The UK’s venerable Designers and Art Directors Association – D&AD – appears to have received an injection of energy from Uncommon with the agency producing a new global campaign inviting us to consider if creativity is dead (including a vast Times Square billboard complete with funereal imagery ) and Uncommon’s head of design Lisa Smith taking over as D&AD’s president.
Smith says:“Creativity doesn’t die, it drifts. It gets buried under deadlines, data and fear of taking risks. This manifesto is a reminder to the industry that ideas are only as powerful as the people brave enough to make them real. As creative leaders, we have a responsibility to protect that spirit—to keep making, experimenting and proving that bold, human ideas still matter. D&AD exists to champion that pulse. To show that creativity isn’t just alive — it’s vital.”
Good to see (some) creative agencies fighting back against the tech-driven performance nerds. BBH boss Karen Martin, the new president of Britain’s IPA trade association, has been pushing the same message. This isn’t the whole story but it’s important just the same. As Joni Mitchell wrote all those years ago: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.”
