than just fill up a media buy. It strikes a chord. It motivates. It…inspires. That’s not empty ad-speak. It’s real. And you don’t have to be a creative person to understand it. You just have to be a person.

See, as different as we all are, there are certain things we share; certain ways in which we’re hardwired that make us–or at least the vast majority of us–respond similarly to similar stimulus.

And while some fancy pants with a PhD in behavioral psychology could probably make a more fact-based case, it’s really pretty simple: We love. We laugh. We cry. We go to the bathroom. At times, we’re giddy as schoolkids. At others, we’re nasty and petulant as, well, schoolkids.

Great creative subtlely (not even sure how to spell that), almost magically taps into that pool of lowest-common denominator stuff and speaks to us on a visceral level.

That’s what makes it seem so, well, right.

So cool.

So great.