So I've been sitting down and looking for an art director to partner with on some jobs then the thought hit me, what happened to creative teams?
When I started out in ad land my creative director and mentor used to emphasise on the importance of working with an art director with whom all successes and failures would be shared. It was almost like a blood brother relationship. We would be assigned to specific accounts together, work on pitches together, get involved in bar brawls together...basically we were inseparable.
Agencies back then would look for teams when hiring because they knew that as a team you would hit the ground running on every brief. Suddenly there was a lull and the whole aspect of teams slowly faded away. Copywriters began pulling solos and when poached or approached by another agency they would keep it to themselves and only share with their art director when pen was put to paper.
Come to think of it, the last creative team that moved as a unit (and that was some time back) was "the divas", Shiru Kanyua and Carol Oyier. Since then, the whole team concept has died in Kenya.
Is it that agencies nowadays find it cheaper to hire one creative and just assign someone in-house to work with? Is it that we are more technologically savvy and can multitask? Well I don't know, or is it the creatives who got too greedy?
In a creative world full of egos I find it essential to team up with someone you can cope with. It makes working or settling down to new pastures easier. It makes ideas flow. It makes work inspired. It ignites and incites passion. It fuels the competitive attitude that generates greatness.
But hey, that's just my opinion.
Thanks Ted for making me re-live the agency days...yaani this is a truly creative blog... Fatima Alimohamed
ReplyDelete*Nostalgic* I miss having a devoted AD. I miss Carol K. :'( I had some of my best, most creatively productive years when Carol K. and I worked together.
ReplyDeleteI think the shortage of teams has more to do with the fact that there are fewer CWs than there are ADs.
Save for a very short time at Y&R, I was always 'shared' by a minimum of 2 ADs at any given time. Now, i'm not complaining… :) but, I suppose that meant that, if another agency approached me, and if my team wasn't so strong, i'd have to either choose 1 AD to move with, or just venture solo. I'm glad I never had to make that choice. The question I think you need to be asking is, "Where are all the copywriters?"
That said, I completely agree that the entire team concept is dead in KE and something needs to be done about it, because I don't think it's progress in the right direction.
And while i'm here… big up to my other ADs: Anila, Daudi, Suf, Tony, Robba, Mike, KG, Oscar, Kevv, Lee, Mbithi… We were good together ;D
@Shi, I'm at Y&R with Carol, Daudi & the rest as a writer and you're right. I'm shared by a MINIMUM of 2 ADs ata a time. While I don't mind it, it sure would be nice to work in a team. As a matter of fact I'm Daudi's writer but I end up writing for almost 3 other ADs.
ReplyDelete@shi has nailed it. My answer to "where are all the copywriters?" would be... somewhere being told how their work is not as per expectation. The few CW have kept to themselves and avoided taking upcoming CWs as mentors. ADs can hardly hide the little secrets of trade unlike the CWs.
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