For the “State of the Creative” series, we’ve heard from Chief Creative Officer’s at: Ogilvy & Mather North America, Weber Shandwick, GREY, 360i, and R/GA.
For my final post, I turn to StrawberryFrog – a New York City Advertising Agency – to get their thoughts. Drum roll, please…
In my final post regarding the “State
Continuing with the series on the “State of the Creative,” we reached out Chief Creative Officers at some of the world’s leading ad agencies on: What it means to be a creative in today’s world? How many “legs” does an idea have to have when advertisers and marketers are targeting various demographics, each using multiple
As mentioned last week, we got to wondering, what does it mean to be a creative in today’s world? How many “legs” does an idea have to have when advertisers and marketers are targeting various demographics, each using multiple media devices and social media platforms? And does having all that data mean you or anyone else knows how to use it?
We posed these questions to Chief Creative Officers at some of the world’s leading ad agencies and will be posting their responses here over the next few weeks. Together, they should give us an interesting take on the state of advertising creative today.
I sat down with Josh Rose the Chief Creative Officer at Weber Shandwick to discuss the state of the creative today.
Well, I make a real distinction between data and technology. Data has meant that we know things we didn’t necessarily know before. Creatives like knowledge. Sure, we have to let go of it, too, and just jam. But to truly understand our target to the degree we can in this day and age, because of data, we are empowered more than ever to discuss the validity of our ideas. Technology, on the other hand, has simply expanded the palette for us with new media opportunities, new tools to express an idea with. A lot of times, a creative idea can start with, “Let’s be the first to. . .” Technology allows us to break new ground more often. That makes our jobs fun, interesting, innovative.
This is discussed a lot in the walls of agencies. Creative, as an adjective, is something everyone is being pressured to become. Account Management, Business Affairs and Planning are not, technically, creative disciplines, but the best people at those jobs are highly creative. To be a creative, though, is not dissimilar to what it has been for a long time. To be a copywriter, art director, designer, director, even a creative technologist – you study it. You withstand years of critiques and going back to the drawing board. You have more ideas killed than made. Lots more. And then you finally get an idea bought and you do everything in your power to make it according to your vision. That’s the job. It’s not nearly as romantic as it looks in the movies. But that’s the dirty little secret. The main thing creatives go through that no other discipline goes through nearly as much: rejection. That’s built in to what we do. And it leads to greatness. And that’s the only reason anyone would continue to do it.