Simon Veksner: Should the CD also write ads?
April 21 2013, 8:26 pm | | 10 Comments
This question was asked by a commenter last week.
And the answer is ‘no’.
Because the danger is that whatever the CD writes, they will think is brilliant. This is normal – we all think our own stuff is brilliant. But normally, there’s a CD there to tell you it’s actually piss-poor… unless you are the CD, in which case everyone will tell you it’s great, because you’re their boss.
The agency will have lost one of the most important advantages of the CD system: objectivity. And it will most likely have gained a bad ad. READ ON…
10 Comments
You speak a lot of sense young scamp.
Unless the creative department is tiny!
Now here’s the clincher – should they rewrite ads? I have no problem with CDs writing ads as long as they are team players and damn good. But the CD who doesn’t write ads only to rewrite others’ can take the wind out of even the best sails.
‘When only the leaders ideas are accepted, everyone else stops thinking’
Disappointing reaction from the disinterested mob. It’s a deliciously complicated topic.
What are your thoughts @Old CD Guy?
A good CD should be objective enough to know (and accept) that their ideas aren’t always the best.
A good CD should be a good enough creative to be able to make the good stuff as, and when, required. And as a (very) good CD, s/he should also be perfectly capable of delegating and also recognising when their stuff isn’t the best stuff.
If the ego is in check, it can work.
There are no hard and fast rules. But generally speaking, the bigger the agency, the less the CD (or more importantly ECD… most CD’s are just working creatives with titles) should be doing.
In a creative department of 5, it’s madness to think the creative leader shouldn’t also be on the tools. In a creative department of 30, it’s a completely different story.
(by the way, not all of us think our own work is brilliant. With the exception of two campaigns, everything I’ve ever done I look back on with regret for not making it better… even the stuff that’s picked up metal)
Should the EP in a writing room write scripts?
Course they should.
It’s a collaborative effort and the script which comes out at the end will, in the main, be credited duly.
Our problem is indeed ego. The ego of every single member. In this business I’ve seen some total shit get produced because an individual wants the idea to be their own rather than acknowledging that other people have a better idea.
Any creative director who is worthy of the title should be an excellent creative – otherwise they deserve no respect when it comes to judging other people’s work. The fact they once won a radio award or something is just not enough.
If they are telling me my work’s not right, I want evidence that they can do better. To be honest the best creatives in this business would prefer not to be CD if that means they can’t write ads anymore.
What did they join the business for in the first place? To create ads- otherwise they could have been a suit. A far easier job.
Often these people who can’t cut it creatively decide they can move into being a CD just to satisfy their ego – I’ve seen many of them become glove puppets of managing directors and strategists.
So yes, a CD should be big enough and good enough to write ads. The admin of his department can largely be looked after by traffic and print production, the CD should be concentrating on the creative product. If not, they’ll get no respect from me.
It’s been said before, but when you become the CD / ECD / CCO Grand Poobah of the Pantone-marker masons, you become the coach.
The best analogy is a football team. Who would want to see the coach running on at half time to score all the goals?
It’s his or her job to motivate, inspire, chastise and push, push, push for your teams glory. And be humble when Man-city is on top. It’s not you, it’s the players – even when everyone recognises those individual players would be useless without the cohesion a good coach provides, you still need to give your sta strikers their moment in the sun – otherwise they might end up playing for LA Galaxy and ruining the whole game.