Britain's powerful creative heritage is recognised the world over, but where does that heritage come from? Do today's industry's movers and shakers – from the old guard to the budding newcomers – really feel part of a great British tradition stretching across the decades?
At Life Agency, winners of the best newcomer trophy at the 2010 Best Awards, creative director Martin Tripp says that despite heading up an agency barely three years old and known for its fresh thinking, he really does feel part of a creative tradition. "The UK is held in high regard, so you want to be a continuation of that heritage," he says.
But in an industry that is all about finding a fresh angle, can having a fantastic creative heritage really help you as you wrestle with your latest brief? Tripp agrees that finding the freshest angle is the whole point of everything they do. "You start with a blank piece of paper and a brief," he says, "and that's a thrill that keeps me creatively engaged." But he also points out that the great campaigns of the past still play an important role in shaping the great campaigns of the future.
"Every decade and era of the industry has produced something exceptional and we reference that past every time we sit down to work on a brief," he says. "Often it's just thrown around as part of the creative process and idea generation – people will say 'oh do you remember that' or 'do you remember the way they did this'. Good creative is timeless, after all."
Jeremy Craigen, now executive creative director at DDB London, has 20 years at the top of his industry in comparison to Life Agency's three but, like Tripp, he believes there is much to be gained from raiding the industry's history. Craigen remembers the energy of the 80s and says his personal inspiration is legendary creative John Webster, who created the award-winning Smash martians campaign for Cadbury's mashed potato and The Guardian's "points of view" TV ads. "If he were alive today he would be doing ground-breaking stuff with virals," he says. "All his ideas ended up being talked about in the playground and in the pub."
Craigen believes that despite the downturn the confidence is coming back into advertising, but says an obsession with the internet as the answer to everything and an unhealthy emphasis on return on investment could prove potential danger spots. His solution? "Be brave."
Indeed, according to Tripp, adapting to changing circumstances, whether in terms of technology or the economic climate, is at the heart of the British approach. At Life Agency, that means taking an integrated approach so that the message comes first and the medium second. But with clients firmly focused on business objectives, it has also meant taking an extremely clear-eyed approach to creative strategy.
"We call it 'question everything'," Tripp says. "It can be quite a challenging approach, but it means we can ensure our creative is on brief and highly effective. Ultimately it's about logic and magic: you've got to get the logic – the strategy – right for the creative magic to happen."
