Traditionalists vs. Digitalists

Who cares? Yeah, that’s right, I said it. Who cares? Today is October 6, 2008 and everyday there are still articles in Adweek, Adage, and industry blogs talking about “the great divide”, the “benefits and challenges” and the almighty “how do they integrate?”

C’mon people, wasn’t that the topic of conversation in 2002? It’s time to move on. I don’t know what’s more embarrassing – the fact that agencies are still trying to figure it out or the fact that the industry still sees this as a topic of discussion.

I’ll let you in on a little secret – you can explain all you want about what your agency does and how your agency does it but none of it matters. Why? Because clients don’t care about our problems. All they want are solutions that solve their current business challenge. Period. They don’t care if your traditional art director’s feelings are hurt because some younger interactive whiz kid delivered like he never could.

How about we just all agree to focus on the agencies that have figured it out? How about we stop classifying creative as traditional and interactive? How about, as my friend Alan Wolk pointed out at The Toad Stool, we aspire to be architects for our clients and not contractors?

Solutions that solve a client’s business problem can have a million points of entry or one. Solutions are ideas. And the agency with the best ideas wins. It’s that simple.