Stelvio 2009.

Following last years road trip to Stelvio on the 'Lotus Alpine Tour' it's a second visit for me this year.

France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, France and back to Blighty. All in just under 3k miles.

They say a picture tells a thousand words.

So Ill leave you with a view and a link to some more...

Inside the machine.

The end of October brought a spell at Agency 'C'. And if you've read the earlier post on the first agency to grace these pages you would of spotted a trend developing. Agency 'X'.

It was working for a giant in the electrical goods arena and one with the not so common practice of producing some of it's advertising in house. Although far from all of it. The more informed of you may by now know of whom I'm referring to.

There are the obvious pros and cons for any company producing it's advertising in house. The upside being you can see the client/decision makers a lot quicker and easier than when you're an external agency based somewhere else. Those last minute hurdles and unforeseen problems that need quick answers to get addressed much more quickly. And as deadlines drive everything it's all the better for it I say.

The down side has to be the classic departmental head deciding to pop down to the creative floor because the client/marketing department wants a quick change made immediately. Where as the ad agency/creative not being in the same building would bring an air of 'we'll look at diaries and arrange a meeting as soon as possible' when we aren't very busy with everything else right now.

Plus the big one. The cultural differences. This has got to be much more of a fabulous opportunity than it ever is a recipe for Clash of the Titans. Imagine the strengths that would come from a well synergize meeting of departments. A client that gets to see and therefore understand how an agency reaches it's very best work and by default also what leads to the creation of very poor work. Or am I being the eternal optimist? I like to think not.

What have I learned from it? I know there are many more companies that use this philosophy for a variety of reasons. And for me this was a great opportunity for a great insight into it.

One I'll take forward.

If you can't beat them. Join them.

It's been a long time coming and something that I've seen become an ever increasing requirement for the conceptual Art Director. Mac skills. I've chosen this topic because in my pursuit in creating this years logo and car stickers for the 'Lotus Alpine Tour 2009' I've had to learn Photoshop and Illustrator with pleasing results. But there's a down side too.

Not so long ago as an Art Director working with a Copywriter you were charged with the sole responsibility of answering the creative brief for the development and creation of a well crafted, successful advertisement in whatever guise was deemed most appropriate. And this is still the case today. But where 'best of breed' was a philosophy the majority of ad agencies could afford to follow with budgets that allowed for this. With dedicated specialists filling dedicated positions. Art Director. Copywriter. Designer. Artworker. And never the two shall meet. How many of these roles today now blur into one?

Has 'Master of One' become 'Jack of All' and are we now delivering a weaker product for it? But more importantly and without knowing it, is the client ultimately the cause of this? Is their paying of peanuts, delivering monkeys?

Times and budgets have changed and therefore so has agencies resources. But I've also noticed a perception in some quarters that best of breed appears to have never existed! Surely 95 to 05 wasn't that long ago. Have we lost a lot of the more experienced hands or because of the recession playing towards the smaller players. Am I increasingly dealing with more smaller agencies than I may not have done so 5 years ago? In all honesty I suspect it's a bit of both.

Anyway I've detoured. My point is that the continued reduction in budgets and possible reduction of experienced agencies hands too, has led us to a place where as a senior Art Director. I'm increasingly being asked to Conceptualize, Art Direct, Write, Mac up (full design not just mac scamp as to be honest there isn't really such a thing as a mac scamp) and even Art Work the advertisements I'm charged with rationalizing and creating. If that's the nature of today's budgets then so be it. But there's a price to pay and it's a self fueling circle.

The 'Jack of All' approach only leads to a compromised product. Not necessarily in time spent on the job as I know we work even longer hours than we used to. But in the quality of service the product receives at each of it's departmental stages. And with the competition fighting ever harder for every piece of the pie, crumbs and all. Can you and should you be reducing the resources needed to deliver the best product possible?

There is an up side for us Art Directors. Learning the programs that the Designers use to build the creative we produce and art direct does give you some understanding of specific strengths and weaknesses members of the studio have towards specific design programs. This in turn alloys you the fine turn your best of breed structure within the studio itself.

Best of breed isn't about wasting time and resources with having people kicking their heals because they've done their part of the job and it's now over to someone else. It's about the benefits that the highest possible quality of product and increased effectiveness in results brings to every single job you produce. No matter how big or small. That helps to keep a client, increases the projects they give you and puts you on the radar of other clients too.

I'd say that's the best result all round.