Creatives urge marketers to resist swing toward ‘conservative’ post-election ad messaging

Something sinister happened over the past algorithmically driven decade: brands took a sharp turn toward efficiency and benefits mindshare, often focusing on a laundry list of functional and emotional whoop-de-doos.

It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an ... See more

And I think that is going to remain, easily for the next year or two. And it might be a fundamental shift, you know, just like there’s going to be a fundamental shift in consumption patterns, online versus offline. I think people are going to be up for making brands that have a bit of emotion. And make decisions not always with the bottom line in m... See more

It will be interesting to see if brand designers and product designers will be able to break their disciplined use of white space, well-set type, and perfectly aligned imagery to speak to a generation that is now the largest segment of the population.

Stand for something that’s all your own. Help us find unexpected things and think unexpected thoughts. Don’t create for the algorithm (as tempting as it is to try and give it what it seems to want, to help your brand gain visibility). Don’t drift to the middle in search of eyeballs. Think bigger, more long-term, more societal-level, even. Do things... See more

Generational marketing has been hollowed out by crude stereotyping and an obsession with youth. Our sustainability agenda remains hooked on techno optimism and the myth of green growth. Our diversity push has spawned a whole new industry for awards but continues to eschew anyone over 40 or who didn’t go to the right school. We ignore people’s need ... See more