Shoemakers

There is a saying in Dutch, loosely translated as ‘shoemaker keep to your craft’…Now I do firmly believe that each of us have our own talents and that within the creative world of advertising we do different jobs. I wouldn’t ask a copywriter to finalise a budget, and I certainly wouldn’t think that just because I have photoshop on my laptop I can design. And I do highly dislike the modern interpretation of young creatives that “we’re both creative and no-one really does copy anymore”. Wordsmithing is a craft and hark my words will become much more important as content grows.

However as we all work in a creative industry together we should learn to work together and agree that great ideas can come from anywhere at anytime.

Or in the words of the Greatest and Best and Truly Original Mad Man Mr. David Ogilvy..

“Senior men and women have no monopoly on great ideas. Nor do Creative people. Some of the best ideas come from account executives, researchers, and others. Encourage this; you need all the ideas you can get.”

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How to keep the natives friendly…

Oh joy, the World Cup is upon us. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big football (soccer for the North Americans) fan but this World Cup I’m in a bit of a pickle.

Last World Cup I was working at an international firm in Amsterdam, New Zealanders, Australians, English, French, Dutch and Americans all bantered happily towards the final and got their Orange on.

This time around I’m in Germany. With English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, South African, American and Dutch colleagues. Not a brotherly sharing love bone amongst them. Football is war and this one has just begon. There have been threats to burn  my Dutch decorations (I might be a Yank by birth but even I am realistic about who could reach the final) and the emails to come watch the “Germans beat the Portuguese” have already been flying.

The global village reverts to tribalism when sports are concerned.