‘Creative’ is not a noun. Ad agencies started calling the pretty stuff ‘creative’. I’m not sure why. But it annoys the hell out of me.

It cheapens creativity to think that ‘creative’ is just about a commercial, or a web site, or a banner. And it cheapens truly creative people.

The big winners in marketing learn that ‘creative’ is a way of thinking, not something you print in a magazine or put on the web, and they learn that in internet marketing it’s all creative: The way you build your applications, your choice of vehicles, the overall message, everything.

So when Seth Godin writes about real creativity and the constraints that drive it, he’s also talking about creativity driven by client needs.

And when the folks at 37Signals talk about great interface design and fast, lean development, they’re talking about being creative, not making it.

And when I talk about it, I’m talking about everyone I work with: Designers, developers, writers, account managers. Everyone.

It’s an adjective, people. Not a noun. C-r-e-a-t-i-v-e. I even looked it up: