Narrowly, oh so narrowly

I wonder if a narrow definition of creativity is in anyone's best interests anymore.

I've been thinking about Brian Morrissey's piece a few weeks ago in Adweek, and I just re-read Tangerine Toad's excellent response and commentary on the subject.

"This transition from entertainment to utility, from 'what I want totell you' to 'what you want hear' is the single most important thingthat’s happening in advertising and marketing in the past 100 years."

Are job titles like "Copywriter" and "Art Director" still relevant today, in this age of Utility = Advertising? More to the point, are they the primary roles for creating advertising? I have serious doubts.

An old creative partner used to describe the job of being an art director or a copywriter as "80% conceptual thinking (i.e. conceptual problem solving) and 20% finish carpentry." You spend the vast majority of your time figuring out the problem, and solutions to the problem -- then you worry about typefaces, body copy, etc. I think this definition still holds. But the old fashioned definitions of customary creative positions merit serious re-working. In fact, if, as CP+B puts it, "The idea is boss," then anyone with an idea is in the creative department. Paul Isakson's recent post digs into this more.

Problem is, the current ad agency model -- based entirely on what agencies (and their industry groups) think the marketing clients will support financially -- seem to require these historic, narrowly defined titles. "For god sakes, man, how will our clients know we're charging them honest hourly rates if the titles and job descriptions aren't linked to centuries of verified, public, AAAA's data?" You've heard it, right?

(Never mind how we'll handle attribution of creative credit in the award shows. Question: Will there still need to be "creative" award shows if the goal of advertising is to be useful and/or utilitarian?)

I still bill myself as a Writer, so long as the role's defined as, "solving problems with words." 

What roles/titles are missing from the equation? What titles are proving unnecessary?