The sanctity of the ad agency creative department used to be the exclusive domain of very special people. Super creatives dwelled there, using secret handshakes, runic noodling with pencils and cryptic eye movements and gestures to create advertising that was often overtly conceptual.

You had to be a genius to understand it.

Comprehension of the super concept came easy for a few, hard for most and firmly put advertising into two camps: creative that won awards and all the other stuff.

Then came technology. The playing field was leveled. It was no longer only about the world we knew: print, radio and broadcast.  It was about technology being bent, shaped and formed almost daily into new ways to relate to brands, products and advertising. Suddenly instead of the super league of creative geniuses telling the world what messaging and concepts they could see, people began telling brands what they wanted to see and how they wanted to feel.

The berets have been burned. And from the ashes of all that pretense is rising the most exciting creative team ever known. The creative department is now all-inclusive. Advertising and brand engagement has become about creating experiences that are useful.

The creative apartheid has ended. Now we invite technologists, planners, curators, clients, inventors, screenwriters to come inside and explore. And this, in and of itself, has enabled the most exciting time for agencies and brands to collaborate and create something relevant.

The new creative team has taken shape.

by Mike Tittel
Executive Creative Director – Cincinnati

Cross-posted at Ignite Something on the Forbes CMO Network

Our work, our ideas, our use of language, our imagery, our mastery of applications and technologies must be so much more awe-inspiring, cutting-edge, arresting, provocative, engaging and memorable than what some clever fellow might cobble together with a MacBook and flip phone.

We must be exceptional; the very best at what we do. We must be able to think thoughts and do things that not everyone can do—and not everyone can think such thoughts and do such things. We must show the world that we are gifted.

Easy means of media production and distribution have closed the competency gap between wannabes and the time-passers of our profession. But tools can’t close the gap between wannabes and the truly creative, the real masters of the communications trade.

There will always be rich rewards for the purveyors of great work, but mediocre creative professionals will soon be overtaken by clever consumers who are frankly willing to put more energy and passion into it, even as their pastime.

Our emphasis on our idea culture should be regarded as a wake-up call. It relates not only to our futures at GyroHSR, but also to our futures as communications professionals, in general.

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Rick Segal
Chief Executive, North America
Global Practice Leader, B-to-B