You Better Have Devs in Your Creative Department

October 5th, 2009     by Joe Mele    
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

It used to be that creative departments were the province of the tragically hip.  You know who I’m talking about - the cool guys and gals who could get away with wearing wallets on belt chains and wrist watches with leather bands and hair-dos with that look like they took a lot of time to mess up.  But from here on out, you better find some folks who wear ironic t-shirts, know what w00t means, and who in past times would have worn short-sleeve shirts with ties and pocket protectors.  By that, I mean you better find those guys and gals who understand technology and development and place them squarely within your creative teams.

Link

In a recent article from Ad Age, Allison Mooney talks about the need for agencies and marketers to understand development and technology as much as they understand what Pantone color their brand logo is.

The reason is simple - advertising isn’t just about TV spots and banner ads anymore.  Increasingly, it is about applications and experiences, which require knowledge beyond how to make pretty pictures or clever scripts.  They require knowledge of technology, development, and engineering.

Many creative teams that we deal with who are from what we once called “traditional agencies” still mostly don’t get it.  This is not to say that they are not smart, creative, clever, even brilliant, but their limitations are generally based in one of two camps:

  1. A weak at best understanding of digital beyond banner ads and splash pages such that their imagination stops at webisodes and online video.
  2. A deep belief in “we can do anything online” with a tragically unrealistic grasp on reality such that they are likely to promise clients stuff that can’t be done (or that is horrendously difficult, time consuming, and of dubious value).
It’s time for the devs to take over.  Every ad agency who pretends to know something about digital needs to start thinking differently about it and staffing differently for it.  Digital is not about “take downs” of the TV spots.  It is also not about creating the digital fun house of every conceivable gimmicky application or banner trick.  What it is about is using the power of digital to create something meaningful and useful for consumers.

What gets in the way most of the time is that ad agencies can’t get beyond ads.  By that I mean that they go for the “now” without a thought for the long-term.  In the article from Ad Age, Rick Webb from the Barbarian Group says it best: “What they should have been taking away all of this time — and have increasingly begun to — are the concepts of the constant beta and agile development,” he says. “Marketers need to abandon the time-limited campaign online and start to think of it as a constant application of a rigorous discipline.”

Thinking in this manner puts a whole new and different spin on what a campaign is.  It’s not always about the new, quirky, clever idea.  Sometimes it’s about the smart, evolving, useful experience that make customers better enjoy the products we sell or the services we offer.  And we need the folks who for too long have been hidden in IT departments and technology practices, who understand software development and coding, to help us create in this digital frontier.

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  1. 16 Responses to “You Better Have Devs in Your Creative Department”

  2. By lisa on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    great article. i enjoyed reading it

  3. By Ryan Moede on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    Joe - solid post. I think it’s more the mindset than anything else: “What gets in the way most of the time is that ad agencies can’t get beyond ads.” It really takes a different type of team to think about how a brand can use a digital platform to better connect with their consumers and fans. Here’s to the geeks!

  4. By Derek Rey, VP of Ad.ly on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    Really really great blog post! And so true.

    This is the tragedy of the web and internet advertising. We have the internet, which is an amazing utility that creates billions and billions of impressions, and we have our creative industry, that produces amazing media experiences. Problem being, the \

  5. By Alex de Soto on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    I agree. Bring them on! But don’t forget the observations of Alan Cooper in The Inmates Are Running the Asylum

  6. By Schlomo McHagan on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    wait, how did you make those words happen on the internet?
    did subservient chicken do it for you?
    where’s the 30-second spot?

    give creatives a little credit, dude. we consume digital media day in and day out. if we can’t code, and not all of us can’t, doesn’t mean we don’t understand the landscape of technology.

    it’s our job to present responsible, feasible solutions to our clients– we don’t stay employed if we can’t.

  7. By Stuart on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    Loved this article. As interactive capabilities continue to grow, ad agencies will need to have a deeper understanding of the technology their clients will want and demand. The geek shall inherit the Earth.

  8. By hinsonian on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    those problems were rampant, but about 5 years ago. now we have digital creatives. these mutants actually understand both technology and storytelling, data convergence and conceptual reframing, aggregation and the bandwagon… creatives who are stuck (i hear you Schlomo) are also on their way out.

  9. By Tim Malbon on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    Only a mad, blind or frightened person could possibly believe you don’t need devs at the top table of creative decision making. Sadly, there are loads of them. If you can bring yourself to ‘get it’ that’s your competitive advantage right there.

  10. By Joe Mele on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    I need to apologize - I deleted someone’s comment on this posting when I actually meant to approve it. If you left a comment and you don’t see it posted, please resubmit it and I’ll try and get it up. Sorry about that. I am not trying to edit the conversation!!

    Joe

  11. By Mark Searcy on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    Joe,

    Glad to have bumped into this article! It\’s great to get this dialogue going as browsers are already past the beginning stages of replacing televisions and remotes.

    When you said \

  12. By crashzulu on Oct 6, 2009 | Reply

    For a slightly different, yet complimentary perspective read this:

    http://andshakers.com/industry/with-the

    It\’s pretty much the same argument made from the opposite side.

  13. By Len on Oct 7, 2009 | Reply

    I agree that technology needs to play a critical role. Just like an amazing director or cameraman or plays a critical role. But “It’s time for the devs to take over”?

    Are you forgetting that this is advertising and communication we’re doing? That the most important talent is more than knowing technology, but being able to connect with people?

    It sounds like it. Then again, if someone’s never successfully done this, it’s easy to hypothesize.

  14. By Ryan The Ad Dinosaur on Oct 7, 2009 | Reply

    Joe, you deleted my comment, no big deal. Basically stated, I am in the second school, better yet I have been placed into the second school. I have the desire to learn about new technology, but really am still a follower. Meaning, ok this company produced this … we can do that for our client. A poor way to stay current, but at least it forces us to become familiar with said technology. I try to read as much as possible, but realize I could spend the whole day researching what is possible and get no (billable < yuck) work done. I look for what the big boys are doing… and try to learn from them. What do you do?

  15. By James Sandoval on Oct 11, 2009 | Reply

    Nice post Joe. I especially like this line - “Every ad agency who pretends to know something about digital needs to start thinking differently about it and staffing differently for it.”

    Staffing. It starts here.

    Problem is, many agencies don’t have a clue how to find/hire/retain/grow the [right] talent.

    Actually, I’m wrong about staffing.

    It starts with agency leadership.

  16. By sagi chemetz on Oct 16, 2009 | Reply

    very interesting post.
    i am working with some big clients on digital and social media. i got some hard time this days from there ad agencies that start to see me as threat.
    from my point of view i see exactly what you talking about but i see a different challenge an a different goal.
    changing some of the clients infrastructure and changing the way organization work with agencies on marketing.
    1000 devs will not help if the client dont have the right position to understand specify and target is new needs.

  17. By Ray Velez on Nov 23, 2009 | Reply

    Thanks for this one Joe, I definitely agree, it’s all about us working together. Moving into service and towards helping people is the future of advertising, but since I don’t have a crystal ball, the future of advertising I would like to see.

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