No, surely the creative is the actual image (say) that carries the message. The creative is the bit people perceive with their senses, not the interpretation of that.
One designs a message: "people who drink $cola are fun" and then the creative to convey that message - such as an image showing someone smiling, nestling the product in their hands.
"Creative", as a noun, in this context is a very specific term from the world of advertising (where I worked for a decade), which means both the copy and the image/video etc.
It's a shorthand term (think DSL) a bit like "code" in the world of developers, etc..
One designs a message: "people who drink $cola are fun" and then the creative to convey that message - such as an image showing someone smiling, nestling the product in their hands.