Open Source Creative

In the spirit of reinterpretation, of jazz, here’s a riff on Open Source Creative. I’m inspired by Jory Des Jardins’ recent, articulate post on Fast Company’s blog, titled “The New, New Manager: What Geeks Can Teach Us About Getting Stuff Done.”

I think much of Jory’s post is equally applicable to advertising and our addiction to owning “the big idea.” In an Open Source Creative environment, consumers are just as entitled to credit as agency writers and art directors. To rephrase Jory’s summation...

"The best (advertisers and ad agencies) in an open source model are the best listeners. They perceive underground rumblings and potentially brilliant ideas. They mine diamonds in the rough and seek win-win situations. And they are excellent delegators; at the end of the day, they get others to execute."

Does that describe the average U.S. ad agency today, even partly? I’m not sure. We barely seem to be able to tolerate UGC. The issue feels rooted in the very notion of how ad agencies perceive themselves—we’re supposed to be the only place you’d go to for ads. In an Open Source environment, a good marketing or communications idea could come from anywhere.

Perhaps that’s part of what the top 100 marketers were referring to in the ANA’s recent annual survey. Of the top ten most important issues facing marketers, "Consumer control over what and how they view advertising," moved up to 6th place, from 8th. (But then, “Aligning marketing organization with innovation” dropped to 3rd place from 2nd. So maybe it’s all just a wash.)

Not all software is Open Source. And I don’t assume all advertising would be created this way either. But the consumer is in control now. We aren’t. Linux isn’t going away, and neither is YouTube or CurrentTV.

So today’s challenge, if you’re a modern, Open Source-friendly agency, isn’t just creating and managing your own ideas, it’s about managing the ideas consumers create for our brands as well.

We need to play the role of producers and editors. We need to guide, to inspire. But not necessarily to be the ones actually creating the work. The trick is getting our clients to pay us for playing these new roles as stewards for their brands.

Rest assured, an Open Source model for advertising does honor and credit those who do the work. As Jory notes, those involved in developing Open Source software wouldn’t stay involved if there wasn’t a hierarchy, status and merit attached to the effort. You still get your One Show pencil, provide the idea consumers create is awesome.