How Top Creatives Learn From the Work of Others
There is value in evaluating work and being inspired by the process
Plenty of agencies look at work by other agencies and get jealous, wishing they had made those spots. That’s why Adweek runs its annual Jealous List. But do agencies also look at other work to learn from it?
The answer is complicated, but creativity is more than just inspiration. It’s about learning from the best, analyzing how good creative works and helps sell products and ideas. Adweek spoke with agency folks who weighed in on how they find inspiration from other work and how that helped them learn and grow.
“Whether you’re looking at your agency’s work or another agency’s work, it reminds everyone that anything is possible,” Dan West, svp and creative director at Lippe Taylor, told Adweek. “We need to continually remind ourselves that there’s so much more out there.”
West shared his agency’s creative exercise on LinkedIn, one that brought the team together to analyze work that didn’t end up making the final cut. He said the experience helped unlock potential for future projects, and he hopes it inspires others to do the same.
“Maybe it’s as simple as a turn of phrase or maybe it’s a complex way someone used data, but no matter what it is, great work helps you find a new way of looking at the world,” said West.
Looking outside the agency walls
Outside work can inspire more great work, but to use the work of others as motivation means being conscious of why the work was good and what it accomplished. It also takes an effort not to be derivative.
“I’m a firm believer in jealousy as fuel for creativity. We look to other agencies’ work not so much to get ideas, but to get jealous,” Tom Murphy, chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson North America, told Adweek.
It’s a benefit from the client side as well, getting the creative juices flowing from the agency and brand.
“Practically, before we kick off campaign development, we’ll share with our clients interesting campaigns we’ve found that solve similar problems to theirs,” said Chris Buhrman, executive creative director at Hanson Dodge.
Jill Applebaum, CCO of purpose-driven agency Public Inc., said that every creative can get envious when seeing a great piece of work by another agency, which she said isn’t jealousy, but a “motivating kick in the ass … I’m inspired by friends at other agencies all the time,” she said.
She noted two examples: “The Climate Pledge” as a great big idea, as well as “Made by Choice” by 72andSunny, which she holds as a reminder “that we should push ourselves beyond a great script.”
The Progressive Insurance ads by Arnold are a source of inspiration for Wade Alger, group creative director at GSD&M, who said he uses inspiration from others to push himself and his team to create more relevant and ownable work.
“I like the insights Progressive uses—human truths rather than weird for weird sake. We try to find these ideas day in and day out for our clients. When you find them, it is gold,” said Alger.
Atit Shah, chief creative officer at Digitas, is an admirer of quality outside work.
“I’m often drawn to work examples that are instructive in how we think, those that provide new doorways of exploration and new principles, vs. in how we make, the technical and executional marvel, because you can apply the former to everything we do,” said Shah.
Shah has shared the Volkswagen “Inside Jobs” campaign by DDB Paris because of the creative way it tried to recruit mechanics: through engine parts and axles doing the talking. “Work like this encourages our teams to turn over every stone in a brand’s network to make an impact, the outward, the inward and the in between,” he said.
Mona Hasan, creative director at Fortnight Collective, searches for advertising manifestos to feel out different tonalities and brand positionings.
“It’s a reminder to myself that there is no real structure or rule to anything we do. Good ideas are good ideas,” said Hasan, noting that she keeps efforts by Nike Running, Girl Scouts and Diesel handy as examples.
Chris May, CCO at Elephant, said that the agency looks at what other agencies are doing, especially when it comes to work that the IPG agency got to pitch but lost.
“Seeing how the work evolved from the initial brief and became a real thing through a competitor is a good learning experience for the whole team,” said May.
May also takes note of how other companies position themselves through their websites and social media to search for points of differentiation. He also noted that the agency can take away from a failed pitch by seeing how its teams worked together and save that learning for later.
Design work from other agencies inspires Travis Robertson, co-founder and ecd at Colossus, who cited the business problem-solving design work of Collins Design as well as the “bizarre energy” coming from Fisk in Portland, plus experimental practices like IMG Labs and new media collectives like Tundra. Robertson admitted that the agency’s recent work for Cumberland Farms is a slight nod to the Miller High Life films from Errol Morris.
Battery’s group creative director Drea Schneider has a purpose when she looks to outside work for inspiration.
“It’s usually to figure out how it got approved and produced. What about it made it an unignorable idea that a client would take a leap of faith for? I’ve often shown client partners these types of case studies to give them the confidence that bold work can move the needle,” said Schnieder, who cited Liquid Death campaigns as inspirational for brand strategy.
Since creatives are always looking for inspiration, the agency Anchor Worldwide has made its weekly creative dept meeting one of sharing. Everyone brings one piece of work to the meeting, which doesn’t have to be advertising, that they recently found and loved.
“We discuss it as a group. What makes it great? What made it connect? What takeaways can we apply to our clients?” said Aaron Sedlak, CCO of Anchor Worldwide.
Looking inward
West said that Lippe Taylor agency looked to its own work that hadn’t been produced to nurture its people.
“If we’re going to unlock potential for our brands and our clients, we have to realize it in ourselves first … We’ve done really great work and we’re going to do more,” said West.
John Weiss, co-founder of brand and communications agency Human, said that looking at work from other agencies might create derivative outcomes, so his team instead references past Human work and ideas that didn’t get produced.
“It’s less about the work and more about the process we used to get to the end result,” said Weiss.
Indie agency Marcus Thomas has established a universal language for fostering creativity for the agency and its clients it calls The Standard, a framework that outlines key criteria that defines exceptional creative work both internally and externally.
“Through rigorous discussions, we delve into the reasons behind the strength of a particular campaign or piece of work. We scrutinize various aspects such as the human insight it offers, the emotional resonance it evokes, the degree of familiarity or surprise in its concept, and the level of craftsmanship demonstrated, among other factors,” said Jamie Venorsky, partner and CCO at Marcus Thomas.
Justin Ralph, creative director at Preacher, believes the most useful and unique inspiration comes from personal lived experiences and observations. He gave an example that, when he was walking his dog, a guy was doing splits in the middle of the road, which was a full sensory experience.
“I’m not sure how or when ‘splits guy’ will become useful in the ad world, but he’s a character I now have ready to go,” said Ralph.
No matter where inspiration comes from, it’s vital that agencies learn from it in some way.
“We share every pitch with the entire team so even if you weren’t on it, you can get inspired by the great work that was put into it,” said Ellie Lloyd, executive creative director at Glow.