blurring the lines

i'm headed to a little Ozark retreat with some folks from Barkley today to blur the lines. Barkley started sending a smattering of its employees - from all disciplines - to the Ozarks a few years ago. each time collaboration is king and ideas come from everywhere to address specific "assignments" launched on day one and presented on day four.

i didn't get a chance to go when I was previously at Barkley, so i'm absolutely stoked to head out today. this is just one of a number of efforts Barkley offers to inspire its employees and keep fresh thinking front of mind. can't wait.

according to Ozark legend (now would be the time to cue the Deliverance music), we work and play pretty darn hard - not sure i'll have a chance to update WoolardSpeak while there. but i'm sure i'll have some thoughts to share once i return.

Risley has a good recap from his time in the MoSouth here.

what did you do today?

in a perfect world, our talents are put to good use - not just selling more widgets or spinning brand blemishes, but creatively communicating important ideas . it's a hope many of us have and a hope many within our audience have for advertising. via the The Dozen blog, i took note as a consumer and a marketer when i saw the campaign for the Dutch charity People in Need.

what a relevant execution and message, executed in a clean, nowhere-near-desperate way visually with copy that carries the campaign. now is a powerful time to be conscious of the privilege most of the world enjoys. falls within that gut-wrenching category of "what did you do today?"

what's strangling your creativity?

i just watched this video from the TED conference. the brilliant Larry Lessig talks about how the law is strangling creativity. yes. i agree (and even if i didn't, helluva presentation). he touches on user-generated content.



so then i started thinking more about creativity and what kills it. or strangles it. or just stifles it. here's my list of ten things, in no order. some speak for themselves, some need a bit of elaboration.

1) Lack of collaboration
2) Fear
3) Ego
4) Borders
5) Singular tradespeople. At one time, being a tradesman was a valuable distinction. "I'm a blacksmith." No one lists one skill on his or her resume, so why do our workplaces, our titles and our roles reflect it? I won't get into the argument for or against generalists...that's farther away than where I'm standing. But the people with true creative muscle see a big picture. And can play in any stadium. Home or away from their "title."
6) Creative department. Or any label with creative involved. And labels without creative. Agencies, especially, have effectively limited the number of minds free to think creatively, and bestowed sometimes unwarranted power of minds that are tagged as creative. This ties directly to numbers one and four.
7) Process. Processes. And more processes. Many of which are more creative than their output.
8) E-mail. Or any other passive communication that eliminates the need to talk, face to face, to someone.
9) Repetition. "Sacred Cows." not as in those pedestaled people who could literally vomit on a podium without punishment. Sacred cows are pesky executions that seem to pop up in every brainstorm, for every client, for every need or strategy within each market known to man. And then paid off as unique.
10) Right and wrong. We live in a culture of right and wrong. Creativity is gray.

food for thought. i'd love to hear reaction or others' lists of creativity killers. i certainly left some out. notably, as Lessig noted in his speech, the way we're raising our children and our next generation of creative thinkers.

this is the time for creativity. creativity is the solution to problems from brand launches to climate change.