02.09.2014 The new creative

The new creative / Intro

Since the 1960's, when Bill Bernbach (the B in DDB) invented the creative team, nothing has basically changed. Except for the entire world.

Bill Bernbach was the one to realize that when they had together from the beginning to think about creative solutions, the copywriter (the only agency creative at the time) and the illustrator (that agencies use to call in to help visualize the idea), the quality of the solutions improved drastically.

That was the birth of the "advertising agency creative team".

The new creative / Intro

And that happened mainly because of the following:- 2 heads are most likely to find a solution to a problem than one,- The solution coming from 2 different disciplines (words and images) is probably richer,- But most of all, because when there's confidence and trust between the 2, there's no fear of saying meaningless things that one or the other might rescue and reinterpretate as something brilliant.A solution that would have never occurred from a single brain creative process.

The new creative / Intro

That was also the beginning of brainstorming as we know it.So there is no doubt the creative process has a lot to thank to Mr. Bernbach’s brilliant invention. Not just in advertising, but in all disciplines. As advertising creative departments have always been a reference to the creative process in many disciplines.

Now, since the 1960's, while nothing has basically changed in the advertising creative departments, the world has definately and profundly changed. And certainly, brand's communication.

The new creative / Intro

So how is the new creative? Or beter yet, how should the new creative be?

Let’s go back again to a classic TV commercial from Chiat/Day, the agency where I got my first job:

“Imagine you where a car. What would you be?

You’d be a sportscar.

You’d be quick, agile.

You’d be turbo charged.

And of course...”

So imagine you were a creative today. How would you be?

Of course you should be updated on the best work that’s beeing done around the world. Today that’s still a must. But today that’s something you can do by just subscribing to a few online channels and spending some time every morning looking at the work the world is doing. Served in your email inbox, your feed reader or your Twitter.

Classics like Little Black Book, Luerzer’s Archive, Ads of the World, We love ads, Update or die... will help you there.

The new creative should be Updated

In fact, if you’re willing to see what other creatives are doing, why not go to one of the world’s biggest online creative community.

Adobe has always been part of a creative’s life, and they recently acquired Béhance, offering an incredible platform to be updated about specific creative brands and profesionals or about the best worlwide work through their curated galleries.Advertising, web design, app design, typography, illustration, branding, package design, motion graphics... up to 24 different disciplines. Including the I.D. Magazine and the R/GA galleries.

Quite a place to spend hours watching and learning.

The new creative should be “Béhanced”

Online and Apple stores are just as much media for Apple as TV commercials historically have been.

Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide

The new creative should be Informed & “Teded”Because more and more, the best brand communication creative cases come from different disciplines. Now, it’s not anymore just about photography, film, illustration, graphic design... It’s also about online creativity, product design, interior design, architecture...

So besides advertising, sources like Fubiz, the FastCompany group with CoCreate, CoDesign, CoLabs... (just to name a few) should be in every creative “favourite links” selection.

For the same reason every creative should register on TED and add at least these 2 keynotes to their favourite list (I said at least):

After all, Google’s Project Re:Brief certainly tought the entire advertising industry a lesson.

And sure there are a whole lot of incredible tools that Google serves. Last time I counted, my Google favourite sites folder had 53 links: ThinkwithGoogle, Chrome experiments, Creative Sandbox, YouTube Ads Leaderboards, Trends, Studies...

But it’s not just about their sites, studies and experiments. It’s also about their business applied to ours. Since Google has demontrated to be good at searching. And agreeing an important part of the creative process is looking for things. The new creative should most certainly know how to make good use of Google.

The new creative should be “Googled”

Google images: “kiss” vs. “kiss site:500px.com”

Looking for an image for any rough can be a tedious job nowadays. Just try looking for the word “kiss” in Google Images. And then, try looking for it narrowing down the search to more “professional” communities like 500px or Flickr.

As we all know, today the problem is not finding information but finding “the information” we are looking for. Almost everything is online, and almost everything is traced by Google. But although the Google Algorithm is pretty smart, you still need to give him some extra information to let him show you what you’re looking for. In other words, Help Google help you.

The new creative should be “Googled”

And of course,the new creative shouldbe code literate.

And of course, the new creative should be code literate.

Think about it. Nowadays a company's website is at least as important to its overall image than its 30 second commercial.I mean, what do we all do when we want to look for something today? That’s right, we google it. And most probably we’ll end up in the brands website. Or at least we should. Otherwise we have a bigger problem.

So, since the idea is not to go out and look for the people but to do things well enough so the people look for us, a brand’s website is most probably the first thing people will see.

So in terms of visibility odds, websites have overcome commercials. And my point is there should be no advertising creative today that didn’t know the basics of code. Not to be able to make a website himself, that was never the idea. Just like shooting a film or taking a photograph was not the idea either when demanding creatives to be updated on these disciplines. But because code is underneath 90% of how humans relate to brands today (99% as a matter of fact, if we leave cash payment out of the equation).

This adds Awwwards, Favourite Website Awards, CSS Design Awards or One Page Love, to the every morning checklist.

And of course, the new creative should be code literate.

Of course all these are “just” references. Incredible places that today’s online memory offers with the simple click of a button. But keep in mind that, as a creative to, what matters is not what you do or how you do it. But why you do it.

There’s no point on starting the path from the beggining every time. If someone has already been there why not taking it from where he left it. So whenever asked, I’ve always recomended to copy. Look for the best and copy. Keep copying a little bit more and then copy again. All the way until you master it.

But always trying add something to it. Take it a little step forward.

And of course, the new creative should be code literate.

“If they just knew where we took from?”

Terry Gilliam’s answer in an interview when asked if they didn’t mind to be copied so often.

02.09.2014 / Thank you