We are now entering the age of the humilitarian.

No.160: Tue 29?Aug?2023

Hi, it’s David here.

This week's newsletter is written by Jonathan Horner, a Community Member and creative who has always offered us a very different point of view.?

He has thrived in our often anonymous world where it is the idea, not the showman, that stops the show.

Jonathan describes himself as an introvert who never bought into the idea of doing a song and a dance to get an idea sold.

At BeenThere/DoneThat our role is to ‘inspire the world's best thinkers’ and whilst many clients say they are looking for out of the box thinking from creatives, not many slow down long enough to define the box.

And that is the problem with not doing Problem Definition.?

Now entering the age of the humilitarian.

As always, I am curious to hear what you think.

David Alberts

Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer?at BeenThere/DoneThat

Hi, it’s Jonathan here.

I was an intern in an ad agency when ‘internet advertising’ was still a dirty word.

Those creatives would have separate offices and often work on the lesser floors. Fast forward 20 years and my how the world has changed.

I’ve seen:

• The rise of the strategist (what used to be one per agency is now four per brief).
• The separation of media and creative departments (that cool media initiative, you can keep that to yourself because you’re from a different network).
• Title inflation (remember the days where there was only one CD and that CD ran the shop).
• The growth of PR (we now do Super Bowl ads too, not too well but we do… do them).
• The move away from hand drawn sketches towards finished comps at the concept stage (reducing a lot of creative output to Getty Images and headlines for traditional media).
• And, the biggest of all…. creative turnaround time (2 weeks for a brief is now 48 hours).

What’s been 20 years in the industry… has felt like 4,000. I feel like some old oracle who lives on a mountaintop. And I’m not even old enough to have worked with Tony Kaye.

Such is the speed and ferocity at which this industry is changing, by this point we might as well give it an entirely different name. Grundlecharging.

But what’s always been pervasive in the industry, is this alpha charged atmosphere we work inside. An industry where ego pushes forward the work to be sold, even if it’s not that brilliant to begin with. And why? Because those creatives or creative leaders with the golden smile and the loudest voices get a slipstream that others just can’t find.

As an introvert and someone who looks semi-homeless and in his zone sitting beside the trash cans on a Monday morning, I’ve always ducked and weaved finding a place for myself and my ideas because the sort of creative who is championed, really isn’t the sort of creative I could ever be.

But I sense, and I believe, all of this may be in the process of changing. As more and more non-traditional creatives swarm the football field “my channel has 2 million subscribers” “I’m a Twitch creator” what we lose in craft and training, we’re gaining in bold and radical initiatives and those creators who have to turn to others for advice on how to complete the thought.

This new-found humility is something the industry could benefit from. Now, humility, often, is used as a sense of shame – but really all it is a modest or low view of one’s own importance. An acknowledgement that someone else’s suggestion or approach can plus up and push to greater.

When we no longer have a formal trade, or a right way to write a headline, we instead are all in the life raft together, with opportunity for all voices to be heard and acted on.

This breaking down of traditional walls and creative gatekeepers may act as a catalyst to invite more and more creative types who have up until this point felt too shy or disenfranchised to really offer themselves up to the world of Grundlecharging. And I, for one, am here for it. For the conversations that go both ways.

For the understanding that ideas can come from outside departments lines. And for the removal of CCOs who find solace in their own superiority only because they had two mates on the jury voting for them that one year.?

Yes, we’ve lost a ton of systems and craft in the last 20 years, but on balance… if this new approach is starting to welcome in all thinkers and not just the egotists, we as an industry will all be richer for it.

We are now entering the age of the humilitarian.

Jonathan Horner

Community Member at BeenThere/DoneThat?

Supporting Articles:

1. Want a refreshing advertising blog? Check out Damon Stapleton’s blog, Damon’s brain. Here’s his take about the industry evolving from a different POV.

2. For those who ask ‘what are the rules you speak of?’ I recently met Brit, Pete Barry, who has written a book about it. An amazing read. You can purchase the book here .

3. Welcome to the establishment of Off brand, and how a live-streaming wizard is wading into the ad world.

4. From all of this, smaller, nimbler non-trad agencies are being born. Listen to Tamryn Kerr, co-founder of Hijinks Collective, and the work she’s bringing to life.

We'd love to hear what you thought about this newsletter! Reply in the comments below or reach out to us! To find out more about BeenThere/DoneThat, connect with us on?LinkedIn ?or visit our?Website . If you'd like to receive The School of Athens weekly newsletter on every Friday directly to your inbox, subscribe?here . If you'd like to get in touch about working with us or to hear more about what we do, email?[email protected]