9th
Resistance is Futile
One of the reactions I have seen at quite a few agencies out there is resistance; resistance to change, resistance to a different approach, resistance to, well, getting something done outside of the norm.
Now, everyone talks about being integrated, about focusing on the online space and this and that, and you even see said resistance from agencies “native” to online. What I think is out there is a difference between taglines and catch phrases and philosophies, and actual reality. What to me appears to be the case is there is not a lot of real leadership out there of sufficient experience (according to the agency model) from online native creatives — those who have not shifted over from another medium but began their careers in the various forms of the web.
What’s amazing is the web has only really been around since 1996. Maybe 1994. I in fact remember making an html 1.0 page in a computer lab at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, which probably said “Hello world!” and had no images, no flash, no nothing. Just some text. We weren’t sure who it was for exactly, but it was interesting. interesting before we got back to Warcraft. And not WoW, just Warcraft. Wiki it if you don’t get it.
So now, this generation like myself is coming of age to be real leaders in the space — and again I feel there is this level of resistance happening, to peers as well. It can’t happen forever, and we’ll probably be better off after enduring it and being patient and persistent.
Good news is where I’m at now I see the least I’ve seen so far. But there’s always room to push. What is definitive about this group is we don’t accept mediocrity — we like to push. We’ve seen the web transform in multitudes, so we have high standards. And once all the walls come down, you’ll see more and more really unconventional ideas.
I’m looking forward to it. Let’s just keep pushing.
