Now we come to Phase Four, which, to be cons'istant,
I'll call REJECTION.
There are creative people who have the ability to exercise
good judgment about theirown worlp and there are those who
don't have this ability.
We make excuses for the latter. TVe say, "No man can
really be objective abo'ut his own work" and, "After all,
that's why 'we have Supervisors, and Review Boards,
and Oontact men, and things like that."
Let's face it. The guy or gal who can judge his or her
own work is more of a professional than one who can't.
During the Rejection phase, the creative person is
called upon to discard the bad ideas he has come up
with and start searching for better ones. The man
who thinks everything he's done is great, is kidd'ing
himself, and he is headed for aggravation because
somewhere down the line an astute advertising man will
spot the wealcnesses and send the whole thing back to
the drawing board.
A thousand times better to spot the weaknesses yourself
――than to listen to someoneelse point them out.
After the judging or rejection period, the remaining
ideas may shine forth like gold in the prospector's
pan.
Or you may find there's nothing there-andhave to start
all over agian.
That's a discouragement we've all known, but if you
anticipate that it could happen, it won't seem so bad.
When it does happen, in most instances it's better
to start all over again than to try to "patch" or "fix" it.
In keeping with the philosophy I've just expounded,
I do try,to encourage the' creative people with whom I
work to make the most of theirnon-workiny" hours, to
see unusual movies, and plays; to read books; to get
away on weekends; to go to art exhibits; to attend lectures;
to get inpolved in politics, or whatever strikes their fancy.
The more you do and see and hear and say and writs and move――
the more you live, if you will, the greater depth will your
work have, and the easier will it come to you.
Also, stimulating experiences help to give one a
fresh way of seeing things, or saying things; and this
bears directly on how you will write or design for
print readers and television audiences.
Nobody is, obligated to look at advertisinig just
becauses a client and a creative team or product
group had the ego to run that advertising.
In print advertising, you have to grab for attention,
because pages can be flipped quickly.
On television, where you have a somewhat captive audience
tuned in on your channel, you have to hold attention.
In both cases, originality and freshness are your best
tools in claiming and holding audience interest.
If, after going through the various processes in
problem solving, the solution is found――but if it
isn't presented or executed in a fresh manner, even
the right solution may never be seen or heard.
Incidentally, I've beehusingthe words "creative
people"――a phrase I don't particularly like because
everyone assumes that it covers wtitersand artists
only.
And maybe TV producers.
Who says that problem-solving in a creative way
should be limited to people wearing those job titles only?
I don't need to tell you, because you've heard it before,
that we're living through a competitive economicera.
Today's competition demands imagination and innovation on
all fronts.
Who is to say that in an agency set-up,the most
creative people should not be in the Contact Department,
or in the Media Department?
And who is to say that a great idea, a truly great idea,
coming from a creative man in a supposedly non-creative
function, is not worth ten times an idea for a layout that
an Art Director might come up with?
finished
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