There's a lot to like about this call to arms of sorts from John Winsor, founder of Victor & Spoils.

He touches on the ridiculous, long-held belief by our funny little industry that 'creative' is only a word able to describe people who.. um.. have always used that to describe themselves. He also riffs on how agencies charge their clients, and how that might not be the best way to conduct business in a communications age that is so significantly different to that of yesteryear:

"Charging by the hour incentivizes agencies to go slower and put more manpower on an assignment. We need to be aligned on common performance indicators with clients to ensure our method works. While some in the industry wish that we could remain as creative free spirits with our clients as patrons, clients are becoming so squeezed — and so focused on ROI — that that model isn't sustainable."

The problem for agencies relying on this as their primary business model is that it makes you addicted to making things. Heavy things. Slowly. This is at odds with the ways people are discovering and consuming content in real-time, on mobile, in pieces.

John goes on:

"Today, in our post-production world where everything can be tweaked, edited and shared after it's been made, our roles must change."

Exactly. The ideas we generate live and breath and need to be nurtured, altered, change their course and be allowed to take on traits of the audience. It reminds me of an interview I did a little while ago with the CEO of 42 Entertainment, Susan Bonds. She said when they out projects/campaigns out into the world, they're about 50% finished. This allows her teams to mutate the campaign's narrative along the way as the audience interacts with it and takes it off on different paths. It's tricky to explain that kind of approach to clients until you have established a degree of trust, but it's worth it.

Finally:

"At the end of the day, creativity is the best tool for solving business problems. Having an annual event to discuss and embrace it will be an important driver of change." I wonder if Cannes has any ambitions to head that way. Sounds like more of a Shelbyville festival. Anyway, try not to think and act like a dinosaur. It won't end well.

Full post here: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/07/thedinosaursof_cannes.html

Dave @daveking

Funny: John also manages to paint a somewhat affectionate picture of tanned, leathery bodies basting in oil under the French sun (I'm seeing slightly plump George Hamiltons toting iPad minis). Oh he said 'basking in glory'. My bad.