Why do the best of us continue to strive to be the best of us? What is it that drives us? Compels us? Pushes us ever onward and upward? Why do we do the things we do? The simple answer is the superego. According to a former student of mine, the superego is one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that functions to reward and punish through a system of moral attitudes, conscience, and a sense of guilt. In other words, if we don't strive to succeed we will find ourselves left behind. A safe answer to be sure. Not that safety has anything to do with the creative process. I prefer to think of the creative process as simply the manifestation of an insane desire to not leave well enough alone. To fiddle. To niggle. To tickle whatever it is to death and still not be satisfied. Simply put, those of us who are creative are simply creative because we can be. We have an insatiable desire to change shit up. But not just change for the sake of change. Change for the sake of making something better than it was. As my student Diana says, "I like making stuff." What more is there for any one to say about the creation of anything. It used to be that the only things that were certain were death and taxes. Now the fact of constant, eternal, unending change has been added to that relentless duo. But as in all things, the addition of a third element introduces tension. Imbalance. Conflict. Two is company. Three is complexity. Two is an alliance. Three is a conspiracy. Two is a romance. Three is a divorce. Me and you are a partnership. Me and you and her is a distraction. Two is solidarity. Three is uncertainty. For the new Lean Advertising Network White Paper |
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The addition of change to what we hold to be self-evident indicates that nothing is set in stone. Maybe we don't have to die. Maybe we don't have to pay our taxes. If things can change maybe death and taxes can be negotiable. We just have to apply creativity to the equation. Creativity is the grease of progress. There must be a better way. There must be a stronger idea. There must be a simpler solution. Just another way of saying "Change or Die." Oil companies in California have figured out a way to not pay taxes. The Govenator had to come up with a way to cover the shortfall left by the windfall. He got creative. And 20,000 school teachers got pink slipped. This tells me that "taxes" might not be as certain as "death" and "change." That's the conflict that happens when a twosome becomes a threesome. One of the three becomes a target. One of the three becomes creative. And the purpose of that creativity is to change the status quo. Which means that all creativity is applied creativity. The creative process employed to do a specific task or accomplish a specific objective, or realize a specific outcome. But what if this were not the case? What if someone decided in our wacky world of advertising to be creative, purely for the sake of being creative? What if the concept of user-generated content were taken to the next level of sophistication.? What if those generating the content were not just the random amateur but were the accomplished professionals? Would there be a place for it? A purpose for it? Would anything change as a result of it? Stay Tuned.
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