Thinking and making with the new creative trio

Since the dawn of the Internet many have questioned defining a creative "team" to mean only Writer and Art Director. Dare we alter the historic construct, handed down from Bernbach? So much of our industry is predicated on the allure of two, alone to conquest and deliver the big idea.

That premise — that the thinking is paramount, and it is best accomplished by two — misses so much of reality. Or as Fallon's former creative leader Bill Westbrook once said, "An idea isn't an idea until it's produced." Yes, the thinking of the idea matters a great deal. And in equal measure so does that idea's production.

So in the first dotcom wave we heard about trios — Writer, Art Director and Designer (focused on digital interfaces). The presumption being that words are words however an idea comes forth. But that the image of an idea, its interface, benefits from additional expertise. Over a decade later, it's clear this first creative evolution was really about acknowledging a wider expanse of craft.

Now my friend David Armano suggests a nascent future made up of Writer, Art Director and Social Engineer. I like this idea. It gets closer to the realities of business. This trio posits social platforms are an ongoing reality; the media of now. As David writes, "Today, even the most talented art directors and writers aren't enough. Neither are the social-savvy digital types." 

Yet I think the creative trio which will prevail going forward is one which has been around since the beginning of advertising:

Writer, Art Director and Producer

In this age it is as much about the creative team making what it thinks up as it is about thinking it up.

The agency of now and tomorrow is and should be focused on reducing the time between thinking up and releasing ideas into the world.

And this is the nature of being a Producer.

We are in an age of increasing production. Call it "real time." Call it "always on." The point is that production of ideas matters as much as the ideation of ideas.

Producers are the historic force towards shipping — aligning budgets, goals (including analytic), legal and strategic concerns and resources to make. And often, to make something right now.

They are the antenna aware of how ideas can come to life across platforms, within app ecosystems, by technology — ever faster, ever more integrated. They have been the ones to suggest how a shot can be captured, a post production effect achieved. Today they are the ones to broker access and access code.

We need this focus within the creative team even more now.

Perhaps because the Producer role has been around since the beginning, it is easy to presume their involvement. "Of course Producers are part of the creative team." But I'm thinking about the Producer's involvement starting at the beginning, in equal footing with Writers and Art Directors. A trio of equals — briefed and empowered as such — to develop ideas and make them, together.

A side note: This increased pace doesn't apply to all ideas. There is a case to be made for using time and space to reflect on aesthetics, casting, an edit, etc. Sometime production is about the art of personalities and time, allowing better expression to incubate. It's worth noting in an age of real-time marketing that a first instinct isn't always the most effective or timeless.