ad agencies suck

Wow. Here's what Richard Dyson, creator of that vacuum cleaner that everyone wants but that only the celebrities can afford says about ad agencies.

The agency business just isn't working for me. I don't want to talk to account planners, and account managers and these other assorted suits. I need to talk to the "creatives" directly, and explain to them what I am trying to achieve. But they won't come to meetings because they are "creative."

And the fact is that they are not creative at all. They are doing the very worst thing you can do, which is to sit staring at a drawing board trying to come up with an idea out of nowhere. You need dialogue to create. Of all the creative jobs I have encountered it is advertising people who make the most song and dance about creativity. And, you know, they are not creative at all. When I think of the real creation that my designers are involved in, and compare it with these "creatives" who are earning so much more to just sit around the Groucho Club and be generally useless, it makes me vomit. I can't go on supporting an industry like that, I'm afraid.

We couldn't agree more. There's a whole new trend in the biz, leaning towards independent, "alternative" shops (yeah!). It seems that brand managers are getting tired of dealing with layers and layers of suits, without ever talking to a creative person. There's also a great article on this trend in the May issue of Creativity Magazine. The online version requires a paid subscription - so email me if you'd like a copy, and I'll send you one in snail mail.