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Ernie Mosteller, who describes himself as a “Southern farm boy with an education,” embraces and embodies advertising’s transition from traditional to new media. His award-winning work as a creative director jump-started a successful 15-year run as a nationally-known commercial director. Energized by the endless possibilities of a changing media landscape, he combined his strategic, creative, narrative and digital skills to found a hybrid digital/traditional boutique, release an early eBook on the changes agencies face today, and cultivate a loyal following of weekly blog readers. His current position as VP, Interactive Creative Director at Brunner Digital, and VP, Creative Director for the DC office of Brunner, complete the circle – finding him back on the agency side, helping clients, creatives, and agency management understand the possibilities of digital, and create compelling messages across all media. His personal blog is erniemosteller.com.

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Creative Inspiration

Written on
February 22nd 2008
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by Ernie Mosteller  |
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crystal-ball.jpgLet’s just get this on the table: Creatives look to other creatives for inspiration, and for a definition of what’s good. That’s neither a critique, nor a defiant stance. It just is.

From my earliest days in this business, I was taught to look at the masters like Ogilvy, Bernbach, et al, for the key to effective creative.  The award books owe their existence to armies of creatives, perusing other creatives’ successes, while on a quest for their own. The fact is, we’re all thieves, to a greater or lesser extent, appropriating techniques, riffs, snippets, styles, and even (gasp) ideas, which we load into the giant Mixmaster that is our brain, in hopes of creating a concoction that at least looks and feels different, and at the very best, might be called “breakthrough.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just because there’s no new rock and roll doesn’t mean there’s nothing good to listen to. Sometimes, even, the emulator has far more popular appeal than does the emulated. Witness: the New York Dolls.

Thing is, advertising has changed, as have all communications. (Though, “is changing” is probably a better choice of words — it seems as if the process is going to be perpetual, or at the very least, seriously protracted.) Traditional agencies want to become more digital — and have done so, with varying success. Digital shops see, and seize, traditional opportunities — again, with varying success. Click-throughs tell you whether an ad is working, but not much about the emotional impact of the brand message. None of this is news. 

What it has created, though, is an interesting dynamic in that part of the building we call the creative department. Because now, two very different types of creatives frequently coexist under the same agency roof.  And just as frequently, each group looks for inspiration to people the other group has never even heard of. There are very different definitions of “good.”  Sometimes, it gets downright snippy. Managing it is hard.

The idea of media neutrality sounds great. In practice, though, it’s a difficult thing to deliver. Especially when an agency, or better yet, an industry, is in transition. Because nobody is really neutral.

I sit in a kind of Cat Bird’s seat on this. I’m old enough to have a firm grounding in traditional media. Young enough to have creds in digital.  I straddle both departments. My job, explicitly, is to build a bridge between the two. And from where I sit, I see folks in agencies everywhere looking in opposite directions for inspiration, and validation.

Traditional creatives are taught to learn from the masters. Sometimes that translates into a reverence for Ogilvy. But just as likely, it translates into a quest to become the next Alex, or simply to make better ads than your boss. Regardless, it’s a view that puts a premium on things that have worked in the past, if even the very recent past. The idea, then, is to reinvent those things for the now. It works very, very well.



Reader Comments.

Well said Ernie -

The only thing I’d add is that creative acknowledgement in the digital space doesn’t wait on the cycle of awards designations — it is instantaneous and many times much more objective, certainly more candid and widespread, than an exclusive panel of judges doing the industry circuit. But of course,we’re always very happy to get both kinds of recognition — particualarly when its positive.

Posted by Scott Morgan | 3:50 pm on February 22, 2008.

Smart and thoughtful. I would also add that online measurement of creative effectiveness in many ways can help a lot in defining direction. Too often the data people don’t share with the creative people, and the creative people do not understand the data. Without a wise babblefish in the middle, growth will be slow.

Posted by Bob | 3:59 am on February 23, 2008.

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