History is spotted with rivalries. Labor versus capital. Communism versus Democracy. Bears versus Packers.
There is another Cold War of sorts I notice in design. Creative versus what I guess you can call either Accounts, Marketing, or just “suits.”
I saw this conflict raise its head recently. The place I am freelancing now recently saw the departure of a talented and successful Creative Director, a casualty of this battle.
Success was not enough to save this Creative Director. Upon taking the helm, the studio had six designers and few clients. Upon his departure, they had finished two major, high profile rebrands, and were taking on another. When I arrived, the studio was so busy that freelancers like me were working in the hallway because there was no room in the studio.
His departure was sudden, and left the studio where he was quite popular shaking with anger, and questions.
Unfortunately I was not present the day of the news. There was an “emergency huddle” (you know it is bad when the good hair from upstairs makes an appearence) and questions that inevitably don’t get asked. The studio was stunned. Even when the management asks “are there any questions?”, we all become shoe-gazers for fear of our jobs. The standard insight was that he “didn’t get along” with the “people upstairs.”
All true.
And I knew it. I saw it.
It was beautiful. He was actually being a real creative advocate.
I remember we were looking at some logos for a credit card company. We invited down the Account person to look at the work with our dear, departed Creative Director. Almost immediately there was tension. With waves of a hand, Account was discounting work, talking about what the client wanted (or thought they wanted). She was raining on the presentation. It was as if we were going to be talked into a creative corner, with nowhere to turn but the most mundane of work. It was daunting.
It was then that the Creative Director said what I’d always wanted to hear.
“They don’t know what they want. That is our job. It is what we do. We figure that out.”
Just a few sentences. And Marketing shut up. For once.
He stuck up for us. Not for any particular design, but for all of us as creatives.
Now maybe he could have been more diplomatic; played the politics better (He gritted his teeth a bit).
But a few weeks later, the sum total of his “behavior” wrote his ticket out.
His replacement was a perfectly nice, talented person—certainly someone whose personality is more fitting to �playing ball’ with Management and Accounts. But I still know a good person was let go.
I guess the lesson is that talent doesn’t always win out. The work you do is only a small part of the politics that has to take place.
I’m not trying to martyr the CD, or raise a statue in his honor. He had his flaws for sure, but so do we all.
Sadly, it is never enough to put your head down and do good work.
It is a business. It is THE business. Creatives do not rule the roost like we would like to think. Players have to get along with coaches, even though they are the ones who score the points.
I don’t know what drives this conflict. Perhaps it is self-importance. We all tend to regard our work as most valuable. It is an issue of territory and respect. We Creatives think we can perfectly well digest the clients needs, the audience, the market, etc. without Account bearing down on us and showering us with reports we don’t read. And Account thinks is has just as much taste and sensibility to comment upon the work of a bunch of wannabe artists.
We peer at each other across the office, and far too often fail to see the bigger picture from the other’s vantage point. For instance, why did each of us end up in the career? What was it that originally attracted us to work at the agency?
I think deep down we both need each other, and want each other: Creative and their work makes the Account person’s job “cool” and “less boring.” The presence of Account represents that the work the Creatives work on is higher profile, and prestigious. I think our relationship is more symbiotic than we think.
Maybe that is the solution to this ongoing silent conflict: understanding each other. It is not enough to gather at the local Mexican Restaurant for drinks every two weeks for a detente. Management-enforced “team building” isn’t going to do it either. Unlike Berlin, this wall is likely to remain up. We will do better to learn to live with it, than continue to pray for its fall.
RIGHT ON. a lot of time i feel as if the account people or managment people are completely unnecessary, but then again, i am awfulw with my bills and have a ard time staying on track. I, however, do not tell the "suits" how to talk on the phone with their client, or how to bill them correctly. why should they art direct us when they have no formal training in design? there are too many wanna be art directors up there that believe that we are just like the computers we work on.
On Mar.08.2006 at 11:47 AM