Tag: creative direction

Creativity isn't a habit. But it helps to have habits that will nurture it. Every creative has days where ideas are a little harder to generate. It's what we do every day that helps us to either be able to spring back from a block or whether we fail to…

Great athletes talk about going into the zone. A state of mind where everything else goes away except the act. They aren't thinking about what they're doing. They are just doing it without fear and without hesitation. You've probably seen an athlete hesitate and flub the shot. And then the…

Hey Asshole in the Peanut Gallery from last night's #AdBowl, According to your tweet, you really hated the spot for XXXX last night. That creative team really blew their shot on the big stage of the Super Bowl. Man, if you had a chance to wow the tens of millions…

Who has creative control? It's a simple question with a complicated answer. When you're in the business of making money using your creativity there are many stakeholders, so no one person really has complete creative control. There's always someone else in the equation with whom you must negotiate. The boss,…

I'm a huge fan of process. Having a great idea can't really help you or your clients if you don't have the process that gets you from a great idea to a great execution. Without great execution you end up with a so so. All the great studios, production companies,…

Sharpened pencils. A quit room. A still mind. That certain type of background music. Preparation is often the key to getting the most out of the time you set aside for creative work. And doing the same thing each time is one of the best ways to do that. I…

I've seen a whole lot of change in advertising and media production business over the years. Mainly in the transition in the media we use to communicate with audiences and the technology we are using to create the communication. Back in the mid 90s I worked at an agency where the…

My daughter is a smart kid and an excellent student. She's also pretty good at a lot of extracurricular things. She's still young, 11, maybe she'll be great at a one or two before she's an adult. One of the things she's good at is drums. When she was 8…

For those who don't know, scietism is the excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques. This to me sounds a lot like the ad industry over the last decade with it's obsession over data, technology and measurement. In some ways, these obsessions have overtaken the core business…

If you work in a creative field, you're an entrepreneur. Just like a brand, you are known in the marketplace by your product and you must develop a reputation for good work to survive. If the product you put out drops in quality, you'll be looking for another job. Possibly…