IDEALIST BLOG
Aggregators & Generators
During my brief tenure working within ad agencies I was twice described by coworkers—both of whom were career agency men—as “a guy that puts the right people together.”
I assume this wasn’t a compliment.
That’s because the agency model isn’t predicated on collaborative ideation as much as it is controlled access to ideation. So if an idea didn’t originate within the agency, it's not valid, regardless of who might have the best solution.
But in a media environment that now requires lots of little executions as opposed to single broad campaigns, is it possible that any one team can truly create the best range of options and opportunities from scratch? And in a cultural environment made up from mixes, mashups and op-eds, is it possible that editors/curators will be the new creative directors?
With all this in mind, we propose agencies might think more like idea aggregates and less like idea generators.
For my money, the most interesting creative director of the moment isn’t at an agency at all. Some might even argue that he is not as much a “creator” as he is a sampler, remixer and cultural re-appropriator. I’m talking about the producer/DJ/label owner Diplo. Diplo is probably best known for taking a Clash song, layering in a drumbeat and adding M.I.A.’s vocals to make the ‘08 summer banger Paper Planes. A year later, this white kid from Mississippi went on to make the best Jamaican dancehall record of the past few years.
When MIA first heard Diplo's music she described it as: "(having a) homelessness about it. It didn't have a particular genre, which is what people always say to me: 'your song doesn't fit anywhere.' So I went on a mad mission to find other people like that, because then we could make a home."
And that’s what I believe The IdeaLists is growing to become: a house party filled with all kinds of different people and ideas. Some faces are familiar, most are brand new. But rest assured you'll meet new people and discuss new ideas that you wouldn't have come across had you not arrived.
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