Sorry you’re not different than others
I have always found it somewhat problematic when people say they approach creating with the mindset that they want to do something different. On a personal note, I try as much as possible to purge myself of this kind of thinking.
I believe you shouldn’t approach work to do something different. It almost never works. Because eventually, you’ll find that you’re creating the same thing others are creating all over again. And sadly, you can’t help it.
There’s always a convergence point for ideas that were created to be different and the banal ones. This point is where everyone sees that their work is practically saying the same thing, but they’ll fight that realisation because they feel their execution is superior. It usually comes from a place of creative arrogance; the feeling that you’re the only one perceptive enough to identify an existing gap.
This thinking is what makes advertising creatives say statements like “everybody will celebrate fathers [literally], so let’s celebrate fathers who are not men”, and fellow creatives will nod that it’s a good idea. Next thing, over 10 agencies are coming out with similar materials on Father’s day.
It starts from thinking you’re the only one that’s thinking different, that state of arrogance, both creative and intellectual. When you still insist that yours is different, it becomes creative dishonesty (which is another discussion I will like to have another time).
I believe that people who create truly different work never set out to say I want to do something different because all the other creatives will be thinking this way. Instead, they take the work and find out the truth and tell it with their own spin.
This applies to all your favourite creative work from music to advertising to design and other fields. Ayefele didn’t set out to create something different when he created his magnum opus “Fulfillment”. He just created it. Terry G didn’t say he wanted to be different when he stripped lyricism down to the lowest common denominator. He just did it. Same with the creators of some of the Airtel ad series people like to watch since 2017. Or the Baba Blue ad and all those work.
Your desire to be different should never be the foundation of what you’re creating. The objective of what you’re doing should lead. And everything else will fall in place. Also, you must note that some work will naturally lend themselves to fresh angles, many others won’t. But at all times, seek the true objective of the work and just do it.
It’s the truth in it that makes the work stand out. Not because you said let’s turn it on its head or because you told yourself you want to do something different than what other agency creatives will do. Last last you’re not different than anyone else.
#advertising.
