But at the same time, we have allowed the emphasis, the value, and the fundamental business model of our industry today, to shift away from ideas and to focus predominantly on execution.
A lot of lip service is paid to the value of ideas, but agencies are often primarily regarded as executioners and, in that regard, purely as suppliers. In the future, suppliers will be valued less and less and squeezed more and more. It is idea generators who will be most valued – because “ideaspeople” create the greatest value, across every industry sector, not just our own.
via scott goodson’s writings .
5 Comments
Exactly. The trendy technique will move on down the road and we’ll get awfully tired of chasing it. We’re in an idea economy.
This is certainly what seems to be happening with the stock photography industry, although we try and swim against the tide!
Copyright protection does not cover “ideas”, only the expression of ideas.
(Even so, how does one separate the expression of ideas from the idea? Not always easy).
With so much easy access online, it is incredibly simple to find a path which has already been blazed (idea created) by another. Then reverse engineer, deconstruct and co-opt the idea for your own needs/identity/product/service.
Because of this, ROI (‘return on investment’) has to happen on a very short timeline. There must be a great amount of inertia (power/access/influence) in order for this to happen. Failure is loss of financial return, or loss of stewardship, control, credit of an idea – possibly both.
The timeline is crucial because millions of copycats (a rapidly growing number), will co-opt ideas & expressions of ideas. The signal to noise ration goes through the roof, the idea becomes as common as a post-it note. Poor execution of the idea can also cheapen it’s prestige.
Even 20 years ago, in Tokyo feature films would only run several weeks before they were done – bumped by the next wave of features. Fashion trends would run 3+ months before becoming passe’.
Thanks for the link to ‘Strawberry Frog’. Nice to see they came before ‘Purple Cow’. Only watched two of their spots (that buzzing fly is really irritating ;P), but the ads don’t seem as compelling as the hype.
There is risk in being innovative, but it is the only way to consistently move forward in a creative profession. Fear dictates that many play it safe and follow trends, making copying ideas the easy path. The reality is that fear ruins potential. This profession needs more risk takers, and less technicians.
@Gordon Moat, I wish I had the ability to chang eth size of the text to 36 and say YEAH! I couldn’t comment any more or better than what you already did! I have to agree that often creativity is stiffled by fear that it will be rejected. Awesome Gordon!
Comments are closed for this article!