Steve Jobs firmly believed in breaking away from a distopian future in which large corporations (specifically for Jobs, IBM) monopolozed the innovation industry and sucked creativity out of the world altogether. This mentality is clearly why Jobs believed so wholeheartedly in the now-famous “1984″ Apple commercial. 

Watching the spot, it is clear that it was born out of the mind of a creative, and was championed by creatives, despite every account planner and investor who said, “but it doesn’t even show the Mac.”

Now, those planners, strategists, investors, etc. had every reason to doubt the ad. They had every reason to believe that the ad should actually show the product that it was advertising. (They also had every reason to not hire nationalist skinheads to appear in the spot, but it saved them a ton of money, so they were okay with that).

To wax poetically the way only a creative can: 

The best ideas defy logic and reason.

Are there pockets of the industry that are becoming eerily similar to 1984? Seeing large agencies with even larger holding companies, I fear the monopoly of creativity in our historically innovative and idea-centric industry. I also fear the an increased presence of nationalist skinheads, but that’s technically unrelated. 

Lining up in rows and marching in one direction will cause us to stagnate.

I know that big agencies, independent or otherwise, are finding ways to hurl the hammer at that stagnation, and that is reassuring. Saatchi & Saatchi is huge, and they still churned out the wildly creative and improbably successful Tide Super Bowl campaign.

We have creatives for a reason. Believe in them.

-James Vos

5.11.18