Earlier today I’ve got a call from a client: “Can you make a viral?”

Hard to explain it’s no so easy…

I feel like the transition period we are in now is moving so fast, that for the first time it is out in the open, forcing people to talk about it, allowing for an open evolution of the practice.

I think a discerning key for some of these agencies to truly evolve will be to bring in some of those (albeit younger) grassroots, garage start-up workers and put them in a position where they can help influence the directions of these campaigns. Bring that light approach with them, that hungry, I will use what I got or what’s already there view is what makes their creative process so strong – “Do as little as you can.”

Anyway, thanks again for such a great post, great read.

Cheers,
//MD
@enomali

First, I think it might be helpful for agencies to consider their ability to perform in the software market. Does your agency have the ability to restructure its workflow and division of labor to incorporate a profitable web development team? If so, then you’re in a great position to work on large, complicated web applications.

But if your company isn’t able to penetrate the world of software engineering then you may want to consider consulting on startups and smaller web apps. The advantage of staying small is that you can find more opportunities to take risks and externalize costs by capitalizing on open source software. Your expertise, then, can be about agile, scalable brands and web software. That’s not a bad place to be, imo.

The real unsolved problem is whether or not interactive design will require ad agencies to integrate vertically or horizontally. Finding a way to vertically integrate web development into existing creative processes will make ad agencies extremely competitive.

Thanks again for the fantastic article. It’s really cool to see web development principles, not just technologies, having an impact on advertising.

The proper response to the idea of a “creative economy” is probably Ghandi’s, apropos of Western Civilisation: “it would be a good idea”. And it isn’t impossible to imagine what a creative economy would be like: we cherish what’s left of economies that relied more on human creativity than ours does. The beauty of a hand-built wall or street, or a farm wagon, or piece of furniture – is as much a physical experience as a visual one.

Well laid-out typography and beautifully-lit photographs are pretty good, too – the tragedy being not that “creatives” spend so much time fussing over these things, but that these things can only be done, in the present economy, in special ghettos that are increasingly segregated from everyday life, and dedicated to the furtherance of waste.”

http://www.dustormagic.net/Papers/SuitsAndCreatives.html