So his ideas on selling an experience are still valid. If you look at <a href=”http://www.pacstarinsuranceaz.com”>auto insurance</a>. Enterprise will pick you up; and they really do. If that is something you really need which most people renting a car do then that will get your attention. If the person checking you out the car picks you up and you have 5 min to have small talk you are going to have a really great experience.

I think this is an important post because it's more of a call to action to agencies; as Stuart Foster sees it, that are dropping the ball. I've been known to take things a bit too literally in my old age.

But your message is really one of balance, not an all out massacre of Creative departments the world over.

BTW, good post.

This is my basic point.

You need to be on the ground in this world. You can't be an armchair general merely thinking of ideas that aren't practical.
Who said anything about ungrounded ideas? We're not talking about crazy tactics like projecting your logo on the moon, we're talking about concepts built on human behavior, social trends, emotional connections. Creative ideas come from living life and understanding human needs. That is far more valuable than just building a pretty web site, no matter how well it functions.

Great, you sold your clients on a pitch of nonsense and unicorns. What then?
Personally I've never sold a client nonsense and unicorns, teddy bears maybe. What then? Execution of course. Creative ideas and stellar execution are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact they need each other to be successful. The best idea in the world, if poorly executed will fail, conversely the best execution of a crap idea will also fail.

Ideas are easy. Idea Execution is where the work is.
I think it's great that you've found a niche: execution. Some of us prefer to work both on the ideas side as well as the execution side, or, if we're only capable of conceptualizing and need assistance with the execution of a specific tactic, we hire someone who specializes in that form of execution. An example: I don't program, or at least I haven't since the late 90s. When I'm developing a BIG IDEA and looking at how it will be executed, I will handle the web design and pass the development off to an affordable super star. I'll also hire a DOP and studio to shoot the video, and find just the right printer to handle the direct mail. That frees me up to edit the video, start building up the social media presence, designing the Facebook app and mobile site.

Hmm.. so your position is that ideas are bullshit, full of nonsense and unicorns and that it's all about idea execution. So if ideas are bullshit and your work is to execute bullshit, that sounds like a fun career.
Now, I never said that execution isn't important, on the contrary, it's very important. But the phrase “idea execution” begins with… (drum roll please) IDEA!
Your assertion is that

You need to be on the ground in this world. You can't be an armchair general merely thinking of ideas that aren't practical.

Great, you sold your clients on a pitch of nonsense and unicorns. What then?

Ideas are easy. Idea Execution is where the work is.

When functionality and business process is established to a science? This stuff doesn't matter as much. Travel and Insurance companies don't market on anything other then price. You go with the lowest quote period.

This obviously doesn't work in every single scenario. Hell it probably doesn't work in a bunch of 'em. But it's damn important to recognize the shift taking place.

However, when the language and thinking isn't there? It becomes a huge issue.

I love good advertising. I just don't think you should build your functionality around that.

So, if you're talking about traditional agencies with a 60s mindset, I agree, we see them fail or outsource all the time. If you're talking about Don Draper, the personification of the creative director, you're right, he would make a terrible engineer, but he'd kick out the best MESSAGE and outsource the engineering to Sterling, Cooper, Draper's India office.

As for whether or not a traditional agency would build a great building: no that would be an architect, the most famous of whom said “Form Follows Function”. Even Frank Lloyd Wright understood that form and function are intrinsically intimate. The actual quote is: “Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”. Metrics aren't the campaign, the engagement, or the goal, they are merely the tools at measuring your success or failure in order to learn from both.