But there are side issues to this problem:
1. A lot of people in the business are more comfortable pretending there is a ‘process’ like a production line to creating good advertising because this means they don’t have to accept that great ads come from great ad people. They’re not comfortable with the thought that their most valuable company assets tend to get drunk and swear a lot. They’d rather pretend there’s a system they can own.
2. Some creative people seem to be fine with this sorry state of affairs - they do their bit of ‘creativity’ (styling) and say ‘judge me on that’ without a thought as to the bigger picture.
3. The current system of awards don’t recognise great advertising, just ‘clever’ execution. ‘Avis is no.2 - we try harder’ is a fantastic advertising idea - you could set that line on a page and you have greatness there. Would that get recognised today? Would it f*ck.
4. There are too many play it safe so-called-creatives who are playing their part in this farce, but are more like middle-management yes-men than true ad creatives - and what the hell is a ‘creative’ any way? When we call people Art Directors, Copywriters and Ad-Men things are much clearer.

The thing is, this problem is so much more important than people think - in one fell swoop is it suppressing the great ideas that could once again prove advertising’s worth to business, creating a generation of happy-to-fit-in civil servant creatives, and discouraging those with an original and enquiring mind from the mainstream of the industry.

More crapping-on about this from me here: http://sellsellblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-ghetto-creative-ghetto-that-is.html

We hired “ideas people” who could quite often be idiots.

Copywriters, art directors….these guys are admen.

“Ideas people” are usually j just lazy rich kids who are confident.

I know plumbers who are ideas people. I know teachers who are ideas people. Being an ideas person is not trade enough.

You need to offer more. And because, for so long, we didn’t … planners took the mantle.

We had it. We gave it away.

I think you need an ideas person + at least one visible skill. Otherwise answering other people’s briefs is probably all you are good for.

Yes, times have changed.
Used to be people said (at least in the Far East) that “an agency was suit controlled.”
But now, they say “it is planning controlled.”
And that, to me, is worse.

Suits you could reason with them.
Maybe because they had no real reason for not wanting to sell a piece of work.
“I don’t like it” or “the client won’t like it” are easy to counter.

But now, with planners, it becomes, “our research has shown the consumer won’t like it.”

Still, it depends on the agency - and the time.

John Hegarty’s famous Audi tagline almost didn’t make it because reserach said it won’t work.
But Sir J convinced the client to go ahead.

Similarly, Akio Morita’s first Walkman idea researched badly.

While research said t go ahead with the “New Coke” man years ago - it failed badly.

Think sometimes planners need to be reminded that they aren’t all-knowing.

Regards

UK advertising used to be subversive and full of life. i’m not sure how much of this is down to the culture of planners but based on the conversation here it seems to be the case. is it?