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Creativity Online

To Tech or Not to Tech: Creatives Roundtable 2009

What happens when you get more than a dozen big creative minds in one room? See for yourself in video excerpts from Creativity's annual pow-wow of top talents. Check out the latest clips featuring a discussion on personal branding, curation and hiring.

Published: Jul 07, 2009
Photo Credit: Chris Cassidy
For our yearly Top Creatives Report, Creativity assembled more than a dozen of advertising's finest at the Soho House in N.Y. to discuss the finer points of the job and the business. Curation, catching up with technology, hiring and what NOT to do at awards shows were among the many subjects tossed around during the sometimes heated, often laughter-filled session. Make sure to check back in over the next few days for more clips.

Participants: Tom Ajello, founding partner, Poke, N.Y.; Jerome Austria, CD, W+K, N.Y.; Conor Brady, CCO, Organic; Susan Credle, ECD, BBDO/N.Y.; Mark Figliulo, CCO, TBWA/Chiat/Day, N.Y.; Terry Finley, GCD, Ogilvy & Mather N.Y.; Adam Glickman, Creative Partner, BBH Labs; Gerry Graf, CCO, Saatchi/N.Y..; Kris Kiger, Senior VP, managing director, visual design, R/GA; Tim Roper, CD, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky; Ted Royer, ECD, Droga5; Mark Waites, CD/founding partner, Mother London; Tom Webster, CD/partner, Mother Experience N.Y.

The qualities--and stunts--that add up to a great new hire.
How people are becoming their own brands and the role of curation in digital culture.
What role does experimentation play in the current creative climate?

The lifespan of a CMO and its affects on long-term creative vision.

Things are starting to get interesting.

Which comes first, tech, or the idea?

Think you know what your job's all about? Think again. . .

Just in time for the close of awards season--how NOT to annoy a jury.

3 Comments: By tsand July 2nd, 2009 06:37:28 pm

I always wanted to be in advertising (a creative director) ever since I first saw 30something on TV (and that movie where Tom Hanks was an ad exec in Chicago). Now that I'm 30something, glad the Web came along and distracted me. Sounds like they look for Web candy, figure out how they can hack it into something the client will eat, then place it in a bowl for others to consume. FAIL. Are smaller agencies more nimble, inventive when it comes to tech?

By sungoshine July 8th, 2009 06:23:34 am

Great stuff guys. Thanks for putting this up. I believe the only 'problem' for ad agencies entering this new era is their earning model (especially if you're part of one of the conglomerates). Everyone is still fighting to get the biggest piece of the cake instead of figuring out the best creative (be it technology driven or not) to the problem at hand.

Cheers from Amsterdam.

By csavala July 9th, 2009 02:53:04 am

This is a fantastic post! After recently joining a creative mentorship group and getting involved with an open forum such as this, I was thrilled to discover like-minds sharing consumer trends, technological insights and gazing into the enigmatic crystal ball of creativity TOGETHER – as a community. This event and post is another brilliant example of a path that I sincerely hope continues to branch out and thus we can all glean the enlightened rewards for ourselves, our businesses, our clients and their customers.

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