Comments on: Jeff Howe Didn’t Mean To Be An Asshole http://rockmeamadeo.com/jeff-howe-didnt-mean-to-be-an-asshole/ Thoughts from a Gen Y marketer Sun, 13 May 2012 04:58:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Ken http://rockmeamadeo.com/jeff-howe-didnt-mean-to-be-an-asshole/comment-page-1/#comment-208 Ken Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:15:22 +0000 http://rockmeamadeo.com/?p=153#comment-208 Personally, I love the idea of crowsourcing creative. Having spent most of my career as an art director, I have a great deal of respect for the discipline and for the talent that is required to produce great work. As anibal stated, most of the advertising out there in the world is crap, and a vast majority of it was created by agency folks like me. So why does it suck? Mostly because of time pressure and lack of inspiration. When you are one of just a few creatives assigned to an account you tend to get tunnel vision on that client. You can lose perspective and quite honestly, you lose passion for the product. So, on any given day, you hammer out some creative stuff, but all-in-all it isn't mind blowing and it isn't going to change the world -- but, it makes the client happy, which makes the account folks happy and everybody wins -- sort of. Crowdsourcing the creative brings in a ton of fresh ideas and perspectives of the same problem. Plus, it brings in the element of direct competition to inspire the creative process. What agency didn't bust its nuts to come up with some awesome creative to win an account? Hell, I've been in agencies where the whole f-ing creative department pulled together to put together some killer work to wow a prospect. But once the account was in the house, a lot of that drive is lost - but not when you crowdsource. Every project is a new pitch, and that is what keeps the creativity going. Sure, if you only want to pay $50 for a branding campaign, you'll get mega-crap. But when the reward makes the effort justifiable, you'll get designers moving mountains to win the project and the creative executions will be way better than an AD and a copywriter could come up will on most days. In summary, crowsourcing is capitalism at its best. A crappy reward will result in crappy work. But if you let competition drive the process, then the better the rewards, the better the quality of work. And when you have dozens of talented creatives working on a problem, you'll get significantly better results than any in-house or agency team any day of the week. Guaranteed. Personally, I love the idea of crowsourcing creative. Having spent most of my career as an art director, I have a great deal of respect for the discipline and for the talent that is required to produce great work. As anibal stated, most of the advertising out there in the world is crap, and a vast majority of it was created by agency folks like me. So why does it suck? Mostly because of time pressure and lack of inspiration. When you are one of just a few creatives assigned to an account you tend to get tunnel vision on that client. You can lose perspective and quite honestly, you lose passion for the product. So, on any given day, you hammer out some creative stuff, but all-in-all it isn’t mind blowing and it isn’t going to change the world — but, it makes the client happy, which makes the account folks happy and everybody wins — sort of.
Crowdsourcing the creative brings in a ton of fresh ideas and perspectives of the same problem. Plus, it brings in the element of direct competition to inspire the creative process. What agency didn’t bust its nuts to come up with some awesome creative to win an account? Hell, I’ve been in agencies where the whole f-ing creative department pulled together to put together some killer work to wow a prospect. But once the account was in the house, a lot of that drive is lost – but not when you crowdsource. Every project is a new pitch, and that is what keeps the creativity going. Sure, if you only want to pay $50 for a branding campaign, you’ll get mega-crap. But when the reward makes the effort justifiable, you’ll get designers moving mountains to win the project and the creative executions will be way better than an AD and a copywriter could come up will on most days.
In summary, crowsourcing is capitalism at its best. A crappy reward will result in crappy work. But if you let competition drive the process, then the better the rewards, the better the quality of work. And when you have dozens of talented creatives working on a problem, you’ll get significantly better results than any in-house or agency team any day of the week. Guaranteed.

]]> By: Crowdsourcing a Discussion on Crowdsourcing: Agency Nil, Anomaly and Victors & Spoils | eyecube http://rockmeamadeo.com/jeff-howe-didnt-mean-to-be-an-asshole/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Crowdsourcing a Discussion on Crowdsourcing: Agency Nil, Anomaly and Victors & Spoils | eyecube Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:34:42 +0000 http://rockmeamadeo.com/?p=153#comment-36 [...] and George  Parker sounds off on Victors & Spoils via PSFK here. Other great takes include Amadeo Plaza of Crayon on V&S and Contagious takes a look at V&S here. BBH Labs on Agency Nil here and [...] [...] and George  Parker sounds off on Victors & Spoils via PSFK here. Other great takes include Amadeo Plaza of Crayon on V&S and Contagious takes a look at V&S here. BBH Labs on Agency Nil here and [...]

]]> By: anibal http://rockmeamadeo.com/jeff-howe-didnt-mean-to-be-an-asshole/comment-page-1/#comment-35 anibal Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:07:26 +0000 http://rockmeamadeo.com/?p=153#comment-35 You’re right, crowdsourcing is not new and V&S certainly did not invent it. Yet I am not sure I agree with your point of view. Let me explain why. First, you are talking about crowdsourcing not having the ability to deliver a quality product. That’s true. But let’s put things in perspective here. One of the main reasons why this industry gets so much heat and talking down is because, whether we love it or hate it, most of the work is shitty. Period. That’s the reason why everytime you go to a conference or a creative talk, the examples of great work are always about the same usual suspects. That’s why most agencies spend so much time admiring and adoring the work that a few do instead of their own. The sad truth is that most of the advertising out there sucks. Now, that's also the reason why I believe these types of initiatives are good for what we do. Change is needed and since no one has nailed the right model, there is nothing wrong with trying. I believe this industry truly masters the art of criticizing, yet it sucks when it comes to actually innovating and embracing failure, to set an example by doing and stop just preaching fancy words in paper. The art director and copywriter marriage got a lot of fire when it was first proposed but hey, it is always dark before the sun comes out. 15 years ago R/GA decided to go against the wave. Look where they are now. Look where digital is now. Second. You’re asking if V&S can legitimately call themselves a creative ad agency? Well, I don’t know about you but I do believe creative is an attitude, not a discipline. So then why are we hired? Well, the truth is that for nothing that a dozen of smart guys at an in house agency can’t do. No matter what excuses we might say. The goal is to produce great work – that works – and there is no really a size that fits at all here. Long story short, crowdsourcing might not be the answer. True. But I do respect those who have the guts to embrace failure and try something different from time to time. It is easy criticize but hard to take risks. How can they sleep at night? I guess the same way that the big agencies with inflated production and man-hours fee driven models do. In peace. It’s all relative. You’re right, crowdsourcing is not new and V&S certainly did not invent it. Yet I am not sure I agree with your point of view. Let me explain why.

First, you are talking about crowdsourcing not having the ability to deliver a quality product. That’s true. But let’s put things in perspective here. One of the main reasons why this industry gets so much heat and talking down is because, whether we love it or hate it, most of the work is shitty. Period. That’s the reason why everytime you go to a conference or a creative talk, the examples of great work are always about the same usual suspects. That’s why most agencies spend so much time admiring and adoring the work that a few do instead of their own. The sad truth is that most of the advertising out there sucks. Now, that’s also the reason why I believe these types of initiatives are good for what we do. Change is needed and since no one has nailed the right model, there is nothing wrong with trying.

I believe this industry truly masters the art of criticizing, yet it sucks when it comes to actually innovating and embracing failure, to set an example by doing and stop just preaching fancy words in paper. The art director and copywriter marriage got a lot of fire when it was first proposed but hey, it is always dark before the sun comes out. 15 years ago R/GA decided to go against the wave. Look where they are now. Look where digital is now.

Second. You’re asking if V&S can legitimately call themselves a creative ad agency? Well, I don’t know about you but I do believe creative is an attitude, not a discipline. So then why are we hired? Well, the truth is that for nothing that a dozen of smart guys at an in house agency can’t do. No matter what excuses we might say. The goal is to produce great work – that works – and there is no really a size that fits at all here.

Long story short, crowdsourcing might not be the answer. True. But I do respect those who have the guts to embrace failure and try something different from time to time. It is easy criticize but hard to take risks.

How can they sleep at night? I guess the same way that the big agencies with inflated production and man-hours fee driven models do. In peace. It’s all relative.

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