I’ve never been that keen to follow convention. Hence a sort of wonky career path. A First in Industrial Design that led to a job at Smash Hits magazine (yes really), which led to Saatchi & Saatchi that then bounced between established names, boutique agencies and founding a couple of start-ups. Now I’ve joined a creative agency with its roots in data science, but with a present that mixes discoveries in cognitive behaviour with AI driven social insights. Oh, and with headquarters in Sheffield.
So, the current level of disruption within our industry I see as only a good thing. Right now, this is the most incredible time to be working in communications. Algorithmic automation is changing people’s roles, but the realities of consumer wants and desires mean that now more than ever, there is a pressing need for the wondrous chaos of human creativity. Sure, plenty of voices speak of despair with shrinking budgets, rising costs and merry-go-round agency appointments. But over and above all this, have we ever had such an opportunity for innovation and free thinking?
Technology and societal changes mean that the old rules genuinely don’t apply. Fast becoming a cliché and the subject for many empty-headed articles (clearly not this one, obviously) the ‘agency of the future’ is going to be very different. The need to successfully advertise brands in fragmented media demands new insights and skill sets, deployed in a more flexible manner. Just as the automotive industry is currently experiencing, knowing you need to change is very different from actually making that fundamental change. Sure, there have been many announcements of shake ups in traditional agency structures; technologists as CEOs, groups with single P&Ls. But it does all feel a little bit like shuffling deck chairs.