You may say that I'm a dreamer...

It’s been said before but advertising would be the greatest job in the world if it wasn’t for clients. Obviously it isn’t fair to tar and feather everyone with the same contemptuous brush but it seems to be a pretty accurate summary from what I’ve encountered in my admittedly very brief time as someone who claims to be advertising creative.

How many times does a great idea get shot down in it’s initial stages because of arguments like “the client said they don’t want anything that takes away from the product” or “but people aren’t going to know what we’re selling” or the dreaded “but child labour isn’t funny”.

Obviously this is a business and in a business the bottom line is everything and taking risks is discouraged. That’s fine. I get that. But taking risks is what any great business/company does. You don’t get to the top by playing it safe. You take a risk it may work, it may not, but you’ll never know if you don’t try and the best you can ever hope for is mediocrity.

Some of the best campaigns in history have taken risks. Basically any old Volkswagen ad was risky. People could have hated them and used the ads to bury the brand. But they didn’t. The iconic Economist ads contain no images. Risky. But the risk paid off and they’re amazing.

The industry will admit, especially in Ireland, that a lot of what is produced is shit. There’s no point in denying it. However, there’s unbelievably talented people working everyday trying to do great work. No one sets out to make a shit ad, piece of art or even child. But it happens. And it’s not always within your control how things turn out. However less and less of the control seems to be with agencies and more so with the client.

If people were more willing to take a risk, maybe we would see more good work coming through and encourage others to follow their lead. Then the floodgates would open with the brilliant ideas that are bouncing around every office and every agency everyday, but never see the light.

This is in no way a revelation or anything, just a pleasant little lunchtime rant I felt like having with myself and decided to share. I’m also sure none of you fine people are the ones I’m talking about either since you decided to read this blog, which in itself is a major risk to any real person, living or dead.

Now, back to work