Welcome to the Creative Age

MARK EARLS is Executive Group Planning Director at Ogilvy London - the UK's largest communications group. Prior to this, he worked at St. Luke's and a number of other London Ad agencies. Mark is a frequent public speaker and has presented papers on his field of expertise around the world and judged a number of awards competitions. He edited the 1999 APG Creative Planning Awards case studies. He has been vice chair of the UK Account Planning Group and sat on the DTI Foresight Panel for Information, Technology and Communication. Andrew Jaffe, chair of the US Clio Awards described to Mark as 'one of the London Advertising scene's foremost contrarians'. Mark lives in North London but dreams of tight lines, off-drives and sunnier climes.

• Foreword by Adam Morgan viiAcknowledgements xiIntroduction: Bananas at Dawn 1The ‘added-value’ banana 1What’s it all about, Alfie? 3Marketing hilarity 4Resistance is futile 7The death of marketing as an organizational principle 8The War for Talent and how to win it 9The Creative Age as a new organizing principle 9Too ambitious by half? 10Talking to the preacher man 11How to use this book 12Structure 12Creative Age heroes 13And dear reader … 141: Creativity Is Our Inheritance 15The value of creativity 18The man who knew too much 19Creativity sees what isn’t (yet) 20Creativity is our greatest inheritance 21Creativity in the public services 22But I’m not very creative … 23The creative individual 25The creative personality 27What are we to make of the ‘facts’ of creativity? 29Memories of the future 29Team creativity = creativity to the power of N 30Working together creatively 31Leaving your agenda at the door 32Diversity rules 33Impro madness 34Be kind to your fellow creators 35Enjoy the journey, not the destination 35Conclusions 37Some questions 372: The Glorious Revolution 39Looking forward and looking back 41Change is a snowball made by many hands 42Like frogs in a pot of water 43The problem of history 44The fertile ground 45The Marketing Revolution and the doughboy 47Something to believe in 48Changing the world 49The rise and rise of the brand 51The final frontier? 55What had happened? 55Conclusions 56Some questions 563: Tsunami 57You’ve never had it so good 59Tides of change 60R-E-S-P-E-C-T 68DIY careers 72The importance of people 75Tsunami and after 75Some questions 764: Who and How We Are 77It’s over 79I am not who you think I am 80The brain in action 83Engaging the disengaged mind 84Emotions and decisions 85Humans as herd animals 87The end of the individual? 92Conclusions 93Some questions 945: Ideas, Ideas, Ideas 95Ideas and attention dollars 98Home is here 101This is the sound of the suburbs 102‘Don’t be so English’ 104Ideas and B2B 105Ideas and microchips 107Key characteristics of the Creative Age Idea 109Conclusions 112Some questions 1136: All that You Can’t Leave Behind (but must) 115Learning to let go 117Tea with Andrew Ehrenberg 120Asking silly questions 122Shaky foundations and empty promises 123More shaky foundations 125Opinions aren’t much use 127So where does this leave market research? 128The brand and the snake-oil salesmen 129Problem 1: brand gets in the way of the real problems 130Problem 2: the claims made for the importance of the brand are overblown 133Problem 3: the brand ties you to the past 134Conclusions 134Using the ‘bnard’ 135Some questions 1357: How to Have a Creative Age Idea 137Not the idiot’s guide to ... 139Concept 1: purpose, not positioning 140Concept 2: interventions – it is what you do 144Applying these concepts – what to do? 144Conclusions 151Some questions 1528: Interventions – It is What You Do … 153Catalytic conversions 155Ideas and interventions 156Control is an (un)helpful illusion 157The science of complexity 159What this means for business 161More modesty, please 162Interventions as the expression of the purpose-idea 164Benchmarking your way into a corner 165Interventions as instinctive actions 167Management interventions 169The intranet fallacy 170Conclusion 171Some questions 1719: Advertising is Not Communication 173The big question 175Advertising as communication 177What’s wrong with the communication model? 180Advertising and politics 181No market for messages 182Other effects of advertising explained 184Implications for advertising 185Advertising a promotion can be an intervention 186What advertising can learn from PR 188The only good ad is an intervention 189The end of specialisms 190Conclusions 193Some questions 19310: The Shared Enterprise – Putting purpose ideas at the Heart of Business 195Changing the world 197Pornography for the Creative Age employee 199What this costs business 200A sense of purpose at the heart of the company 203(not to be confused with) Mission statement mania 207Purpose-ideas and humans as herd animals 208Back in the Apple hot seat again 209Purpose-ideas and self-alignment 210Conclusions 211Some questions 21211: A Place You Want to Work in 213A purpose-idea is not enough 215Something for everyone 216Fulfilment and flow 218Flow and the workplace 220It is what we do 223Enter the accelerator manager 224Thinking-by-doing 227A new model 228Why don’t we ‘do the do’ more often? 229Choose your weapon to avoid the doing 230Who needs complete control? 231Conclusions 232Some questions 23212: Us – Together 233Architecture as intervention 235So what is a company? 236The company anthill 238Basic programming in the machine company 239And in the Creative Age company? 240The value of networks 241Making this useful 245I’m special, me 246Mr Blandings and his dream house 247Advertising’s 80:20 rule 248What are we to do with the ad agency? 252The new 80:20 rule 253The network company 254Our house 255Opening up our house 255Mutuality 256Ideas, ideas, ideas (again) 256Conclusions 257Some questions 257Postscript 258All changed utterly 258The most powerful force on the planet 259A fresh start 259Endnotes 261Index 272

"... Using ingeniously insightful witty examples, mark Earls embarks on a radical and comprehensive critique of the fundamental principles of business and marketing..." (Marketing Business, September 2002)  "…a highly entertaining and thought-provoking denunciation of what’s gone wrong with marketing…Mark’s easy-flowing writing style will encourage you to try to spend the evening reading it at one sitting…" (www.theidm.com 4 November 2002)"…anyone interested in our industry (marketing), and the society we help to create, should read this book…" (Research Magazine, February 2003)