Advertising awards: important for creatives' self-respect

Advertising awards: important for creatives' self-respect

Creative tension

Source: International Journal of Advertising
Reviewed: 06-Jun-07

Creative people are judged on their next piece of work, which engenders in them a constant feeling of insecurity. Most of those interviewed for the study said they apply "fine judgement" or "poetic sensibility" to their work.

Some referred to advertising as "bullshit" and claimed to prefer the "superior" values of art and literature. In turn, the ongoing friction with managers leads some account-handlers to refer to "creatives" as "babies".

The tension between colleagues can be equally painful: apart from a business partner, all other creatives are regarded with suspicion, lest they steal an idea. However, creatives need approval from their peers to reinforce their self-respect, and for this reason, industry awards are a powerful source of peer approval.

If managers and clients understood the creative identity better, they might get the best out of them. On the other hand, if creatives need to feel insecure and isolated in order to be creative, then division between account-handlers and creatives might be the "optimum condition".

The trouble with creatives: negotiating creative identity in advertising
agencies,
Chris Hackley and Arthur J Kover,
International Journal of Advertising, Vol 26 No 1, 2007