It should not be a surprise if, when we examine other fields in which creativity plays a crucial role, we find evidence for the universality of Templates. If Templates indeed represent replicable patterns that may be generalized across variables and products, we should expect to discover evidence of Template dynamics in other ideation and problem-solving domains. Consequently, when this research paradigm of “idea archeology” was applied to advertising (perhaps as in other domains of arts) creative activity was found to be of prime importance. In Part III we present the implications of Templates on creative executions of advertisements. Here too, successful ads were typically found to share certain specified abstract patterns. The theoretical rationale for the emergence of such Templates is similar to that of the formation of Templates in new products. Chapter 9 describes and illustrates the Template theory in the context of advertising.

In addition, at this stage of developing the Template approach it is useful to outline it as a specified, formal framework. At various points in the book we have provided configurations of products to exemplify how well defined they are and how they can be used for creativity tasks in a relatively straightforward manner. In Chapter 10 the inference and development of the Templates is presented as part of a formal presentation that can also assist in generalizing and applying them in a variety of other contexts.