Understanding the creative landscape and keeping informed of the latest trends across all of marketing and communications is key to delivering successful campaigns for clients. In a world with blurring boundaries between communications, advertising, product innovation, events, corporate behaviour or consumer campaigns, absorbing the best work from across all channels and analysing what makes (or made) them tick, is key.
We recently had the pleasure of attending a Q&A session with adland legend Dave Trott, where we could see some of the newest ideas, theories, campaigns, activations and innovations, but more importantly, understand some of the unchanging fundamentals that make campaigns succeed.
Responsible for some of the most memorable ads over the last four decades, Dave Trott has worked for and founded some of the most iconic advertising agencies in the business, influencing popular UK culture time and time again.
A key theme of the discussion was based around his thoughts on creativity and how the industry was faring. If you follow Dave on Twitter, you will know that he rarely pulls his punches: “dull, tired and cynical” were just some of the words he used to describe the current creative climate.
He felt that agencies, be it PR, advertising or marketing, too often follow the latest trends rather than focusing on what will differentiate a campaign from what is already being produced. For Dave, rising above the creative malaise means to go against the curve, and do the opposite of what much of the ad industry is doing.
“Why would you want to be in the navy when you can be a pirate?”
In his opinion, creative agencies (and by proxy, their clients) have been playing it too safe, with campaigns trying to be all things to all people, rather than making a statement which will appeal directly to consumers and drive sales, hence the saying “why would you want to be in the navy when you can be a pirate?”
As PR people in a room full of adland types, this was music to our ears, as by our very nature, PRs need to be controversial, memorable, notable and in touch with our inner pirates to get our work & stories through the very human filters of the media (and their understanding of their readers). If we fall into the trap of purely peddling promotional, sales or marketing material, put simply, our stories will go nowhere. However, by talking like pirates to creating narratives and stories that real people will give a real sh*t about and want to read, watch or listen to, then we’re sailing.
James Richards, Account Executive
