tomake ads – which loses something fundamentalIt’s sometime last year, and I’m asked to hold a workshop for a group ofadvertising students in London. We start talking about the industry, about agency life, about what it means to create good work. I find that they’re asking a series ofstartlingly intelligent questions. In fact, their conversation betrays anexceptional knowledge of the industry. They have opinions on the strength of digital, the power of social, and know which big ideas are making an impact. I issue a brief from an old clientof ours, with lots of room to think creatively. I wait an hour and collect the responses. The aim of this exercise is to test the level of skill possessed by the writers in the room.

a place to write, draw, and have fun within the confines of a secure job. But because today’s advertising world is largely driven by accolades and awards, many communication schools are churning out kids who think like creative directors, not kids who just love to write. What happens to the young design genius who spends his work day designing rather than dreaming? The most successful creative agencies are the ones with the most diverse set of weird people. Musicians, craftsman, game designers, the passionate and the obsessive … these are the people we want filling our creative departments. People for whom « concepting » is a constant state of mind. Kids who grew upstudying comic books and albums sleeves, not award annuals. Ultimately, change is in our hands. If we prize craft above all else, we can continue to be proud of the quality of work we put out into the world. And if we focus on developing our young talent once they’re in, there’s no doubt they’ll shoulder in the next generation of great ideas, big and small.