Bill Bernbach invented the creative team in the 1960s, pairing copywriters and illustrators to develop advertising solutions. This improved quality by allowing two perspectives to find richer solutions without fear of criticism. This started the practice of brainstorming as it is known today. While the creative process at advertising agencies is largely unchanged, the world has changed profoundly. The new creative needs to be updated by following online channels, communities like Behance that showcase work in many fields, and sources on product design, architecture and more. The new creative also needs to be code literate since websites now surpass TV as how people interact with brands.

1. 02.09.2014 The new creative

2. The new creative / Intro
Since the 1960's, when Bill Bernbach (the B in DDB)
invented the creative team, nothing has basically changed.
Except for the entire world.
Bill Bernbach was the one to realize that when they had together
from the beginning to think about creative solutions, the
copywriter (the only agency creative at the time) and the
illustrator (that agencies use to call in to help visualize the idea),
the quality of the solutions improved drastically.
That was the birth of the "advertising agency creative team".

3. The new creative / Intro
And that happened mainly because of the following:
- 2 heads are most likely to find a solution to a problem than one,
- The solution coming from 2 different disciplines (words and
images) is probably richer,
- But most of all, because when there's confidence and trust
between the 2, there's no fear of saying meaningless things that
one or the other might rescue and reinterpretate as something
brilliant.
A solution that would have never occurred from a single brain
creative process.

4. The new creative / Intro
That was also the beginning of brainstorming as we know it.
So there is no doubt the creative process has a lot to thank to
Mr. Bernbach’s brilliant invention. Not just in advertising, but in
all disciplines. As advertising creative departments have always
been a reference to the creative process in many disciplines.
Now, since the 1960's, while nothing has basically changed in
the advertising creative departments, the world has
definately and profundly changed. And certainly, brand's
communication.

5. The new creative / Intro
So how is the new creative? Or beter yet, how should the new
creative be?
Let’s go back again to a classic TV commercial from Chiat/Day,
the agency where I got my first job:
“Imagine you where a car. What would you be?
You’d be a sportscar.
You’d be quick, agile.
You’d be turbo charged.
And of course...”

6. The new creative should be Updated
So imagine you were a creative today. How would you be?
Of course you should be updated on the best work that’s beeing
done around the world. Today that’s still a must. But today
that’s something you can do by just subscribing to a few online
channels and spending some time every morning looking at the
work the world is doing. Served in your email inbox, your feed
reader or your Twitter.
Classics like Little Black Book, Luerzer’s Archive, Ads of the
World, We love ads, Update or die... will help you there.

7. The new creative should be “Béhanced”
In fact, if you’re willing to see what other creatives are doing, why
not go to one of the world’s biggest online creative community.
Adobe has always been part of a creative’s life, and they recently
acquired Béhance, offering an incredible platform to be updated
about specific creative brands and profesionals or about the best
worlwide work through their curated galleries.
Advertising, web design, app design, typography, illustration,
branding, package design, motion graphics... up to 24 different
disciplines. Including the I.D. Magazine and the R/GA galleries.
Quite a place to spend hours watching and learning.

8. Online and Apple stores are
just as much media for Apple as TV
commercials historically have been.
Lee Clow, Global Director of Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide

9. The new creative should be Informed & “Teded”
Because more and more, the best brand communication
creative cases come from different disciplines. Now, it’s not
anymore just about photography, film, illustration, graphic
design... It’s also about online creativity, product design, interior
design, architecture...
So besides advertising, sources like Fubiz, the FastCompany
group with CoCreate, CoDesign, CoLabs... (just to name a few)
should be in every creative “favourite links” selection.
For the same reason every creative should register on TED and
add at least these 2 keynotes to their favourite list (I said at least):

12. The new creative should be “Googled”
After all, Google’s Project Re:Brief certainly tought the entire
advertising industry a lesson.
And sure there are a whole lot of incredible tools that Google serves. Last
time I counted, my Google favourite sites folder had 53 links:
ThinkwithGoogle, Chrome experiments, Creative Sandbox, YouTube Ads
Leaderboards, Trends, Studies...
But it’s not just about their sites, studies and experiments. It’s also about
their business applied to ours. Since Google has demontrated to be
good at searching. And agreeing an important part of the creative
process is looking for things. The new creative should most certainly
know how to make good use of Google.

13. Google images: “kiss” vs. “kiss site:500px.com”

14. The new creative should be “Googled”
Looking for an image for any rough can be a tedious job
nowadays. Just try looking for the word “kiss” in Google Images.
And then, try looking for it narrowing down the search to more
“professional” communities like 500px or Flickr.
As we all know, today the problem is not finding information but
finding “the information” we are looking for. Almost everything is
online, and almost everything is traced by Google. But although
the Google Algorithm is pretty smart, you still need to give him
some extra information to let him show you what you’re looking
for. In other words, Help Google help you.

15. And of course,
the new creative should
be code literate.

16. And of course, the new creative should be code literate.
Think about it. Nowadays a company's website is at least as
important to its overall image than its 30 second commercial.
I mean, what do we all do when we want to look for something
today? That’s right, we google it. And most probably we’ll end
up in the brands website. Or at least we should. Otherwise we
have a bigger problem.
So, since the idea is not to go out and look for the people
but to do things well enough so the people look for us, a
brand’s website is most probably the first thing people will see.

17. And of course, the new creative should be code literate.
So in terms of visibility odds, websites have overcome commercials.
And my point is there should be no advertising creative today that
didn’t know the basics of code. Not to be able to make a website
himself, that was never the idea. Just like shooting a film or taking a
photograph was not the idea either when demanding creatives to be
updated on these disciplines. But because code is underneath
90% of how humans relate to brands today (99% as a matter of
fact, if we leave cash payment out of the equation).
This adds Awwwards, Favourite Website Awards, CSS Design
Awards or One Page Love, to the every morning checklist.

18. And of course, the new creative should be code literate.
Of course all these are “just” references. Incredible places that
today’s online memory offers with the simple click of a button.
But keep in mind that, as a creative to, what matters is not what
you do or how you do it. But why you do it.
There’s no point on starting the path from the beggining every
time. If someone has already been there why not taking it from
where he left it. So whenever asked, I’ve always recomended to
copy. Look for the best and copy. Keep copying a little bit more
and then copy again. All the way until you master it.
But always trying add something to it. Take it a little step forward.

19. “If they just knew
where we took from?”
Terry Gilliam’s answer in an interview when asked
if they didn’t mind to be copied so often.

20. 02.09.2014 / Thank you