Sorry guys, I can’t help you here
Dave Trott is a creative director, copywriter, and author.
Trott studied at the Pratt Institute in New York City, majoring in advertising before going on to found the advertising agencies Gold Greenlees Trott, Bainsfair Sharkey Trott and Walsh Trott Chick Smith. In 2004 he was given the D&AD President’s Award for lifetime achievement in advertising.
Hi Dave,
The FSC magazine is a punkish, non-corporate, ground level HBR that feeds and is fed by a community of strategists and strategic thinkers. If that sounds of any interest then we would love to chat to you over lunch to get your thoughts on ‘What the F#@k is Strategy?’ - and how it can develop as real creative practice in its own right.
cheers
Justin
Hi Justin,
Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back. I’ve been thinking over what to write without it sounding rude.
The fact is I don’t see strategy as separate to what I do, and I’m an ECD. In fact stripping it out from creativity is (for me) like changing from painting to painting-by-numbers. Strategy is (IMHO) an integral part of the creative process. For me, separating the job into silos for different departments turns advertising from creativity into a production-line conveyor belt.
The other thing is that the whole point of strategy, for me, is simplifying. Separating it out into a separate discipline must be about complicating it. That’s how guys who only do strategy justify their jobs. The best strategist was Bill Bernbach, then guys like George Lois, Carl Ally, Ed McCabe, Mike Tesch, all creatives. So you can see I can’t really help with an interview that separates strategy from everything else. Sorry I can’t be more helpful Justin.
dave
Hi Dave,
Not sure you will remember our email exchange below around a quarterly magazine I am starting?
It has evolved and it is no longer purely concentrating on Strategy but now represents the Creative Industries. It is called The FSC Mag (for Future Thinkers & Doers) and is launching in March/April. Our first issue is titled ‘Future Thinkers, where the fuck are you?’ – and laments the fact that most of our brilliant young minds in the Creative Industries spend their time creating a new car advert while the Earth burns (geopolitically, economically, environmentally).
But...the mag is much more than that. We are aiming at a mix of HBR and Private Eye...some great in-depth articles plus a lot of piss take. I was wondering if you would be interested in contributing a short piece on the future of the advertising industry? Would love to get your view on it.
Cheers
Justin
Hi Justin,
I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but you’ve touched on a particular bête noire of mine. IMHO too many people are thinking about ‘the future’ (and calling themselves ‘futurists’) as a way of avoiding crossing what’s wrong right here and now. Especially in advertising. For me ‘the future’ is escapism from a reality they don’t like, which explains the massive rise in science fiction/fantasy.
Sorry Justin, I can’t help you here.
dave