Rick's Response

Rick Stanton, Creative Director/Stanton & Everybody

This is Rick's response to the article posted this morning: http://www.digitaltonto.com/archives/511

This is a very thought provoking article.
One of things you realize when you look back on a career as long as mine is
variation on an old axiom; everything new is old again.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words "This is something
completely unique that's going to change everything."
And it rarely does. It just becomes another tool in the kit.
And no matter what it always comes back to the same basic rules.
1. Great creative makes your media valuable. No matter if it's TV, radio,
print, DM or web banners. If it doesn't connect on an emotional level in
some way, it won't stick. And if it's really crappy creative it can cancel
out a lot of brand goodwill pretty fast.
2. Know your audience. That is even more important than ever. What are their media habits? What other trends are affecting them like fashion, music, street language, etc. What matters to them the most? The least? Connectivity is a one to one matter these days. It not about traditional demographics, it's the individual that matters.
3. No matter the media it comes down to effective reach and frequency. Jon's proven that, over and over with all media.
And to his credit, he has seen the importance of many of the things in this
article.

I loved the comments about staying the course and not changing creative
because you're tired of it. Most people are probably just starting to get it
about the time you hate it.
There's a great story about Henry Ford walking through the creative
department at the company's agency. Upon seeing an ad for Ford on a counter
he said, "We need a new ad. I'm sick of this one." The agency guy said,
"Sir, we haven't even run it yet." That's how I feel when I do a TV spot or
a radio spot. I'm pretty tired of it about the time we send it the client.
Great article.