AdHack Live Episode 1: Is the advertising creative process broken?

Episode 1: Is the advertising creative process broken?

Great ideas get attacked, discarded, forgotten and watered down all the time in the advertising industry.

Why?

In an industry that lives or dies by its creativity, is the current creative process broken?

Inspired by Killed Ideas, Brett MacFarlane, Account Director at DDB, joins James Sherrett, Founder of AdHack, to discuss your questions and share his thoughts on the current state of the advertising creative process.

Who is Brett MacFarlane?

Brett is a rare breed hybrid brand strategist and account director leading integrated brands and campaigns for DDB in Vancouver; Canada’s most creative and innovative advertising agency.

He has managed high profile campaigns garnering industry leading business results and international creative recognition from the cutting edge (Cannes Cyber Lion, Media Innovation Awards,) integrated (Canadian Marketing Association Integrated Gold) and to the most tradition of traditional (Cannes Radio Lion, Extra award for best use of photography in a newspaper.)

He believes our industry is on the verge of the next great creative revolution. It is our opportunity and responsibility to innovate new forms of media and creative content while re-imagining the familiar forms. The world deserves less sucky advertising.

AdHack Live Episode 1 Transcript

James Sherrett: If it's fair to say that there is a generalized ad creative process, is it similar and consistent enough that we can describe it, and then is it something that we can discuss as one thing? Or is it, in fact, a bunch of different things that we really have to describe as discrete bits?

Brett MacFarlane: At its core, the creative process is a very simple thing. As a business, if you have a problem you develop a strategy to solve that. You create an idea to address it, and then you make it. It's pretty straightforward, however, the permutations off of that are essentially infinite. How it then manifests itself in advertising is different from design. If you look outside of advertising, architects have their own creative process. I think that all these different permutations exist because ultimately we are pursuing the same thing, which is art in the pursuit of commerce.

There's a very important distinction between the process of developing ideas versus the process of getting an idea made in a corporate environment. I don't think I want to talk too much about the process of coming up with ideas, because in a way that's the easiest part. I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, because it's incredibly, incredibly hard to come up with something original and truly unique that takes a brand, or even just anything - art or what have you -- to a new place.

But when you're pursuing art in an environment of commerce, it's really, "How can we get that through the chain, and all the different channels?" That's where the process comes about, because at the end of the day what you're really dealing with isn't a creative issue, it's a human issue.

How can we get all these people to work together, to work on this nebulous thing called an idea, and actually get it to market, get it made, get it made well? Ultimately, is the creative process broken? Which I think is sort of you way you kicked it off.

I'm going to actually say, I hope so. It should always be, because inherently, creative and process are opposites. At the end of the day the answer is: is it broken? It depends. It depends on what you're looking for.

In some environments, you know what, they don't really want to push the bubble that much. The best that, as an agency or a creator or a creative person or even if you brought all the production in, is to try and do as well as you can within it. Which is a little bit defeatist, but I think that if you have realistic expectations going into it, you can make your life a lot easier.

That said, I personally don't believe in that. That's not what gets me excited. I like the cutting edge where you try to push and take things to new places. Which is where, as human nature, we're pattern-making machines, and so, when you get outside those patterns, it brings a whole lot of other dynamics to play.

That's what makes it a lot of fun and really exciting. That's why I say hopefully the creative process is broken, because you're always trying to create a new one, and trying to evolve what you have.

James: Great. Maybe tell us a little bit, tell me a little bit and tell everybody else a little bit, about some of the successful times that you've worked within the creative process and really, what are the common elements that make it really work for you and for creating great work out the other end.

Brett: I think that that is the golden question. I just wrote down a couple things here. What works well? It's funny. The simpler things are, usually the easier they work. But it iss incredibly hard to make things simple and clear. This is right from "Understanding What Problem It Is You Wanted To Find?" The quality idea is going to come out of how well you frame that. So often, we try and bundle so many things in there, and the more that's bundled in there, the bigger the expectations that one poster or one little display ad or one 30-second film, is going to try and solve.

Often, it starts addressing symptoms as opposed to core problems, and shifting beliefs and behavior.

A really big part of that is individuals understanding their role along the way. This can be as simple as a client understanding that their job is really to give clarity and specificity. The account person helps them, the client, work and understand how to get that idea through the system.

The creative person recognizing and having it come to them at a point where it's not solved, but the problem is well-identified, and the research has been used well to inspire and enable creativity. Then having production people come on board and really recognizing that they're bringing in the outside partners and make this into an incredible execution level.

That sort of role is really vital, but with that still-shared responsibility -- because those are the basic roles. But right now in a lot of companies, you're starting to see the fragmenting of responsibilities for the marketing across all different disciplines and agencies. That just exacerbates the whole human issue.

However, if you work and you get everyone feeling it's all their responsibility to work together, you get much less, "Oh, that crazy idea was their problem." When everyone feels a part of it, then you get clients that will stand up for it when those first complaints come in. Because if it's any good, you're going to get complaints.

James: My girlfriend always talks about the three phases of success, which is buy-in, contribution, and commitment. Nobody gets to working together as a team well without those three distinct phases. It can happen in all kinds of a mix. But they all have to happen in order for you to really work together, or you end up with all kinds of people running in all kinds of directions, really no kind of cohesiveness to what it is you're trying to do as a team, so it's like the sled dogs pulling in all different directions.

Brett: Exactly. That's where a couple thoughts on what makes it bad. That's where too many expectations come in. People are honest with each other. It's not that they're dishonest, but they are may be saying, "Let's do something great," when really they're thinking, "Let's just do some lifestyle shots of people looking at the product and smiling."

James: "Let's do something safe."

Brett: Exactly. But they wrap that in the guise of cutting through and being unique and different. It's human nature to want to do that, but then it's also a whole other thing to say, "OK, let's break away from that, and identify what we have to do to push something else through the system." Because at the end of the day it's kind of interesting, corporations are almost set up not to do anything. And to do something, you need people that can figure out how to get it through. What language is necessary? How does information have to get presented to the executive level, especially if they're coming from, say, a finance end. They receive information very differently and uniquely.

Having people understand that sort of role is vital to actually doing something good, original, unique, and ultimately effective.

James: Tell us a little bit about the teams you have worked on and if there's any sort of ideal, whether it's chemistry, whether it's roles, whether it's sizes, that you can see working really well within the creative process.

Brett: Right now, my personal push in a lot of the work we're doing is consolidating personal responsibility into smaller groups.

James: Small means how many?

Brett: Really a pair.

James: Is it the classic copywriter/art director?

Brett: No, and that's where it's really interesting. I'll give you three examples. I'll give you one that one of my first real successes, creatively, that I enjoyed was a project we did for ICBC called "Stolen Car Show." It went on to win a couple Media Innovation awards at Cannes, Cyberline. It was one of the first times we took an interactive art director, a digital art director, and paired him with a traditional advertising copywriter. You put those skills together, and they produce something completely outside what typically would have come from either of them within their specific discipline. From a creative perspective, when you mix that up, you get very different output. So it's like take a different process you get a different outcome. And if you want a different, more unique and advanced outcome you need to take that different process.

On the other hand, I have worked on projects where the creative responsibility is shared amongst five or six agencies. And that can lead to chaos. On the other hand, if you take that leadership role and respect what their abilities are and we did this with... We've done this a number of times with the VCAir foundation where we'll crack that core ID, but we cracked in a way then they can run with it in their specific disciplines, that works really well.

So that's where that roles and responsibilities comes in. That one was interesting. Not to get too specific on that client but...

James: Oh, no, specific is good.

Brett: [laughs] Can't share all our secrets.

James: [laughs] No, no, not secrets.

Brett: It's interesting, like traditionally this approach -- and we use the word traditional very much in digital now, because it is very traditional the way that it has been approached. Four or five years ago you have your agency team that would take care of the TV/radio/print and then you would have your digital team that would do microsides and banner ads.

James: Working island.

Brett: Exactly. Working differently. And we then brought them together so they are working together as one group. But that's still four active creative people, two different creative directors. Where we've now consolidated down to we have one creative team, so two people and then one creative director. But what's interesting is that right now, as there is always so much new, especially coming in the technology side, you really have to have someone who has a good handle on that. So often the big creative inspirational thinkers, their minds work one way, where you also need to have a good creative inspirational, logical thinker who is very technically versed.

So we're really playing -- and what really is exciting me right now is playing with taking those more interactive designer, even a usability designer, and pairing them with that creative, pure creative mind and see what is coming out of that. It's really fascinating things.

We start saying, OK, those little boxes that you are put in don't exist. You're collectively responsible for the entire idea. We're not going to carve it up, even if it is based on the budget line item at the very beginning. OK, X amount of dollars goes to digital, X amount goes to advertising, X amount goes to media, which that in itself is a very vital process step at the beginning, how you approach the budget.

So on my accounts what I'm doing is we're pushing that together. That's not to say that it's perfect for everything. You really as a person working on it, a brand or -- You have to figure out your own approach.

James: I have been part of those discussions sometimes that you get into around -- it's almost like different fiefdoms within the kingdom. We've carving up this part of the budget. And we're carving up this part of the budget. We're turning this amount in terms of ROI and it vacillates between destructive and collaborative, destructive and collaborative. So it probably leads into the next question, which is what role, how much can we attribute good creative to process and how much can we attribute good creative to just creative people or the right people and the right context?

Brett: I think good creative is impossible -- well not impossible, but good creative is an exception when it's a poor process. Too many intersections, too much unidentified roles and responsibility, even bringing in other steps like research. That can be one of the most horrendously destructive things you can do. On the other hand, when it is used well, this specific rule can be one of the most liberating things. It can help reinforce decisions that in professional judgment have already been made. So then when it goes up the ladder and it's really being able to pair this is why we are doing this and why we think. And this is how the research supported that.

It's not lead by it, but it supports it. So, yeah, in terms of does good creative come out of bad process? Yes. But as I said, it's more of an exception. Whereas, if you are going to have good creative, more often than not, it comes from a very clear process.

Sometimes that process can be as simple as we all collectively agree that once we agree on the brief, it needs to be as chaotic and crazy and as many inputs and disparate thoughts as possible. And then once you get to the end of that, then you'll have a good output. Now that's one approach or principle, if you want to call it.

I personally lean towards that way, because if you want... Well, there's two things. It's just where do ideas come from? It's usually combinations of existing thoughts. It's very, very, very few -- if any -- truly original thoughts in existence in this world. Now undoubtedly there are a lot of people who would like to debate that. But at the end of the day, most creative minds it takes some sort of existing element of a human being, the thought or human nature and then apply it within a different context.

That's where you get an idea. So, the more inputs and randomness you can put in there, the more interesting, original and unique the thought is.

James: Do you ever find it gets too distractive, like too self-indulgent almost?

Brett: Yeah. Well, yes and no. That's where it really depends on the individuals specifically. You definitely have to watch that you don't start pursuing creativity for creative sake. However, usually that can cull itself out. And even just if you are holding up basic parameters of understanding, very honestly who the target is and what's going to motivate and change them, creativity for creative sake usually will weed itself out.

Often it's interesting, the currency for creativity in our industry is awards. I'm a big supporter of awards. That said, it's not that just pure randomness is going to do it. More often than not, it's like OK, what is this smart idea within the context of the challenge that you are trying to do and did it lead to good results?

70% of the awards fall appropriate within that. Yeah, there are 30% that are just spec or in house or paid for by the agency in Singapore. [laughs]

James: Right. Building credibility.

Brett: Exactly.

James: Cool. So one of the first questions we got by email was from Simon Cameron. Simon is a fellow that I met recently. Simon asks, "Do you think advertising leads and influences popular culture or does it mirror or follow it?"

Brett: Presumably most people who advertise would like to think they lead popular culture. I think a lot of it really misses popular culture. Some of it follows. A lot more reinforces, is more of a reflection of what exists. And then a small percentage really leads. Ultimately, the principles of some agencies, and what I personally lean towards, is that if your work isn't relevant within popular culture, whether it plays a role and intertwines with something that exists, is respectful of people. It's sparking new approaches and thoughts.

If it's not doing that, it tends to be less effective. You can have advertising that is completely out of tune with popular culture, and it can work. But it depends on the company, the client, what they are trying to achieve. So I think in theory everyone would like to lead it. Few do. Most reinforce it.

James: OK. Good. So I sent you a question before this about principles. And it was in reference to an article that I had read, I think this last week or the week before, about the way that clients in advertising never ask the key question, according to the writer whose name is Bob Hoffman. He writes a blog called "The Ad Contrarian." It's a surly but also no-bullshit blog about the advertising industry from somebody who has been in it and seen a lot of stuff come and go. He talks about how the question the clients never ask but the question that they should as is really what principles does an advertising agency use to create great ads?. In the context of our discussion here around the creative process, do you have any principles that you use or that you advocate to really get great work out of the creative process?

Brett: Yes, all of them. [laughter]

James: Whichever ones work?

Brett: Well, it's a little bit cheeky, because I think what's more important than the principle is how it's applied. For instance, one of the principles that he indicated was always use celebrity because celebrity works, or something like that. And he disagreed with that, but that was a principle that some use. And I would say 90% of the time it's going to be horrible, however that's not to say that it cant' be done well. It depends again on the agency. Some agencies are very specific on what their principles are and that's what they provide and what they sell, and that's what people will go to them for. Some have very elaborate models and tons and tons of research.

James: Flowcharts.

Brett: And flowcharts. I actually brought one from our agency today. See if that shows up. That's how to make an ad. [laughter]

James: That's it. That's the secret.

Brett: That's it. But then it also involves all these people.

James: Oh, OK. That's a lot of boxes. Are those people or are those roles?

Brett: Both. Departments, divisions, roles, responsibilities. But at the end of the day, all those are like tools. It's like, you give me a hammer, does that make you a carpenter? No, you still have to know how to do it. If I go to carpenter school, does that make me a great carpenter? It gets me there, but then it's how you refine and practice and apply it. Some will believe very rigidly in principles and I think that that can work in certain situations, however at the same time you have to always be able to be wrong or be ready to change and evolve. That's the ultimate - that's what really excites me about advertising, is that it has never been static. Some people will make it static with these very elaborate principles, yet the reality is it's human nature. It's evolving, it's always shifting.

That's why it's kind of interesting right now. There's all this talk about is this dead, that dead. Well, it was never really static. It's always evolving and moving and shifting. It's going to keep changing. It has been since day one. I don't know if mankind has ever stopped evolving.

And so are principles important? Yes, but I think it's about applying it within the context, this specific brand, this specific problem, and a specific time. A different principle can apply differently. But ultimately it's only as good as the idea that comes out of it. You could have a very rigid, wonderful-sounding principle, but if the idea kind of sucks or it's hackneyed and it's unoriginal, who cares?

James: And trademark that principle.

Brett: Trademark it, yeah. Which at the same time, it's kind of funny because advertisers or agencies are much like economists. They're kind of always talking with two sides. On the other hand, you do need to create a way to articulate and explain exactly what it is you do. So that folks on the outside aren't just like, "Oh, some weird black box. I don't know what they do. You can do that in a way that empowers and enables and makes it more easy to understand, where there's no shortage of elaborate principles, and 100-page decks and documents and books and whatnot. But at the end of the day, what's really always fascinating to me is the more you read them, the more they all really say the same thing in different ways.

James: What would you say those common things are? Oh dear. You want Advertising 101? I think there's stuff like insights and understanding. It could be stuff as pragmatic as how you use media and using that well, and media practices for selecting and buying and then also then using and critically using....

James: So getting the right ad in front of the right audience in the right context.

Brett: Exactly. In the right context, which historically it was at the right time. Now it's much more just about the context, when they're going to consume that and what else they're doing and what interests they have. It's a little bit less of the pure hard demographic and a bit more into the -- you know. Well, it's deep into psychographics which is now 20 or 30 years old, an application in advertising. It's not quite new. The guys at Google with their contextual ads didn't always recognize that. But I think we got the comment on that.

James: Yeah, that was from, I think, Jay Grandon Ustreamer 80083 asks about a recent charity project they did in Africa. So I think it is Jay Grandon from Giant Ant Media. The link that he's included in the chat window here shows a screenshot of an accompanying ad on their video. I think it's a YouTube video. So it shows "Meet sexy, Ebony singles" on top of a documentary I think that they did about street youth in Tanzania, which seems unfortunate.

Brett: Yeah. There's not shortage of examples of poor context in pairing. I think that's a great example where process and technology doesn't always manifest itself in the way you want. Most of the time that stuff works really, really well but there's no shortage of horrific examples of bad pairing and bad context.

James: Maybe, just as a final question, maybe tell us about a great creative process that you were involved with, and what are some of the things that stand out for you as really making it outstanding?

Brett: Yeah. I would say just overall what typically leads to a good process or a good success is 1) creating the process at the beginning. So even before you get into the calling brief and understanding the general scope of it, sort of figure out, OK, how should we go about defining this problem? A lot of that will come from understanding from a business end, but also from let's call the audience or target -- which is a horrible word -- who they really are and getting out of our little offices, whether you live in a funky urban turn of the century loft or more in a big office tower. We really live in these little bubbles when you work in advertising and marketing. So when you want to research and learn, how can you do that uniquely and differently? Again, just like the process. If you want unique, original ideas, the process should be unique and original. If you want unique and original learnings, how can you go about learning and understanding your target differently.

How can you use research originally? Can you just apply a little twist? Are there different places you can look that other people aren't looking? Is it the end of the day, you're just trying to find something unique, get that little bit of an advantage? At the end of the day, business is competitive. That's why, in theory, they've hired an ad agency, so that you can find that new approach. So that you can get that step ahead of your competition in the short term.

Fortunately -- this is getting off topic -- but fortunately we're at a point now where the advertising is evolving more into the actual product development. The days of just, "Hey, here's a project. Go say something about it," are long gone. It's much more now how can we create products that have the marketing baked into them and how can they be truly original and unique to begin with? Because less and less are you able to just manufacture something around it.

Going back to the process again, so it's really at the outset, getting those inputs. So really finding new insights and new ways of understanding your consumer. Then once you have those ideas, and especially right now. It's a really interesting time because there's more options than ever before. Not just to create an idea and deliver it and allow it to get out there, but also how you go about making it.

So right now the real edge is those who recognize what the process was and what the steps are, but are also open to thinking different ways to go about it. So this may be something as simple as, OK, we're going to do some film. We need to get a [indecipherable 24:32] company director. Well, let's look beyond just the typical A-list group of directors, maybe there's another way to go about producing it.

Maybe instead of spending $250,000 on the budget to produce the one, maybe we spend $200,000 and we then have $50,000 on the side for consumer participation or you just hire someone for six months to talk, development, create social media web around it.

You look at what you do a bit differently. And we drive a different...

James: So spend part of the money building something remarkable and then spend part of the money almost building ongoing conversations about whatever it is that's remarkable.

Brett: Exactly. And that goes back to looking at the budgets uniquely. Again, that can include even media budget. We haven't talked a lot about media but that is one area that there is huge opportunity right now. The talk of this publication media or outlet really isn't that important. Because at the end of the day media buyers always have been looking for advantages. So if something is not doing well, that's an opportunity to them potentially get in there at a better rate. Or you just shift your dollars somewhere else because nobody buys media, unless you buy audiences. And that goes across all marketing areas.

Right now what's even more awesome is you can make your own media around it than just buying into it. So that is a very different input at the beginning of the creative process. You recognize and you have that ability to create an idea that can go across any medium. Then you can challenge that creative team to go beyond, "Hey, fill this box." You can create anything, which is amazing.

But it's so difficult because then it's like, this is the freedom I have always wanted. Now what?. If you want some principles, one of my specific principles were fine is media neutral with bias? So come into it very opening but very quickly develop bias as to where you should be reaching and how to engage with your consumer.

So that then you can start working against something, rather just be like, OK, let's just throw it up here or throw it up there. You're just throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. That's not a very effective way of spend your time or money. More importantly great creative tends to come out of some basic parameters that you can work against.

So those are some rambling principles. [laughs]

James: Cool. OK. I thought we had another question but I don't think we do. We've just got this encouragement. So that's outstanding.

Brett: OK. That's great.

James: Is there anything that you think that we have missed in our discussion about the creative process that people would be interested in?

Brett: I don't know. It's a really interesting time. While on one hand we have always been trying to find new ways to create things, there really is never, at least in the recent period, intention up-shift in the way you go about creating ideas. So yeah, I think if there's anything I would just say, it's such an incredibly optimistic time right now. And that's my only last sort of find. Do we have a question here?

James: How do we feel about the fact where VCTalk has placed us right now? I think it's Canada Place it's called.

Brett: Where is it on the...

James: Oh, is it on the ad itself?

Brett: I think that that's where... And that's what is really interesting, is that now - in a sad way -- there's more and more advertising everywhere you go. There really is very few places we haven't plunked advertising with, especially when you go around on the web. And it's interesting. It's unfortunate because there's two very distant distinct things when you look at advertising. The business model of the ad creators -- sorry the ad, I don't know what you want, sorry. The mediums, whatever you want to call them, the publishers.

James: Yeah, the publishers.

Brett: The publishers, which goes from TV stations to radio stations, newspaper to Google AdSense. Their business model, which they are all about, let's just get as many placements and get those numbers. They're not really that concerned about the likeability, what the net necessary outcome from a brand is. Their job is to sell you the space. Then it's your job to decide what to put in that space. And it's interesting right now because there is so much, everywhere you go especially when you are popping around online. And inherently over time we develop blindness towards the stuff. Yet over time the novelty of the newness wears off and therefore you have to be more original and more creative.

So I think right now is it a bad thing that VC Place or Canada Place is advertising on here? I think it's enabling this to exist without us having to write a check to anything. So that's the deal. It's no different than -- not so much now, but back in the day, over the air TV. OK, I got it for free but I have to watch some sort of ad. So it really is no different. It's not that evolved from what it was. It's just the way math does itself differently.

James: Yeah, that's interesting. Do you think it's like an arms race?

Brett: Well, yeah. That's business, it's competitive. Like it or not, you can have the discussion around the morals and ethics. Just because it's competitive doesn't mean it has to be evil. There is still responsibility that is in there and increasingly brands that have true meaning and morals and ethics are doing well. They are thriving. Corporations have their specific mandates, which is to deliver incremental profits over time. That can be done in very different ways and you look at the companies right now that are very unique and different, they typically have that great story behind them. They stand for something and principles.

James: I've heard it said that like purpose of an organization is the new advantage.

Brett: Yeah. I firmly believe in that and most companies if you dig deep enough, they do have something good about them, but often it gets buried. Or if they truly are what they come across which is a profit seeking enterprise that happens to be in a particular industry. There are some of those guys in the news right now, and that worked within the context of what they're doing. And you as an individual working with these brands has to determine whether that is or isn't in alignment with what you do. And hopefully we have some, at DDD we have some base principles of honesty and integrity and we're not going to make up stuff.

Other agencies not so much, but again, those sort of agencies and companies pair themselves up with each other and that's up to the general public or the regulators to determine whether it is or isn't right.

James: Cool. Well, let's maybe leave it on that note. And I'll do my best here to turn the camera around and we'll see if we can show people what we have been looking at the whole time. So that is Canada Place and the mountains in Vancouver. In lots of ways that's what makes it great to live here. Brett, thanks very much for joining me. I think we'll do a couple more of these. And we'll see how it goes. And you're doing another PSFK at Vancouver coming up?

Brett: Yeah, we'll announce that in the next few weeks on GoodIdeasSalon.com.

James: Cool. Excellent. Thanks very much.

Brett: It's my pleasure. Hopefully folks will just send in comments and how much they thought this did or didn't didn't suck. [laughs]

James: Yes, exactly. And if you have any suggestions, totally.

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