Hasta La Creative!

My new column on Talent Zoo won’t be on the home page until Thursday, but you can check it out now.

I take a closer look at the BBDO/Big Spaceship/HBO/Cannes credit kerfuffle, as was discussed here.

We all know the MO of lead agencies—and by “lead agencies” I mean the brand agencies, traditional agencies, “big dumb agencies,” whatever you want to call them. They want control. Over ideas, money, credit, over everything. They’ll control it all until they die.

So it’s time for interactive agencies to step up. And open up. Or step back.

How? Start hiring idea people. Hire strategic thinkers. Look at brands from a more complete perspective. And offer more services to clients.

It’s gotten to the point where interactive shops hire people who’ve spent much of their careers doing online work. Which is doable given that marketing on the Internet has been around for 14 years or so. Those people are in demand.

But there’s a host of people who aren’t given a second glance, and they could potentially be the most valuable people to an interactive agency with dreams of growth and glory. The idea people aren’t always still thinking in strictly old media—TV, print, etc. They’re more open to new media than you might think, and they’re out there experimenting with everything from blogs to web videos to social media apps in their spare time.