Creatives Are Lazy and Irresponsible…?

Forgive my provocation. Assuming you’re, in some way, affiliated with the advertising business, my assumption is you had one of two responses to this post title: (1) “tell me where this guy lives” or (2) “finally! someone understands what I go through everyday!”

This is a larger issue that I’m narrowing down to a specific industry, but the story goes like this. Creatives and Account Services (management types) typically don’t get along. It’s just about the same thing every time you hear it. Creative 1 thinks AE 1 is a babysitter and an e-mail pusher. AE 1 can’t effectively lead the project because Creative 1 assumes he or she has no skill or qualification to offer. AE 1 thinks Creative 1 is irresponsible, lazy and selfish. AE 1 can’t believe that Creative 1 doesn’t respond to e-mails or shows up late for meetings. “It’s just a matter of being responsible”, he or she says. If you’ve never heard it, you will.

First off, let me say that there are AEs who aren’t capable of doing anything other that creating a schedule and tracking a budget. There are also creatives who need to learn how to be responsive. But this isn’t the source of the rift.

The nature of a creative’s work is drastically different from an AE’s, and this has to be understood. A creative creates something out of nothing (well, almost nothing). This requires an elimination of distraction and a solid chunk of time within which to work. Management types don’t understand this because they’re used to hopping from meeting to meeting, taking calls all day and thriving on the lifeblood we call e-mail. Management types typically end up running the place, so creatives tend to draw the short straw – being forced to work the same way the AEs and management types do.

Like it or not, there’s usually a distinct difference in how these two groups become successful, which leads to different working habits. An AE or management type usually judges success based on how much got done (assuming it was done well). We pack our calendars with meetings and think we’re doing an extra good job if we open our computers late at night just to answer a few more e-mails. We meet, we get nervous with tight deadlines, we develop client relationships…it’s what we do. On the other hand, a creative’s success is determined by the brilliance and originality of the idea and the quality of the execution. Get over it AEs and managers: playing ping pong, guitar or video games is not only valuable but essential in the world of a creative. Why? It helps to free up the brain so there’s enough room for the brilliant and original idea. Allow them the freedom and time to research, mull over a problem and, yes, play. These are the working habits of someone who’s success is predominantly judged by the idea.

If you’ve got an Art Director who loves e-mail and meetings and can turn the switch on in a matter of minutes, give them a huge raise and don’t let go. This is certainly an exception. Now, what do we do with this?

Remind yourself the next time you get upset with someone for these reasons that they’re just not wired the same way you are. One is not better than the other – they’re both necessary for an agency to run effectively.

Schedule a specific block of time during the day (preferably the beginning or end of the day) when creatives can be scheduled for meetings. Steal 10am to 11am and, unless you’re a production shop, their entire morning is shot.

Hire people that fit within the culture you want to create or maintain. If you’re running a highly conceptual shop, quit hiring project managers whose biggest contribution is an undying love for spreadsheets and diagrams. And working under the assumption that you want to deliver brilliant work in a reasonable timeframe, don’t hire a creative that refuses to buy an alarm clock and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

I’m only touching the surface here, but it all starts with a concerted effort to learn what makes someone else tick – it’s probably different for them than it is for you. In our business, we lose days of productivity because we don’t care to admit this fact, much less understand it.