At the corner of Art and Commerce, there is small crime scene. Bright yellow Police caution tape blocks off the corner close to the crosswalk. There is one chalk outline in the shape of Authenticity near another one in the shape of Talent. A few policemen and reporters pass by, but honestly, they seem more interested in the hot dog stand just ten feet away.
Talent and originality and cultivated, educated skill just aren’t as valuable anymore. There are cheaper ways to do the job “good enough” for those who just do not care, but just want to get out in time for happy hour and their rerun of 2 ½ Men. This is not limited to my advertising profession, but across the board: marketing, design, education, sales, art, music, literature, manufacturing, food and beverage, and even blogs like this.
It is not all necessarily bad; just not necessarily fresh or innovative. The progress of technology has connected artists and marketers in ways our predecessors would never have thought possible. I think of the struggling, talented graphic artists and would-be copywriters of the 1960s or early 1980s (when advertising was the rock-n-roll of the business world) who could have used the luxuries of online portfolios, ftp sites and LinkedIn accounts to get noticed by ad agency executives and brands alike. But with the advancements of communication and availability of talent (or something similar disguised as talent) have come a level of supply that perhaps has overwhelmed the demand. Ease and speed have replaced the core values of originality and skill for so many businesses, especially due to the price.
For example, twenty years ago an ad agency would hire an experienced, talented photographer with expensive equipment to shoot a hired model on location of which they had to rent or pay a sizeable donation to secure. This would all be for a rather routine, mundane print ad that would appear in any newspaper weeks after the whole production. It would look terrific, and different than most any other in that newspaper. Today, we have any company that could put out a blurb on Facebook that they need X photo or snag a $3 royalty-free stock photo and drop it into a template low-resolution banner ad that goes on any number of websites just hours – no, MINUTES – before the ad goes live. The photo may be common, it may be less than perfect, it may be the standard picture on every Hallmark card and picture frame on store shelves across the country, and it may contain inconsistencies; but it doesn’t matter because it’s quick and easy….and cheap. The artist who gave up his/her stock photo for a few bucks can collect his/her $0.90 commission and have a new story to boast at the lunch table of his/her REAL, actual, day job.
With the rise in popularity and accessibility of affordable, quality point-and-click cameras, the photography business has surely suffered. Customers are more than willing to sacrifice quality for cost in all sorts of scenarios, so why should art be any different? The economic trickle-down is abundant. Painters, draftsmen, sketch artists, copywriters, graphic designers, and other artists have to compete with others that simply were not even in the game years ago. This leads to a commonality among competing brands for which these commercial artists work, and a commonality in the artists themselves.
However dismal this sounds, there is always a positive or two to take away from scenarios like these. The level of respect for those true, original, talented artists is a bit broader than before. These folks have options, they have short cuts and the ability to “borrow” at every turn; but they choose not. Instead, these purists create with their brains and into their hands and outwardly onto paper or screen…or digital file. So when it is good, it is great. So when it is recognized, it is applauded.
It’s like how we defend the great Major League Baseball players of today who choose not to do PEDs and come short of homerun records and bulky stats. We respect them more because they have sacrificed the record books to “play the game the right way,” and settle for warning-track power. The purists take note and admire the virtuous paths and, in some cases, it pumps more air into the more mediocre stats because they somehow come off as able to keep up with the best of them in an unfair fight.
However, I do think it is cyclical. I think right now we are riding an affordability and settle-for-less wave that is just temporary. Just like how the media exploded into mega-corporations over a decade ago, I think we are on the brink of a sea change. Bigger companies, bigger partnerships, bigger chains and conglomerates have consistently stepped up higher and higher over the last 15 years. But just like the backlash of so many things, I think big media has produced just as many, if not more, anti-big media. For coffee fans, Starbucks is enormous, but there are just as many anti-Starbucks fans. Some really don’t like the coffee; some really don’t like the price. But I believe that most simply don’t like the perception. There is an aura and attitude associated with that green-label; it’s thought of as snobbish and elitist to just as many people who adore it. You look around and see hundreds of people holding their Starbucks cups, you may want to be the rebel who has brand x just for the sake of standing out. For talk radio, the Rush Limbaugh movement grew and grew, but now I see a change where audiences (and hosts) want a more localized, personal voice. Forget the national news and views – we’ve searched for those for years and now those are everywhere– but now we are in reverse. Now we have to hunt for the local stories and local stars. I think that is why sports talk radio has been so vibrant over the last decade. Smaller scale and more attention. It’s not better, it’s just different.
I say the same is with our era of creativity. I think we are on the brink of a new season. It isn’t here yet maybe, at least not everywhere; but it is coming. It may not be a big splash, but it will be spread far and wide. It may even be more valued this time around. Until then, I’d like to have a moment of silence for our dear friends, Authenticity and Talent. They weren’t always the best-dressed and they rarely had the nicest cars in the lot, but things sure were more fun with them around. We could always count on them and I think it’s safe to say that we all look forward to meeting up with them again.
-Lance LaRue, Advertising & Creative Manager at Americom Marketing Ad Agency in Beaumont, Texas 2011
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