Creative vs. results? That’s so 2002.

For years, there were ads for furniture repair shops. Dance studios. Tattoo parlors. These “fake clients” helped line the awards shelves of many creatives. But personally, I blame the gerbils. Yes, the gerbils.

You can just sense the evil, can't you?

 Back in the late 1990s, a business called Outpost.com led the dot-com advertising frenzy with an incredibly memorable campaign whose sole purpose was to get people to remember the company name. The most memorable spot of the mix showed gerbils being fired from a cannon into the “O” in Outpost.

Cut to two years of crazy dot-com madness followed by a big dot-com crash. Part of the fallout? Clients stopped trusting ad agencies. Suddenly, we were all the creators of the gerbil cannon spot that became, somewhat unfairly, the “poster child” for irresponsible creative.

But that was then. These days, clients are starting to see great creative as a competitive advantage, something that helps their hard-fought-for marketing dollars go farther. And agencies are answering the call. Of course, we’ve had brief stops along the way with trends like “let’s make a viral video” (which is a bit of a stumbler, since one can make a video, but it takes the public—or a savvy seeding service—to get the hits required for it to be considered a viral success). Or the mad race to “do something” in the social space. Yes, Facebook is awesome. But for a brand to make sense there, it needs a relevant purpose, not just a page. That’s where creative (and smart strategy) comes in. It’s something that helps brands get noticed. And of course, something that helps meet sales objectives. Clients like Mondēlez are finding new ways to get the strongest creative out of agencies with some pretty groundbreaking ideas that include bucking the giant network trend and turning instead to smaller specialty shops with tighter teams.

The results speak for themselves. Sure, creatives are still lining their awards shelves. But the days of spec creative are fading. (The One Show in particular has extremely strict rules and penalties for fake ads.) The work that wins at Cannes, The One Show, and D&AD is, in many cases, the same work that’s winning Effie Awards for advertising effectiveness. In fact, the 2014 Cannes Lions Network of the Year Award winner, Ogilvy & Mather, was also named the Global Network of the Year at this year’s One Show. And, most telling, O&M was named Effie’s Most Effective Agency Network in both 2012 and 2013.

Thanks for the screen shot, AdAge.

As a creative lucky enough to be in the judging room this year at The One Show, as well as the venerable Hatch Awards in Boston, I can assure you that creative for the sake of creative has gone the way of the DVD. There’s just too much smart work being done for even smarter clients for a judge to settle on fake ads or gratuitous messages from the last century. Case in point: my “judge’s choice” for The One Show was an interactive outdoor board called “The magic of flight” for British Airways by OgilvyOne. It used real-time flight information to call out BA flights as they prepared to land at London Heathrow Airport. The same idea received five gold medals as well as the Direct Response Grand Prix at Cannes, a category known for celebrating effectiveness.

 In short, great creative begets great results. And in an ever-crowded, oh-so-competitive marketplace, that’s a foot in the door your brand deserves.

Thousands of entries. Dozens of talented peers. (The) One Show.

Time for a shot of inspiration, talent and humility. Yes, I just finished judging print for The One Club in beautiful, sunny Santa Barbara, California.

Outside the judging venue

Now for those of you who know The One Show, you know this is a pretty big deal. An honor. What a thrill it was to be asked. And what great business partners I have, who encouraged me to accept and picked up my slack while I was out. Thank you.

But don't be fooled, a boondoggle this isn't. There are literally thousands of entries. Entries that after six or seven hours start to look like a blur. But they can't. Because someone, somewhere cared a lot about that ad. They cared about the size of the logo. The turn of the phrase. The power of the message. The finesse of the illustration. I, and my fellow judges, owed them our undivided attention.

Inside the judging venue: no sunscreen required

Like any treasure hunt, there are hours of fruitless digging. But just when you start to lose hope, BAM. A quick breath. A pang of jealousy. A subtle smile. At this point in the judging, all is secret. So you smile to yourself and move on. The reason it's so exciting to judge is the chance to see what the best minds in the world are up to. And, the chance to (quietly) stand beside some truly great people. My fellow judges also represented the world. The One Show does an amazing job recruiting high quality judges across any barrier. Yes, even rarities like the female ECD (by now those of us in the biz are all-too familiar with the 3% stat) were carefully selected. I'm so glad I met you. Others, from industry legends to up-and-comers made for interesting, inspiring moments of conversation between work set ups.

And speaking of those set ups, I am so humbled and impressed by The One Club. Each and every one of them quietly, fluently and patiently made sure our process was as close to painless as possible. They apologized for the late days as we went off to our rooms at 9:30 at night. They, on the other hand, were off to tomorrow's set ups. I don't know how late they went. I don't think I want to. Thanks to all of you. I'm glad I met you and hope to see you again soon.  I can't wait to hear the pencil winners revealed in May. (Yes, us judges still don't know for sure, so don't ask.)

Until we meet again

I could go on here. Topics that showed up again and again. Bad breath's obviously a pretty major problem out there. Proper chewing gum disposal. And I promise, from now on I WILL NOT TEXT AND DRIVE. But one truth transcended all: from around the world, from differently agencies, great work consistently came from the same clients. It reminded me how important their voice is in the work. And how loud it shouts. Great clients: it's an honor to work with you. And, more than any of the other amazing people I've already mentioned, I'm glad I met you. Thanks.

Welders, truckers and ad girls

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Being a confirmed right brainer, I never expected to use the words “fun” and “statistics” in the same sentence. But after hearing the stat recently that 97% of top creative positions in advertising are held by men, I decided we could all use a little fun.

Photo: Christopher Green

With the help of an XX planner friend, I decided to look at other professions. She pulled data that confirmed my suspicions: a truckload of surprising industries kick our backsides in the male/female workforce ratio.

For example, butchers, at 21.2%, outnumber top female creatives seven to one. At 34.6%, you're over 11 times more likely to be a female umpire than a top female creative. Truckers weigh in at 4.6%, welders at 5.4% and at 23.5%, you're almost eight times more likely to be a female fisherman/farmer/lumberjack than you are a creative leader.

But we shouldn’t completely lose heart.  We’re kicking some rear end ourselves versus many professions like drywall installers (2.5%), refrigeration mechanics (0.6%), and what is surely one of the most female oppressed professions: stonemasons (0.1%).

Stonemasons: the other 99.9%

Statistics don’t lie but they also don’t tell us why. Where are the women at the top creatively? Neil French, the incredibly talented and award-winning creative famously said it was because the product of women creative is “crap” and that we “don’t make it to the top because (we) don’t deserve it.”  He cited our need to “go suckle something” as a reason for our role in the industry. Gotta give him credit for speaking his mind. But names like Janet Champ and Sally Hogshead assure me that his blanket statement is crap, too. (Ironically both of these talented women have left agencies and are thriving in the industry as independents.) I’ve also of course heard the curse of the boys club blamed and once, a fellow XY Seattle creative director hypothesized, that “women are just too smart to put up with this long term.”

I however believe. I believe out there, somewhere is the next Mary Wells Lawrence. I believe we have a different perspective and a way of looking at the world that will build brands and sell our clients products. I believe that we will look at the stats some day and top female creatives will rank right up there with telemarketers (68%)  and HR professionals  (70%). 

Heck, why stop there? As the world moves deeper and deeper into a “caring” economy, top women creatives might one day rank right up there with dieticians (92.3%), speech language pathologists (96.3%), or even preschool teachers (97%).

 I believe.