Opera Season Posters Design
Communication Campaign about Opera performances.
These posters design are a reflection on communication codes in the world of classical music. These posters design are a visual interpretation of literary overview of the work, connecting with both the http://josellopis.com/index.php?/poster-design--oper/loyal audience to the opera, as new potential targets.
opera season poster design : don giovanni
opera season poster design : siegfried
opera season poster design : carmen
opera season poster design : l'enfant et les sortileges
opera season poster design : das rheingold
opera season poster design : simon boccanegra
opera season poster design : la boheme
opera season poster design : fidelio
What Makes a Good Creative Director? (Part 2)
Not every CD will possess every quality, even greats like Bernbach, Burnett, Abbott and Ogilvy had a few chinks in their substantial armor.
But this is a good ingredients list of traits. Leave one or two of the minor ones out, no biggie. However, miss out on most of the key ingredients and you have a steaming pile of McDonald’s.
The creative director produces work
I once asked a very, very senior creative team (they were both in their late 50s and were legends in the industry) why they never took the illustrious role of CD. Their answer was confusing to me at the time, being a young scamp just out of college.
They said, “We like doing the creative work too much.” Now, knowing much more about the role, I see their point.
Creative directors have an awful lot on their plates. They’re department managers, agency politicians, slick salesmen, budget planners, strategists, therapists, red tape cutters, you name it, they’re involved.
But a good CD will still want to do some of the work, usually about 25% of it. As a creative, that scares me. The idea that I could only spend a quarter of my time doing what I love most is a chilling thought, but perhaps when the time comes I’ll be ready to slow down on the work and see a bigger picture.
But the fact remains, creative directors should still have the ability to take a brief and produce some terrific work.
A former CD of mine was still collecting copywriting awards after 12 years in his role as the boss. He would pick out an art director, grab a meeting room and crack a brief with his chosen partner.
The work was always solid and effective. Art directors would line up to work with him, and I’m sure the same can be said of copywriters when John Hegarty does the rounds at BBH.
Good creative directors never lose that passion, that drive and that hunger for doing great work. It’s in the blood.
If you have a CD who insists that they don’t have the time to do creative work, then they’re just afraid of making the time.
It’s possible they rose to the position of CD on the back of someone else’s work and a little good fortune. Or, they may have been out of the role of creative for so long that they’re rusty, and only know how to criticize and sound off in meetings. Either way, they’re lame if they avoid the job we all love doing.
The creative director knows every creative brief intimately
The brief is the lifeblood of any campaign, and it should never be allowed to be anything less than perfect. I’ve worked in agencies that gave account managers 10 days to write the brief and creative teams five days to solve it.
This may seem out of whack to the uneducated, but when the creative brief is tight and provides solid, focused direction, the ideas flow.
I’ve read some briefs that were so well-written, my art director and I had covered the wall in concepts after just a few hours. And that’s because the creative director had a hand in writing the brief, and wouldn’t allow any team to read a brief that wasn’t as good as it could possibly be.
This kind of brief is a treasure map, with a giant X to mark the spot, and the CD doesn’t need to be in the room when the creative team is getting the brief, because they already know just what the team is being tasked with.
Conversely, bad creative directors will have little-to-no say in the brief. They may not even see it until the briefing, which is when the creative team working on the job will stare in disbelief at a brief more woolly and directionless than a blind mammoth.
These are the briefs that have four to five thoughts crammed into the single-minded proposition. These are the briefs with no call-to-action, poor background information, unclear product benefits and a confusing list of creative demands and tactics.
If a good brief is a treasure map, this brief is a maze with no exit. And on these briefs, 10 days of solid creative thinking and conceptualizing will result in a random selection of ideas covering the wall like the spray from a sawn-off shotgun.
Worse still, the CD won’t really know how to judge the work on the wall because there wasn’t really a clear strategy in the brief.
When the creative director guides the account team to get the brief ready, expect good things. When the CD shouts “I’m not quite understanding point four” in the briefing, expect long nights and short tempers.
The creative director has a broad range of experience
This one’s tricky. Occasionally, you can have a great CD who has a limited range of experience; for instance, one who has only ever worked in direct mail, or only in pharmaceutical advertising. If they stay within that field, they can often do a great job without having other experience.
However, I think most good CDs are armed with a huge range of experiences, be they copywriters, art directors or designers. They will have attended photoshoots and film productions.
They will know what the inside of a recording studio looks like. They will have direct mail experience, print and web knowledge, and will know a thing or two about outdoor, PR and guerrilla.
It’s kind of like that sergeant you see in a typical army movie, who’s seen so much out on the field that the rookies always turn to him for advice. With a well-rounded CD on your side, you’re in much better hands than a CD whose only experience of direct mail is tearing it up over the garbage can.
The creative director is a shepherd
Who are the sheep? One guess. Almost every CD I’ve had understood that the creatives were responsible for producing the work that paid the bills, and so the creatives were treated with both respect and admiration by everyone in the agency.
I remember an account director leaving the concepts he didn’t like in the cab, and only presenting the ones that he liked to the client. The creatives (i.e. myself and my art director) were pissed when we found out. The CD was furious, and shortly thereafter the account director was asked to look for another job.
A young account manager, fresh from school, thought she could write copy better than any of the copywriters. She changed lines here and there, added her own spin, and all without the go-ahead of the creatives or the CD.
The copywriters felt completely insulted and disrespected, and the CD, well, you can guess how that one ended, too.
I’m not saying that the CD’s job is to fire anyone who dares cross the creative teams. But the CD should set the standard for how the creatives are treated within the agency.
If he or she lets account directors walk all over creative teams, changing copy and art direction at will, then the morale in the department will hit rock bottom. The CD who is a good shepherd will keep the creatives in line, but also keep the wolves from bringing them and their work down.
The creative director can sell or present anything, and do it well
I’ll never forget the first time I was in a presentation with my CD. I was wet behind the ears and terrified of standing up in front of the big cheeses.
The ads I had produced with my AD were bold, funny and did a great job of selling the product. But between my mouse-like voice and his shaking hands, we had about as much chance of selling it in as Donald Trump does of selling Trump Tampons (don’t get any ideas, Don).
The account director did the introductions, the CD stood up, walked across the room and put the three ads down in front of the client. The client laughed his ass off.
The CD said “you’ve bought it. My account director will finish up” then shook the hand of the client and walked out of the room, beckoning us to follow. We told that story in pubs and bars for years after.
But this is a good ingredients list of traits. Leave one or two of the minor ones out, no biggie. However, miss out on most of the key ingredients and you have a steaming pile of McDonald’s.
The creative director produces work
I once asked a very, very senior creative team (they were both in their late 50s and were legends in the industry) why they never took the illustrious role of CD. Their answer was confusing to me at the time, being a young scamp just out of college.
They said, “We like doing the creative work too much.” Now, knowing much more about the role, I see their point.
Creative directors have an awful lot on their plates. They’re department managers, agency politicians, slick salesmen, budget planners, strategists, therapists, red tape cutters, you name it, they’re involved.
But a good CD will still want to do some of the work, usually about 25% of it. As a creative, that scares me. The idea that I could only spend a quarter of my time doing what I love most is a chilling thought, but perhaps when the time comes I’ll be ready to slow down on the work and see a bigger picture.
But the fact remains, creative directors should still have the ability to take a brief and produce some terrific work.
A former CD of mine was still collecting copywriting awards after 12 years in his role as the boss. He would pick out an art director, grab a meeting room and crack a brief with his chosen partner.
The work was always solid and effective. Art directors would line up to work with him, and I’m sure the same can be said of copywriters when John Hegarty does the rounds at BBH.
Good creative directors never lose that passion, that drive and that hunger for doing great work. It’s in the blood.
If you have a CD who insists that they don’t have the time to do creative work, then they’re just afraid of making the time.
It’s possible they rose to the position of CD on the back of someone else’s work and a little good fortune. Or, they may have been out of the role of creative for so long that they’re rusty, and only know how to criticize and sound off in meetings. Either way, they’re lame if they avoid the job we all love doing.
The creative director knows every creative brief intimately
The brief is the lifeblood of any campaign, and it should never be allowed to be anything less than perfect. I’ve worked in agencies that gave account managers 10 days to write the brief and creative teams five days to solve it.
This may seem out of whack to the uneducated, but when the creative brief is tight and provides solid, focused direction, the ideas flow.
I’ve read some briefs that were so well-written, my art director and I had covered the wall in concepts after just a few hours. And that’s because the creative director had a hand in writing the brief, and wouldn’t allow any team to read a brief that wasn’t as good as it could possibly be.
This kind of brief is a treasure map, with a giant X to mark the spot, and the CD doesn’t need to be in the room when the creative team is getting the brief, because they already know just what the team is being tasked with.
Conversely, bad creative directors will have little-to-no say in the brief. They may not even see it until the briefing, which is when the creative team working on the job will stare in disbelief at a brief more woolly and directionless than a blind mammoth.
These are the briefs that have four to five thoughts crammed into the single-minded proposition. These are the briefs with no call-to-action, poor background information, unclear product benefits and a confusing list of creative demands and tactics.
If a good brief is a treasure map, this brief is a maze with no exit. And on these briefs, 10 days of solid creative thinking and conceptualizing will result in a random selection of ideas covering the wall like the spray from a sawn-off shotgun.
Worse still, the CD won’t really know how to judge the work on the wall because there wasn’t really a clear strategy in the brief.
When the creative director guides the account team to get the brief ready, expect good things. When the CD shouts “I’m not quite understanding point four” in the briefing, expect long nights and short tempers.
The creative director has a broad range of experience
This one’s tricky. Occasionally, you can have a great CD who has a limited range of experience; for instance, one who has only ever worked in direct mail, or only in pharmaceutical advertising. If they stay within that field, they can often do a great job without having other experience.
However, I think most good CDs are armed with a huge range of experiences, be they copywriters, art directors or designers. They will have attended photoshoots and film productions.
They will know what the inside of a recording studio looks like. They will have direct mail experience, print and web knowledge, and will know a thing or two about outdoor, PR and guerrilla.
It’s kind of like that sergeant you see in a typical army movie, who’s seen so much out on the field that the rookies always turn to him for advice. With a well-rounded CD on your side, you’re in much better hands than a CD whose only experience of direct mail is tearing it up over the garbage can.
The creative director is a shepherd
Who are the sheep? One guess. Almost every CD I’ve had understood that the creatives were responsible for producing the work that paid the bills, and so the creatives were treated with both respect and admiration by everyone in the agency.
I remember an account director leaving the concepts he didn’t like in the cab, and only presenting the ones that he liked to the client. The creatives (i.e. myself and my art director) were pissed when we found out. The CD was furious, and shortly thereafter the account director was asked to look for another job.
A young account manager, fresh from school, thought she could write copy better than any of the copywriters. She changed lines here and there, added her own spin, and all without the go-ahead of the creatives or the CD.
The copywriters felt completely insulted and disrespected, and the CD, well, you can guess how that one ended, too.
I’m not saying that the CD’s job is to fire anyone who dares cross the creative teams. But the CD should set the standard for how the creatives are treated within the agency.
If he or she lets account directors walk all over creative teams, changing copy and art direction at will, then the morale in the department will hit rock bottom. The CD who is a good shepherd will keep the creatives in line, but also keep the wolves from bringing them and their work down.
The creative director can sell or present anything, and do it well
I’ll never forget the first time I was in a presentation with my CD. I was wet behind the ears and terrified of standing up in front of the big cheeses.
The ads I had produced with my AD were bold, funny and did a great job of selling the product. But between my mouse-like voice and his shaking hands, we had about as much chance of selling it in as Donald Trump does of selling Trump Tampons (don’t get any ideas, Don).
The account director did the introductions, the CD stood up, walked across the room and put the three ads down in front of the client. The client laughed his ass off.
The CD said “you’ve bought it. My account director will finish up” then shook the hand of the client and walked out of the room, beckoning us to follow. We told that story in pubs and bars for years after.
Although some may say it was too arrogant (the client didn’t make one change to the ads by the way, and ran them, achieving a very nice rise in phone calls), it was both memorable and confident. This guy owned any room he walked into, and had the kind of charisma to pull off a stunt like that.
On other occasions, he wasn’t anywhere near as brash. He knew his clients well, and did the research on pitches. He was so good at reading a room and the people in it that he should have been picking juries for trial attorneys.
Selling and presenting is a skill; by the time you’re elevated to the dizzy heights of CD, you should be damned good at it.
The creative director has balls
Metaphorical balls of course (so calm down ladies, I’m not excluding you here). And what’s more, these balls are big and scary.
A creative director should have the authority and confidence to make some big decisions, and should also take some firm stands against feedback that will either ruin the creative or demoralize the department.
A former CD of mine, who taught me more in two years than I’ve learned in the last seven, was quite happy to fire a client if the work was consistently bad because of their feedback and changes.
The same CD walked into a meeting and said the agency would take no fee for the project, but instead a percentage of the profits the campaign would make.
Imagine, as a creative, how that felt; to have the CD stand behind your ideas, and back your work with the kind of money you could buy a yacht with.
In that case, our campaign ended up bringing in double what the agency fee was. Were we lucky? Yes, if you count having a ballsy CD as lucky.
He knew the work was on strategy and breakthrough (he was the guy who’d steered us in the right direction anyway) and he literally put his money where his mouth was.
The same CD didn’t have any hesitation in quitting the firm a few years later, when a corporate merger made the place take on bad clients, adopt bad working practices and refuse to stand up to client feedback of any kind.
The CD had standards, he had balls, and right now he’s making a shitload of money doing what he does best; being creative director at yet another hot agency. When you have a CD with big balls, your book will soon fill up with great work.
The creative director knows how to motivate
Gordon Ramsey may think he’s a great motivator of people, but in reality he’s a bully that makes for good television. You don’t get people to want to work harder for you by shouting, screaming, berating, abusing and humiliating.
Motivation comes from a place of respect and trust. Good creative directors will want you to do well for you, not for them. They will instill in you the kind of passion and drive that makes an eight-hour day become a 13-hour day.
They will get you so charged and excited about a project that you will set your alarm clock for six a.m., battle traffic and eat a cold hot dog for breakfast, because you know you’re on a mission to do some great work.
If your CD’s idea of motivation is to threaten you with pay cuts, demotions, crappy accounts or losing your job, you already know you don’t want to work for that CD any more.
Loyalty to a CD and an agency is built on good relationships, not bitter ones. Sure, you’ll work for the asshole for as long as it takes you to find another job, but word will soon spread that the CD is a raging dick, and the agency will find it more and more difficult to hire genuinely good creative talent.
The creative director wants honest opinions, not nodding dogs
There are some real narcissist CDs out there who believe that their opinion is the only opinion, and that they are basically a god surrounded by peasants. And gods generally don’t take well to criticism, negative opinions or, dare I say it, honest answers.
When I left my first job, I had a CD who was open to every opinion and critique. Not only that, but he encouraged my art director and I to fight back on decisions we disagreed with.
He wanted to see some fight from us, which helped us defend our work to clients and account teams. It’s an essential skill to have, to know how to fight for your ideas intelligently, and good creative directors will happily take your opinion with both respect and consideration.
They may tell you to sod off anyway, but they’ll love the fact that you have the passion and fortitude to stand up for your beliefs.
Now, when I went to my next job, the CD didn’t share that sensibility; something we found out the hard way when my AD and I presented concepts for our first campaign.
The CD asked for us to rethink the ideas and do them a different way. His way. With a smile on my face, I dug in my heels and defended the idea to the hilt.
That’s when the CD stopped me mid-rant and said, and I quote “this is not a democracy. If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it. What I want you to do right now is go away and rethink the idea just the way I said. I don’t expect to have this discussion with you again.”
We were at that agency for about six months. It was five months too long.
Finally, the creative director improves the work
This is what this whole article has been leading up to; a summation of the good CD over the mediocre CD; the proof of the pudding, so to speak.
And it usually involves your CD having most (or dare I say all) of the qualities I’ve mentioned over the last two weeks, culminating in one important fact:
A good CD will improve the work. Period.
No matter how much of an advertising genius you think you are, there’s nothing you can do that can’t be improved upon by a good CD.
It could be a simplification of your idea. It could be a small tweak that makes a big difference. It could be taking your idea down an avenue you never thought of. It could be turning the whole idea on its head, or pulling an idea out of your trash can and saying “this has potential, don’t abandon this one.”
If the good CD always improves the work, there are certain things you’ll put up with.
Maybe the CD is arrogant, or hardly ever in the office, or expects you to work every other weekend. But when he or she comes into a room, changes your work for the better, and leaves you to collect the D&AD or One Show gong, then you’re in good hands.
Well, I hope that’s covered the main points. I had a list as long as my arm, but I had to chop it down for the sake of my aching fingers (alas, my typing skills leave a lot to be desired). And if you made it this far, you clearly have too much time on your hands. Get back to work, slackers.
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On other occasions, he wasn’t anywhere near as brash. He knew his clients well, and did the research on pitches. He was so good at reading a room and the people in it that he should have been picking juries for trial attorneys.
Selling and presenting is a skill; by the time you’re elevated to the dizzy heights of CD, you should be damned good at it.
The creative director has balls
Metaphorical balls of course (so calm down ladies, I’m not excluding you here). And what’s more, these balls are big and scary.
A creative director should have the authority and confidence to make some big decisions, and should also take some firm stands against feedback that will either ruin the creative or demoralize the department.
A former CD of mine, who taught me more in two years than I’ve learned in the last seven, was quite happy to fire a client if the work was consistently bad because of their feedback and changes.
The same CD walked into a meeting and said the agency would take no fee for the project, but instead a percentage of the profits the campaign would make.
Imagine, as a creative, how that felt; to have the CD stand behind your ideas, and back your work with the kind of money you could buy a yacht with.
In that case, our campaign ended up bringing in double what the agency fee was. Were we lucky? Yes, if you count having a ballsy CD as lucky.
He knew the work was on strategy and breakthrough (he was the guy who’d steered us in the right direction anyway) and he literally put his money where his mouth was.
The same CD didn’t have any hesitation in quitting the firm a few years later, when a corporate merger made the place take on bad clients, adopt bad working practices and refuse to stand up to client feedback of any kind.
The CD had standards, he had balls, and right now he’s making a shitload of money doing what he does best; being creative director at yet another hot agency. When you have a CD with big balls, your book will soon fill up with great work.
The creative director knows how to motivate
Gordon Ramsey may think he’s a great motivator of people, but in reality he’s a bully that makes for good television. You don’t get people to want to work harder for you by shouting, screaming, berating, abusing and humiliating.
Motivation comes from a place of respect and trust. Good creative directors will want you to do well for you, not for them. They will instill in you the kind of passion and drive that makes an eight-hour day become a 13-hour day.
They will get you so charged and excited about a project that you will set your alarm clock for six a.m., battle traffic and eat a cold hot dog for breakfast, because you know you’re on a mission to do some great work.
If your CD’s idea of motivation is to threaten you with pay cuts, demotions, crappy accounts or losing your job, you already know you don’t want to work for that CD any more.
Loyalty to a CD and an agency is built on good relationships, not bitter ones. Sure, you’ll work for the asshole for as long as it takes you to find another job, but word will soon spread that the CD is a raging dick, and the agency will find it more and more difficult to hire genuinely good creative talent.
The creative director wants honest opinions, not nodding dogs
There are some real narcissist CDs out there who believe that their opinion is the only opinion, and that they are basically a god surrounded by peasants. And gods generally don’t take well to criticism, negative opinions or, dare I say it, honest answers.
When I left my first job, I had a CD who was open to every opinion and critique. Not only that, but he encouraged my art director and I to fight back on decisions we disagreed with.
He wanted to see some fight from us, which helped us defend our work to clients and account teams. It’s an essential skill to have, to know how to fight for your ideas intelligently, and good creative directors will happily take your opinion with both respect and consideration.
They may tell you to sod off anyway, but they’ll love the fact that you have the passion and fortitude to stand up for your beliefs.
Now, when I went to my next job, the CD didn’t share that sensibility; something we found out the hard way when my AD and I presented concepts for our first campaign.
The CD asked for us to rethink the ideas and do them a different way. His way. With a smile on my face, I dug in my heels and defended the idea to the hilt.
That’s when the CD stopped me mid-rant and said, and I quote “this is not a democracy. If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it. What I want you to do right now is go away and rethink the idea just the way I said. I don’t expect to have this discussion with you again.”
We were at that agency for about six months. It was five months too long.
Finally, the creative director improves the work
This is what this whole article has been leading up to; a summation of the good CD over the mediocre CD; the proof of the pudding, so to speak.
And it usually involves your CD having most (or dare I say all) of the qualities I’ve mentioned over the last two weeks, culminating in one important fact:
A good CD will improve the work. Period.
No matter how much of an advertising genius you think you are, there’s nothing you can do that can’t be improved upon by a good CD.
It could be a simplification of your idea. It could be a small tweak that makes a big difference. It could be taking your idea down an avenue you never thought of. It could be turning the whole idea on its head, or pulling an idea out of your trash can and saying “this has potential, don’t abandon this one.”
If the good CD always improves the work, there are certain things you’ll put up with.
Maybe the CD is arrogant, or hardly ever in the office, or expects you to work every other weekend. But when he or she comes into a room, changes your work for the better, and leaves you to collect the D&AD or One Show gong, then you’re in good hands.
Well, I hope that’s covered the main points. I had a list as long as my arm, but I had to chop it down for the sake of my aching fingers (alas, my typing skills leave a lot to be desired). And if you made it this far, you clearly have too much time on your hands. Get back to work, slackers.
WRITTEN BY FELIX UNGER
What Makes a Good Creative Director?
BY Felix Unger
Here’s another question for you. What exactly is the job of a creative director? Do you know? If you’re a CD, do you know? You should.
But it seems that some do and some don’t, whether they’re taking direction from one, or if they actually are the head honcho. And that, my friends, is just not good enough.
I’ve had the privilege of meeting, and talking at length with, some pretty big creative directors in my time, including greats like Alfredo Marcantonio (WCRS, BBDO) and Jeremy Bullmore (JWT).
During the course of our conversations, I always asked the question, “What are the qualities of a great creative director?”
What surprised me was how often the same phrases and attributes kept cropping up.
Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, too many creative directors just don’t make the grade. Here’s the list I’ve compiled in my noggin, over the last 15 years.
The creative director is the last line of defense
What does that mean, specifically? Well, let me paint a picture for you; a picture from my own memory in fact.
You’re sat in the office, it’s 10pm and you’re frantically scribbling down ideas for a campaign. Earlier in the day, the CD rejected your second set of ideas on this job, and the deadline was extended for you to try, one last time, to crack the project and not get your ass handed to you on a plate.
In the early hours of the morning, as you chew on cold pizza and swig a few gulps of warm, flat beer, you come to a stomach-churning conclusion; you’re not going to crack this one. You’ve failed.
You go home, take a shower and grab a few hours of sleep before your next WIP with the CD. You show the work, you slump your shoulders and that is when the CD does what the CD is paid for, in part.
He or she takes the brief off you and within a few hours, something passes by your desk for you and your partner to comp up for the meeting. And it’s great. It’s annoyingly terrific. You kick yourself and wonder why you didn’t think of it. You look at the CD with a new-found respect.
That is the last line of defence. When no one else in the creative department knows where to take a job, or how to crack a brief, the CD can do it. They have the experience, the savvy and the ability to produce the work when no one else can.
If you’re a CD reading this and you know, deep down, that you can’t do that job, well I’m sorry to say that you suck. You really suck.
It’s all well and good to surround yourself with talented people who can do the job 95% of the time, but if you can’t step in and solve the impossible ones, you can go to HR right now and ask them to remove ‘creative’ from your title.
You are the best of the best. You have no excuses for not being able to do the creative work, even if you spend most of your day in meetings, discussing budgets or pitching work. Without a last line of defence, a creative department has no goalkeeper.
The creative director gives specific feedback
Here are just a few choice phrases I’ve heard from bad CDs over the years. See how many of them you recognise:
“I’ll know it when I see it.”
“I’m just not feeling it, but I’m not sure why.”
“Make it more compelling.”
“It’s missing something.”
A good creative director gives specific feedback, not vague platitudes. Their direction will be considered, constructive, smart and intelligible. And by constructive, I mean a lot more than “I hate them all, try again.”
After a meeting with a CD, you should have definite direction on where to take the work. If you come out of a meeting with a CD scratching your head and wondering what the hell to do next, then you have my sympathies; you’re working with a moron.
The creative director is well-versed in all crafts
The boss could have a background that’s very different to yours. Great CDs have been copywriters, art directors, designers, illustrators, hell some have an English PhD.
But what matters is that although they are experts in one discipline, they understand all the crafts. They’ll know how to guide copywriters even if they can’t write a coherent sentence themselves. They’ll know the difference between good art direction and overzealous horse manure. They get it.
But it seems that some do and some don’t, whether they’re taking direction from one, or if they actually are the head honcho. And that, my friends, is just not good enough.
I’ve had the privilege of meeting, and talking at length with, some pretty big creative directors in my time, including greats like Alfredo Marcantonio (WCRS, BBDO) and Jeremy Bullmore (JWT).
During the course of our conversations, I always asked the question, “What are the qualities of a great creative director?”
What surprised me was how often the same phrases and attributes kept cropping up.
Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, too many creative directors just don’t make the grade. Here’s the list I’ve compiled in my noggin, over the last 15 years.
The creative director is the last line of defense
What does that mean, specifically? Well, let me paint a picture for you; a picture from my own memory in fact.
You’re sat in the office, it’s 10pm and you’re frantically scribbling down ideas for a campaign. Earlier in the day, the CD rejected your second set of ideas on this job, and the deadline was extended for you to try, one last time, to crack the project and not get your ass handed to you on a plate.
In the early hours of the morning, as you chew on cold pizza and swig a few gulps of warm, flat beer, you come to a stomach-churning conclusion; you’re not going to crack this one. You’ve failed.
You go home, take a shower and grab a few hours of sleep before your next WIP with the CD. You show the work, you slump your shoulders and that is when the CD does what the CD is paid for, in part.
He or she takes the brief off you and within a few hours, something passes by your desk for you and your partner to comp up for the meeting. And it’s great. It’s annoyingly terrific. You kick yourself and wonder why you didn’t think of it. You look at the CD with a new-found respect.
That is the last line of defence. When no one else in the creative department knows where to take a job, or how to crack a brief, the CD can do it. They have the experience, the savvy and the ability to produce the work when no one else can.
If you’re a CD reading this and you know, deep down, that you can’t do that job, well I’m sorry to say that you suck. You really suck.
It’s all well and good to surround yourself with talented people who can do the job 95% of the time, but if you can’t step in and solve the impossible ones, you can go to HR right now and ask them to remove ‘creative’ from your title.
You are the best of the best. You have no excuses for not being able to do the creative work, even if you spend most of your day in meetings, discussing budgets or pitching work. Without a last line of defence, a creative department has no goalkeeper.
The creative director gives specific feedback
Here are just a few choice phrases I’ve heard from bad CDs over the years. See how many of them you recognise:
“I’ll know it when I see it.”
“I’m just not feeling it, but I’m not sure why.”
“Make it more compelling.”
“It’s missing something.”
A good creative director gives specific feedback, not vague platitudes. Their direction will be considered, constructive, smart and intelligible. And by constructive, I mean a lot more than “I hate them all, try again.”
After a meeting with a CD, you should have definite direction on where to take the work. If you come out of a meeting with a CD scratching your head and wondering what the hell to do next, then you have my sympathies; you’re working with a moron.
The creative director is well-versed in all crafts
The boss could have a background that’s very different to yours. Great CDs have been copywriters, art directors, designers, illustrators, hell some have an English PhD.
But what matters is that although they are experts in one discipline, they understand all the crafts. They’ll know how to guide copywriters even if they can’t write a coherent sentence themselves. They’ll know the difference between good art direction and overzealous horse manure. They get it.
If they constantly push design over ideas because they love design, they are myopic. Same goes for a CD with a writing background who only wants 20-word headlines. Great CDs are chameleons who understand the balance between concepts and strategy, and copy and design. Which is a nice segue into the next point.
The creative director is a selfless creative
When you’re rising through the ranks, you can be as selfish as you like. You can write copy the way you want to write copy. You can art direct the way you love to art direct. That’s not to say the client won’t put the kibosh on it, but you go out of the gate with your best foot forward.
And the reason you can do that is because a good CD will let you flex your creative muscles and allow your own work to shine. A bad CD will want everything to look like something from their own book.
They’ll want writers to mimic their writing style, or art directors to make things look a certain way. That’s not selfless, it’s not letting the department grow and flourish, and it is demoralising to the people working under that work ethic; creatives need to be creatives, not production artists.
The creative director knows the latest trends
I had a CD, this was a decade ago, who refused to own a mobile phone or watch TV. Now, I know cell phones weren’t in the hands of six-year-old kids like they are today, but millions of people had one.
And as for TV, well, that one just made me scratch my head. Even if you hate it as a medium, you’re in the ad business. You need to know your media outlets and the environment the ads will live in.
He also didn’t have an email address, which was unforgivable back then, but is punishable by stoning today.
David Abbott once said that he had two laptops: one for work, one for home. He clearly didn’t have a grasp on the purpose of a laptop, but he still had one (well, two).
Despite a preference for writing copy on a notepad with his feet on the desk, he still knew he had to embrace modern technology.
So if your CD has no idea what Facebook is, or looks puzzled when you talk about Twitter or social networking, they aren’t doing their duty, as an advertiser, to understand the modern consumer.
The creative director will hire great creatives
Several giants in the industry, including the late, great David Ogilvy, talked about hiring people more talented than themselves.
His quote on hiring people is one I’ll never forget, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”
Unfortunately, some CDs out there are so worried about being knocked off their little perch that they’ll insist on filling the creative department with mediocre hacks.
This is not only detrimental to the clients, but the agency as a whole. The work coming out of the department may please your average client, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for them. And the agency won’t generate new business on the back of cruddy work.
The creative director is well-read
Peter Souter (AMV) once said that the only books a creative needs to read are the advertising annuals, be they One Show or D&AD. As a student, I agreed with him. Boy, was I wrong.
If the CD is always looking in the annuals, they’re always following someone else’s lead. But by reading a wide variety of books, periodicals and websites, the CD is furnished with a mind that can think outside of the annuals, and guide work that other agencies will follow.
If you walk into a CDs office and the only books on the shelf are annuals and graphic novels, you could be getting some myopic direction.
This article has been edited for length.
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Felix Unger is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. The Denver Egotist features the best creative, the best talent and best resources in Denver, keeping it all in the greater context of what’s happening internationally.
The creative director is a selfless creative
When you’re rising through the ranks, you can be as selfish as you like. You can write copy the way you want to write copy. You can art direct the way you love to art direct. That’s not to say the client won’t put the kibosh on it, but you go out of the gate with your best foot forward.
And the reason you can do that is because a good CD will let you flex your creative muscles and allow your own work to shine. A bad CD will want everything to look like something from their own book.
They’ll want writers to mimic their writing style, or art directors to make things look a certain way. That’s not selfless, it’s not letting the department grow and flourish, and it is demoralising to the people working under that work ethic; creatives need to be creatives, not production artists.
The creative director knows the latest trends
I had a CD, this was a decade ago, who refused to own a mobile phone or watch TV. Now, I know cell phones weren’t in the hands of six-year-old kids like they are today, but millions of people had one.
And as for TV, well, that one just made me scratch my head. Even if you hate it as a medium, you’re in the ad business. You need to know your media outlets and the environment the ads will live in.
He also didn’t have an email address, which was unforgivable back then, but is punishable by stoning today.
David Abbott once said that he had two laptops: one for work, one for home. He clearly didn’t have a grasp on the purpose of a laptop, but he still had one (well, two).
Despite a preference for writing copy on a notepad with his feet on the desk, he still knew he had to embrace modern technology.
So if your CD has no idea what Facebook is, or looks puzzled when you talk about Twitter or social networking, they aren’t doing their duty, as an advertiser, to understand the modern consumer.
The creative director will hire great creatives
Several giants in the industry, including the late, great David Ogilvy, talked about hiring people more talented than themselves.
His quote on hiring people is one I’ll never forget, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”
Unfortunately, some CDs out there are so worried about being knocked off their little perch that they’ll insist on filling the creative department with mediocre hacks.
This is not only detrimental to the clients, but the agency as a whole. The work coming out of the department may please your average client, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for them. And the agency won’t generate new business on the back of cruddy work.
The creative director is well-read
Peter Souter (AMV) once said that the only books a creative needs to read are the advertising annuals, be they One Show or D&AD. As a student, I agreed with him. Boy, was I wrong.
If the CD is always looking in the annuals, they’re always following someone else’s lead. But by reading a wide variety of books, periodicals and websites, the CD is furnished with a mind that can think outside of the annuals, and guide work that other agencies will follow.
If you walk into a CDs office and the only books on the shelf are annuals and graphic novels, you could be getting some myopic direction.
This article has been edited for length.
WRITTEN BY FELIX UNGER
Felix Unger is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. The Denver Egotist features the best creative, the best talent and best resources in Denver, keeping it all in the greater context of what’s happening internationally.Minimalist Futurism Posters
Futurism - An Odyssey in Continuity is a poster series designed by the British designer Simon C. Page. Each poster is amazing on a certain way, they all have really great patterns that show continuity to represent the future and are very well styled by great color patterns. Check them out!
For more from Simon visit excites.co.uk
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