On 13th May, OWB hosted our own chapter of the D&AD Dead or Alive series at our Dean Street digs, where thirty senior marketers came to help us answer one question that’s been making the creative industry collectively nervous: is creativity dead or alive?
What followed was not your average afternoon.
The case for the prosecution
Tommy Joe Moore, our Head of Creative, made the case for creativity’s demise with impressive commitment and a truly, truly AWFUL shirt. The room listened. They also silently judged.
Here’s 8 things we learned from the defence team
1. Weird works
The 118 advert. Remember that iconic little ad? Well, it’s somehow still living rent-free in our heads decades later. There’s a lesson in that. Be weird.
2. Consumers have noticed the robots
People are disengaging from AI-generated content, and that even includes brands they’ve loved for years. Lifeless is lifeless, however big the budget behind it.
3. The best stories can’t be prompted
Bloom & Wild’s Mother’s Day campaign worked because it was raw, human and messy in all the right ways. No amount of iteration gets you there, because you just can’t replicate human experience and all its lovely little bits of chaos.
4. Craft is not a nice-to-have
It’s the thing that makes the difference between a campaign that reaches a million people and one that disappears into the feed. OWB’s Grace Kelly campaign proved it.
5. Insights is everything
Burger King didn’t need to be first in the real world. They just needed to be first in the game world. One sharp observation led to one of the smartest marketing plays in recent memory.
6. The best brands participate. But they don’t broadcast.
ASICS sold trainers without mentioning trainers. Mindblowingly hilarious, it’s a completely different way of thinking about what marketing is for.
7. If the internet wants to make it a thing, let it.
Take Vaseline – the brand didn’t invent their TikTok moment, that came from its consumers. They just had the wit to jump in when it arrived (banana and all).
8. Dying can be a brand strategy.
Duolingo killed their mascot and the internet grieved – even if said mascot was threatening them on a daily basis to complete their lessons. It led to an impressive amount of chaos and memes, and that’s brand love you just can’t manufacture.
Building the monster
So… the verdict. We put the vote to the people, and we’re happy to announce that, to them at least, creativity isn’t dead. It’s thriving in the right hands. The brands cutting through right now are bringing the sharpest human insight and the courage to do something that couldn’t have come from a prompt.
The big finale
You have indeed heard right through the grape vine. Andy DID emerge from beneath an autopsy sheet for the grand finale. He had the time of his life. Full of whimsy, some might say. We just enjoyed the five minutes of peace…
The verdict
So… the verdict. We put the vote to the people, and we’re happy to announce that, to them at least, creativity isn’t dead. It’s thriving in the right hands. The brands cutting through right now are bringing the sharpest human insight and the courage to do something that couldn’t have come from a prompt.
Thank goodness our jobs are safe for another day!
