My definition of Creative

The other day a friend of mine suggested that my orientation "Creative" may not be as universal as I think. I realize people outside of the marketing community think of "creative" as an adjective whereas I'm referring to it as a noun. The noun creative is hard to explain quickly and succinctly to someone who may not be familiar with the various components of the advertising and marketing business. So here's my elevator or cocktail party explanation, (20 seconds or less). Creative the noun: A persuasive communication strategy and/or execution that influences a target audience. Components include: copy writing, design, visual aesthetics and imagery. Eleven seconds according to my clock! Still a bit cryptic I admit, but to the point..no? I could spend hours trying to massage a couple of sentences to be more succinct, instead I'll take suggestions- feel free to post your own definition. I wish I would have done this before all those holiday gatherings... "so Neal, what do you do exactly...."? Eleven seconds later.. hmm, great! been skiing yet?