Bad Creative: Are you really putting your heart into it?
// April 30th, 2004 // No Comments » //
While McSweeney’s may have the Create Your Own Thomas Friedman Op-Ed Column, it seems this proposed Friedman formula would equally apply to a lot of “on the scene” or Cheap photoshop cs3 investigative reporting and analysis, which seems to have become formulaic and Cheap photoshop cs3 predictable.
As readers, we expect “good” investigative journalism to Cheap photoshop cs3 establish a rhythm: open the story with a gripping scene, introduce the Cheap photoshop cs3 reader to a passionate and concerned character and his/her community, work through the Cheap photoshop cs3 practical benefits and complications of an issue, identify the hindrances (human or mechanical, cultural or geographic) and Cheap photoshop cs3 close with a hint of morality and hope. But does this Cheap photoshop cs3 only address our needs as readers, rather than as engaged citizens?
This question was posed as “the new journalism” built speed. Here’s a voice from the past, writing in a 1972 Atlantic article:
[Speaking about the NYT] If this Cheap photoshop cs3 is the voice of conventional journalism speaking to us about our world, it Cheap photoshop cs3 is likely to find an increasingly restless, disconnected audience. The voice speaks too thin a Cheap photoshop cs3 language. The world it tells us about so assiduously seems but a Cheap photoshop cs3 small part of the world that is actually outside the Cheap photoshop cs3 window—seems a Cheap photoshop cs3 dead world, peopled largely by official figures, and by procedural facts, and Cheap photoshop cs3 written about in a fashion which is doubtless intended to Cheap photoshop cs3 be clear, and clean, and easy to understand, but which instead is Cheap photoshop cs3 usually flat, and inhuman, and nearly impossible to connect to.
Of course, you Cheap photoshop cs3 could argue that Jack Kelley, Daniel Glass and Jayson Blair were in some way aspiring to Cheap photoshop cs3 meet the creative standards set by “new journalism” – but were more likely just trying to Cheap photoshop cs3 be interesting enough to keep the attention of their readers and, more importantly, their editors.
I’ve often heard the expression “phoning it in” used to Cheap photoshop cs3 describe a half-hearted attempt at completing a creative task. In Blair’s case, this was actually true. But it’s not a condition that only affects reporters. “Creatives,” whether in advertising, marketing or Cheap photoshop cs3 PR, often find ourselves stuck in a creative and inspirational rut. Faced with an Cheap photoshop cs3 immediate deadline, or an afternoon ballgame, or an upcoming vacation, we might be Cheap photoshop cs3 tempted to just pull something from the files, put some lipstick on that Cheap photoshop cs3 pig, and ship it out.
Stanley Bing (who we all know web store Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection is really the VP responsible for PR at CBS) talked about the affliction of phoning it in over a year ago: (sub. req.)
I asked myself…so what? So what Cheap photoshop cs3 if this week it seemed that a bunch of guys were phoning it Cheap photoshop cs3 in from Planet Mambo? What’s the big deal?
I sat there for Cheap photoshop cs3 a while and thought about Sandy Weill and Jack Grubman, suspected of manipulating the Cheap photoshop cs3 rating of AT&T, the Cheap photoshop cs3 first because he wanted to rule Citigroup alone and the Cheap photoshop cs3 second because he wanted to get his tot into some snotty nursery school. How much of what Cheap photoshop cs3 we do is like that? Stuff that Cheap photoshop cs3 looks like business but is really just a bunch of guys scratching an Cheap photoshop cs3 itch? Once you start to think that way, it’s hard not to Cheap photoshop cs3 phone in the activities that feel inauthentic. And when you Cheap photoshop cs3 begin gauging the authenticity of the work you do, it’s a Cheap photoshop cs3 short step to picking up that psychic receiver and phoning in the Cheap photoshop cs3 whole deal.
I put on my jacket and Cheap photoshop cs3 went outside for a walk. You know what I saw everywhere? Thousands of people quite literally phoning it Cheap photoshop cs3 in, walking down the street yakking into their little handheld receivers, nowhere near a Cheap photoshop cs3 place where people do any actual business.
Fine. That’s how others may want to Cheap photoshop cs3 live their life. But are there products in your portfolio (or more likely your drawer) that shout “Jesus, I could have done better than this”?
There are Cheap photoshop cs3 some creatives out there that want to remind you of your Cheap photoshop cs3 weaknesses. Take a look at iamjack: Most Advertising Sucks. You Could Be The Reason.
Approve ads that Cheap photoshop cs3 kidnap mediocrity and bend it over a fencepost. Let your agency get away with something dramatic. Something simple. A TV spot that Cheap photoshop cs3 doesn’t lead with the Cheap photoshop cs3 offer and scream the phone number five times, or a print ad that Cheap photoshop cs3 doesn’t have a headline. Or a stock photo. Or 5 miles of disclaimer.
Come on. You know this hits home.
And in case you’re searching your memory about the “lipstick on this pig” tag line, check out this Slate article about the Charles Schwab ads of 2002.
Thanks to MarketingSherpa for the iamjack pointer.




