The argument for creative chameleons.

Successfully creative and entrepreneurial people turn the things they make today into the creative fodder of tomorrow. This often means expanding beyond our initial image of who we might be and what our content might look like. Rather than becoming locked into a single vision, we must be willing to transform our ideas into the form that will reach

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copywriter, an art director, and an advertising account man are boarding a plane to go to a client presentation. Slightly implausibly, they open the overhead locker and a genie pops out. The genie says, “I’ve been stuck in that bloody overhead locker for 10 years. As a reward, I’ve only got three wishes, but I’ll give you one each.”

The genie turns ... See more

A final-year student asked me a simple question: What brand model do we use and sell?We don’t. Not in the way they meant. People don’t buy our process. They’re more interested in how we adapt to their challenge.Complexity resists templates. The more layered the company, the more it needs its own rhythm. Structure matters, but there’s rarely a unive... See more

1. You Have to Be Faster and Smarter Than the Client.
   
   The only reason to hire an outside partner is because they bring something the inside team doesn’t. If your agency is figuring it out as they go, they’re not an asset—they’re a liability. Clients don’t have time for your learning curve. They want a team that’s already fluent, already moving, alrea

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Our agency is getting big. That’s something to be happy about. But it’s something to worry about, too, and I don’t mind telling you I’m damned worried. I’m worried that we’re going to fall into the trap of bigness, that we’re going to worship techniques instead of substance, that we’re going to follow history instead of making it, that we’re going ... See more

I see this all the time teaching business to artists and designers, and it applies to everyone. The artists or designers struggle with a business model to describe what they do, and then realize that what they ultimately need is not to be paid to make the things they already know how to make, but to somehow find space inside their financials to pla

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