I see lots of people calling themselves creative, yet all they ever do is headlines and pictures.
(And maybe occasionally choose a director and go on a shoot.)
I think they’ve confused what creativity is.
Edward de Bono said, “Lots of people call themselves creative who are actually merely stylists.”
For me creativity isn’t what you do.
It’s a quality in whatever you do.
A really dull, predictable painting isn’t creative just because it’s a painting.
Whereas Muhammad Ali was creative, even though he’s a boxer.
Napoleon was creative.
So was Rommel.
Murdoch is creative.
So is Branson.
In their own fields they are/were as creative as Picasso, Bob Dylan or Orson Welles.
Yet all our so-called creatives do is argue about ATL or digital.
Creativity is wherever you find it.
Look at George Lois.
He did a lot of ads.
Some good, some bad.
He also designed restaurants.
He designed packaging.
He designed magazine covers.
He did logos.
He did album covers.
He did anything and everything he could get his hands on.
Some good, some bad.
But the sheer tsunami of creativity he was involved in meant that even if you thought 50% of it was crap, the remaining 50% was still ten times as much great work as the entire output of anyone else.
The dictionary defines creativity as, “Bringing into existence something which did not previously exist.”
It doesn’t define it as, “Sitting in your office waiting for the perfect brief to land on your desk.”
If you’re not creating something, you’re not creative.
It’s no more complicated than that.
If nothing is happening, make something happen.
Maybe it’s not ads.
It doesn’t matter what it is, just make something happen.
The clock is ticking.
And that’s your life going by.