The perfect modern creative is a woman, says Grey London’s Nils Leonard. Because we have enough men, and men like it the way it is right now.
She will seek change. And her finest qualities will be frustration and discontent.
The perfect creative presumes that the people around her are talented and want to contribute. And accepts that without meaning to, the company, the process and even she is stifling the work and its ability to be brilliant in some way.
She won’t have come from a school that teaches advertising, and she certainly won’t understand why we structure companies like we do.
When producing a piece of work, she won’t ask herself, “Who can I get to do this?” but will instead ask, “How can we make this happen ourselves?” Because she will have grown tired of agencies making themselves dependent.
This girl gets that none of us are as smart as all of us. She won’t believe that her own insight, emotional intelligence and passion are enough to make greatness happen and will draw excellent minds to her. But although she will create her best work through collaboration, she will understand the violent, urgent need to disappear on her own, the pressure all hers, at the critical moment to crack the brief. And she won’t allow history, pay grade, job title or age to stop the candid conversations that will ultimately make the work special.
She will not only accept change, but understand that there might be someone new at the table next to her every day, and will use lunch in beautiful places to make these new disciplines powerful in the mix.
She is a thief of new technologies.
A murderer of trade unions and waiting lines.
A radiator of energy and believer in the genius of 3 a.m. tequila, when it all matters a little too much.
Her best friend might be a planner.
Her lover might be a producer.
Read the full piece by the chief creative officer on AdWeek.
