Earlier this Fall, I had the chance to speak with Jakob Trollback of Trollback & Co. while we were both speaking at Interact 2008. He's a tremendous Creative Director, one of those guys who transcends platforms and is just plain good at being creative. He was nice enough to answer some questions and then update them recently (3.09)
Q: How has the role of the Creative Director changed from when you first began?
A: The Creative Director title, like all titles, have had different meanings at different companies. Coming from a design background, I was very surprised when I first found out that copywriters could be creative directors. From where I came, it was such a highly visual role, regardless of how conceptual the thinking may have been. Time passed, I started my own company and at about the same time, the market slowly started to shift. Old roles became – well – very old, and lines started to blur everywhere. We have been referred to as a design studio, a production company and a branding agency and all these roles have been served by a largely unchanged group of people. The big difference is that the visual component in a way has become the least important part today. It's so much more about understanding society, culture and human nature and figure out how to be relevant. For us, a lot of the ground work happens with words, then you have to find a way to emotionally engage people. Today's CD has to be like a world class DJ, because even if a decent DJ can keep people at content with hits, only the best understands and challenge the audience with new experiences do in a way that excites them and keeps them coming back.
Q: Do creative directors today need to be strategic leads too ro can they rely on planners et al?
A: As a CD, your only real task is to be relevant to society, or to a particular sector of society. To some degree, you may be guided by statistics and strategic thinking, but only as a starting point. You have to feel what is right, and dare to gamble on it. You also have to be a great salesman or your most interesting ideas will die. Planners and strategy are important tools to get new thinking out in the mainstream. Even if the creative idea is influenced by strategy, it has to raise above it and be so much more daring than a chart could ever be.
Q: Is “engagement” just a buzzword or does it really mean something? What?
A: The only way you can change someone's mind – or behavioral patterns – is to make them want to change. Only by showing that an idea (or product) matter, you can hope for result. So unless you can engage someone emotionally, you can only expect marginal success.
An old joke comes to mind:
Q: How many shrinks does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One – but only if the light bulb wants to change.
Here's a great video of Jakob at TED a year ago or so.
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