The ad agency business is an interesting one, at the very least, featuring no shortage of folks who would gladly gloss over all manner of actual business considerations or strategic thinking and head straight to creative development. And despite lots of chatter to the contrary, my guess is that at least 80% of the creative directors in the country still see TV as the Holy Grail. They’ve literally never met a marketing challenge that a TV ad can’t fix. They live for TV. They love TV.
Add in the plethora of award shows, with everyone in search of a gold this or that in order to build their book, and you’ve got a
recipe that delivers creative for creative’s sake. Not always, of course, but often enough to be an issue in this business.
My point is this: When a social media hack builds something only his basement-dwelling geek friends will like or ‘get’, it is no different than the advertising asshole doing a TV ad simply to gain the praise and admiration of
his advertising colleagues at the latest award show gab fest.
Previously posted on carmanpirie.com
