Let's talk about mediocrity

One of the reasons the creative output in most places that have a creative department, is totally forgettable is due to one thing:

Fear.

Fear of taking a risk, fear of getting it wrong, fear of getting it right, fear of standing out, fear of failure, all those fear reasons.

So what does the agency produce instead?

Mediocrity.

When you have too many people trying to second guess the target group, when you have too many people who have to "weigh in on the creative" whether they have any training or not or because their title or their culture is the "it takes a village" mentality (which is the worse), what gets produced is: mediocrity. And mediocrity translates to invisible. 99% of all creative I see is mediocre at best.

And it's because marketing and creative are afraid to take a risk. People have forgotten what it is to listen to their inner voice. People that have the talent and training to strive for great creative solutions are reduced to order takers by inept marketing people who wield way too much power. And believe me, it doesn't take much to beat a creative department into submission.

I see it over and over again.

When an agency or group is overloaded with account service and keeps creative people enslaved to their Mac's, this is a sign that everything is out of balance and nothing really break through will come from this model.

When I read articles in AdAge and Marketing and all the trade pubs about "the death of creative" or " why is nothing notable coming from the creative side" ... this is why.

Is it any wonder, that the "new" silver bullet is social media (a p.r. function) and all the other new digital and mobil tactics?

Everyone has pretty much given up on "the message" and gone with "the medium" as the new creative....which is also absurd...

Regardless of the tactics...if you produce mediocrity...you send out mediocrity...and the perception is mediocrity....every time.

Creatives...it's time to get your game on...time for a new creative revolution...which means creative people have to be strong and not be afraid to be the best and do their best...and to champion great work...in the face of great odds and in the face of people who can't see great work...it is our job to stop being willing to accept mediocrity as the best we can do.

Mediocrity is meaningless. Mediocrity is where people who are scared seem safe and invisible

and not answerable to anyone or anything.

It's time for a new creative revolution. May Doyle Dane and Bernbach be with you.