Sally Hogshead wants creatives to remember their true (i.e., traditional) value: as people who come up with great ideas based on insights into brands and human nature. It’s easy to forget the importance of a really kick ass “concept” these days when many agencies–even a fair amount of hotshot digital shops–are simply struggling to keep up with, and educate their clients on, the latest trends. So it’s worth pointing out what should be obvious: “Facebook app” and “SMS txt” are not ideas; they’re tactics.
From AdAge:
To be successful over the long haul, your career can’t be founded upon trendy epiphanies or shiny new executions. Just as a pun wasn’t a concept in the late 80s, a typographical treatment wasn’t a concept in the mid 90s and shock value wasn’t a concept in the late 90s, so does new media need a core idea in order to reach its full potential. Most new-media revelations will seem laughably quaint in a few years. But true human insight will never go out of style.
What are you selling–ideas or tactics? This strikes me as important to think about, especially as clients push ever harder for more “integrated” creative across their agencies.
