There’s a lot of talk in adland at the moment about doing stuff that achieves stuff … stuff that will help our clients grow culturally, commercially, environmentally and/or simply in terms of love, adoration or popularity.
Errrm, isn’t that exactly what we are supposed to have been doing – and have been claiming we do – for the past 30 odd years?
To present this as a ‘new view’ is absolutely terrifying but not as scary as people in adland thinking our clients will greet this news with smiles, applause and open arms.
Seriously, are we really that fucking stupid?
I think we are you know …
I’ve said for years that the ad industry of the 50’s and 60’s were more industrious and commercially minded than much of what goes on today … and whilst [thankfully] there are still some people and agencies who believe in ‘doing’ rather than ‘saying’ … the fact the industry is happy to talk about this stuff like they’ve cracked the Da Vinci code demonstrates how increasingly myopic, delusional and irrelevant we’ve all become.
PS: Just in case anyone gets the wrong impression, this post is NOT aimed at Gareth’s brilliant speech from the 4A’s … he is most definitely allowed on his soapbox because he [1] means it [2] has been living it and [3] has been fighting for it for a very long time … however to the self-appointed gurus who talk a good game, despite never having actually done what they proclaim – I would like you to know your dirty little secret isn’t safe, it’s not even a secret.