“Itis toughoutthereasclientspendis beingreducedandredirected,”
shesays.“Creativesarenowbeingaskedtopresentengagingideaswith
smallerbudgets,makinginnovationandcommercialacumencore
requirementsofanycreativerole.
“Hybridskillsetsarealsomoreprevalentthanever.Bothtalentand
agenciesreapthebenefitsofindividualswhocanplayacrossmultidis-
ciplines,broadeningtraditionaljobtitles.”
Themovetowardsa desiloedworkforceseesmoremoderncreatives
joiningadlandfromdiversebackgroundsandcollaboratingacross
departments.
Whileeveryoneintheindustryhasbeentalkingabouta desiloed
structure,DigitascreativedirectorSimonBrockstillthinkstheindustry
hasa waytogobeforeit is trulythere.
“It’sbecomethebiggestclicheinthisindustry,”hesays.“Yetwhen
youlookatthefundamentalstructuresweusetodefineourselves,the
veryfirstthingwedoisputupwallsbetweendepartments.
“That’sproblematicbecausewe’renowseeinga reallyinteresting
generationofcreativepeoplecomingintothisbusinesswhodon’tfit
neatlyintooneofthosepredefinedbuckets.”
ForBrock,oneofthemosttransformationalmomentsinhiscareer
waswhenhebegantoworkforDigitasinSweden.Joiningtheindustry
witha backgroundinfilm,TVandmusicproduction,heinterviewed
fora rolewhichDigitasdidn’tfeelwasquiterightforhim,howeverthey
knewhehadsomethingtooffertheteam.
“Iwasemployedwithouta departmentandwithouta title,”hesays.
“Thatwassucha massiveliberatingmomentinmycareerbecauseit
changedthegameintermsofexpectations.”
NicoleHetherington,co-founderandcreativepartneratnewly-
formed independent creative consultancy Abel, says despite the changes
happeninginadland,thekeyto
creativityisremainingopenand
curious.Likeothers,she’salsoa
believerthatanideadoesn’tnec-
essarilyhavetocomefromwithin
thecreativedepartment.
“Justbecauseourtitleiscrea-
tives,I don’tthinkthatshouldstop
clients,marketers,strategistsor
anyoneelsecomingupwithideas,”
shesays.
HetheringtondepartedDentsu
AegisNetwork’sWiTHCollective
last year, withfellowcreative
SimonFowler,andtheduosetup
theirowncreativeconsultancy.
Going from creative in a big
agencytoownerofa newbusiness
has seen her role change
dramatically.
Hetheringtonsaysratherthan
beexpertsineverything,they’re
choosingtoworkwiththeright
expertstomeetclientneeds.
“Whilewedon’thaveexperts
incertainareassittingrightnext
tous,whatweseeasanopportu-
nityis thefactwecandrawonour
partners — the right ones — for thehttp://www.adnews.com.au| March 2020 31