Archive for February, 2011

The “How Dare You” Factor

February 3, 2011

I just saw some feedback to ad creative in an email from an Account Executive (a mid-level Account person) and it reminded me of my current “how dare you” binge. This all stems out of having the sense that the guys who created Scrubbing Bubbles wouldn’t be so interested in my ideas on Advertising and the Big Idea. What do I know about Advertising, really – what have I *done.*

The idea of having *done* something, accomplished something, is important. It’s a level of mastery. I think this may be the key to understanding the conversation about Steve Jobs. There are those people who are Masters, and who actually yes do deserve our respect. Maybe not awe and veneration, but at least respect of the fact that they have done something.

I’m still thinking about it though and there’s more to, um, flush out in this thought path.

So is it possible to have a Big Spaceship world with no creatives? Or do we start to create by committee? Is it okay for an AE to suddenly have their input weigh the same as an Art Director who has been awarded and celebrated? Or is there a way to balance that? Can we become too communal, too equal?

I should probably name my Posterous blog “rabbit hole” although it seems I can’t get away from some sort of mildly inappropriate-sounding metaphors. [Note – was thinking to move to Posterous before I settled on WordPress.]

The Big Idea in a Software World – What to Do?

February 2, 2011

The role of the Big Idea has to be thought through, gazing at it with Agile glasses. Recently I had a discussion about leadership, thinking about Steve Jobs as leader and inspiration.

George Lois – let’s use him as a Steve Jobs of Advertising. In Advertising we may not necessarily be able to wait for the George Lois to come up with something, but must form a team that has to come up with something that a George Lois will sign off on. What I’m doing to tease out how Agile techniques might help is to see how the offline people (people who do TV/print) do their work. It strikes me they are already sort of working in a way similar to Agile, except – it is farther towards chaos than Kanban is in terms of rules. It’s more the Creative General model, with the all-mighty mind barking orders at his/her minions.

Our problem set for online people is the same as it has been for IT guys. Marketing dreams up stuff for IT guys to implement; Offline guys are dreaming up campaigns and then throwing it over the fence to digital creatives.

So how to solve?