Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

where the creatives are

It cracks me up whenever I hear a creative director referred to as "the Creative".  It makes it sound like creative directors belong to a different species.  We wouldn't refer to "the Supply" or "the Accounting".  But "the Creative" is often referred to in this strange third person (as parodied in this clever video from an agency: "Creatives grow better in the Southwest.")

I think there is a skewed sense of creativity in most business environments.  When creativity is needed, we go off-site for an isolated brainstorm.  Or, we pull in special people at outside agencies.  It is treated as something Other.  There is not enough emphasis on everyday business creativity.  

When creativity is outsourced, we lose detail in translation and creative decisions become detached from business decisions.  The client/creative director dynamic is often strained and awkward.  Many creative briefs are bland and uninspiring.  And many creative directors don't really understand the dynamics facing the client's business.

The resulting work is often a peace treaty - an unhappy compromise between a creative director trying to breathe life into an uninspiring creative brief and a client trying to reign in the creative director's wild ideas.

I'm a big fan of in-sourcing as much creativity as possible. When creative directors have a consistent seat at the business table, they add creative insight throughout the business, not just when a creative piece of work is required.  Plus, any creative output becomes tightly linked to the business issues.

I spent an afternoon once at Fruit Towers in London comparing the method model with the innocent model.  We called it "ordering in".

The best benefit of "ordering in" is that creativity is contagious.  It reinforces that creativity is part of the everyday.  Not something you find elsewhere by traveling "in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the creatives are".

the agency bid

 
Several of my agency friends have complained that client negotiations have gotten more cutthroat recently.  As companies look for ways to trim expenses, many are putting agencies through the same purchasing wringer as their commodity suppliers, often using the same central purchasing team they use for things like catering and industrial bleach.

While I'm sure there's some efficiency to be found (particularly with agencies that work across many businesses within a large client), I think some of the heavy-handed tactics are short-sighted.

Unlike something like soybeans, agencies vary widely in ability, talent, and potential to help ignite your business.

If you treat your agency like a commodity, don't be surprised if you end up with commodity results.  All agencies have "A teams" and "B teams" (and even "C teams").  The "A teams" rarely go to accounts that shunt off the agency through centralized purchasing.

If you want your agency to deliver exceptional results, you have to treat your agencies exceptionally.  It is (and should be) a combined effort.  Clients are often quick to scapegoat the agency for mediocre work, but the first look should be in the mirror.

It reminds me of something I read by Adam Morgan a few years ago.  He was describing the phenomenon that one agency can produce provocative work for some clients while only producing safe and predictable work for others.  Sometimes the safe client complains that he never sees any provocative work.  Yet, when shown provocative work, that same client will water down the idea until it looks safe and predictable.

Adam compared this phenomenon to a kitchen, which inspired this other cartoon a few years ago.

creative juice

If you've ever wondered where creative juice comes from (and where they farm creative directors), this video from South West England gives a very clever synopsis.

Thanks to Rodes for sending me this. 

the 8 types of creative directors

I've been really fortunate to have worked mostly with Creative Directors in "The Genius" camp.  But, I couldn't resist poking a little fun at some of the other archetypes.

This cartoon is a response of sorts to this other cartoon I drew a while back.

And, come to think of it, my first ever Brand Camp cartoon was in this vein too.