How Paper Moose and Innocean Fell in Love with the Work
There is an old saying from an old comic book which reads “with great power, comes great responsibility.”
As cheesy and cliché as that saying is, there is an incredible amount of truth behind it. As a collective, our industry has the power to move hearts and minds in profound ways, simply by saying “buy this now”.
Our industry influences the cost of living, what band to listen to, what movies to watch, what clothes look best, what to eat, what is right, what is wrong, who gets to govern all of us.
All of that responsibility boils down to a copywriter, or an art director, or a DOP, or a ECD or even a CMO. It is a massive responsibility and one that is, thankfully, taken seriously.
It’s a responsibility that should be protected and treasured. After all, to be creative is to be vulnerable and while the majority of the industry nurtures and encourages this wondrous creativity, there are few out there that like to hop onto the internet to scream their ‘anonymous’ negative comments into what we can only hopefully assume they think to be a harmless void… no one could be that clueless and horrible, right?
Or perhaps they are sitting back in a boardroom chair, giving feedback that is harmful rather than helpful. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion and no one should be taking that right away from anyone, there is a decorum in place when it comes to giving constructive and well mannered criticism that many aren’t following.
Instead of focusing on the good and giving educated and constructive feedback on what can be improved, we too often see abuse and uninformed slander.
Paper Moose’s creative director, Jeremy Willmott and Innocean Australia’s CEO, Jasmin Bedir have partnered together to “Drop The Shade”, and are saying enough is enough. The pair aim to create a platform that gives people the tools they need surrounding creative feedback, starting with a survey designed to ‘unpick what’s going on and understanding the issues,” faced by creatives at all levels of the industry.
Casey Martin spoke to both Jeremy and Jasmin on the future of this endeavour. To find more information about the initiative and the survey itself, click here.
LBB> What is your own personal mission statement for this initiative?
Jasmin> Our staff have been at the receiving end of some horrendously ill-informed anonymous comments on trade publications over the years and so have I. It had always shocked me how this was possible in Australia, in such a small industry and how there was no action being taken by any industry body to actually make this stop. I’ve spoken to plenty of other senior execs in the industry, from creative to production to strategy and they were all feeling the way I felt about it.
So when Jeremy and I started chatting I just thought to myself, let’s just take a closer look at this and see if we can actually create something positive out of it that will bring the industry forward.
I’ve been working in Advertising for 25 years now and I still love every day of it. I feel that those can make a difference actually should, and I count myself in that group.
Jeremy> Our idea was to promote better conversations and better creative feedback in the industry. There is something we can do about the negativity surrounding the industry, we can actually tackle the systemic problem.
The only way we can really affect any sort of change in our industry is to take a step above. The impact of our words is really important, our motivation for this new step in “Drop The Shade” is to harness that importance and use it to ensure that our working environments are enjoyable, safe and most importantly, creative.
If you’ve got nothing nice to say then don’t say anything, or if you are going to have criticism, put your name to it, stand behind your words and be open to having a discussion and conversation with the people you are criticising.
LBB> What material changes are you hoping this makes? What is the ultimate goal?
Jasmin> I’m hoping that the results of the survey give us some insights into how the wider industry feels, but also give us the opportunity to rise above and create some positivity and pride in the work we’re creating. Because all of this negativity actually affects all of us, every single person that touches the work and that even includes marketers.
I would hope that we will end up with a voluntary code of conduct of some sort that even publishers agree to, so that we raise the level of conversation we’re having in this industry. And of course the ultimate goal is also to protect everyone’s mental health.
Jeremy> When you put people in a room and ask for feedback there is a tendency to focus on the negative. For younger creatives, who are trying to figure things out and do the best work they can, need to have the good in their work nurtured so it can grow into something greater than what it already is. Along with younger creatives, those who are seasoned professionals aren’t immune to the hurtful, personal comments on their work either.
I’ve seen the side of extremely talented people questioning their career choices because of the sometimes overwhelming unnecessary negativity that surrounds them.
After gaining the results of this survey, we are hoping to create a platform that informs, educates and is a safe space for creatives. We hope the industry starts to focus on the good.
LBB> What does the future look like for this project?
Jasmin> That’s the fun part – we don’t know yet. But we’re hoping for a feel good industry level campaign that brings us all closer. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Jeremy> We have no idea what the future holds for us. We have plans and hopes in place as the platform goes. We’d like it to be an educational, safe space for creatives and perhaps, a voluntary code of conduct be produced once receiving the results of the survey.
That's our starting point, a survey to understand exactly what this industry needs.
