Saturday, November 26, 2005

YOUNG GUNS: SINS OF THE FATHERS?


By David Nobay, executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney -
Chairman of the YoungGuns Print & Outdoor Jury


How old is old? And how young is young?

It’s a question that bounced around both sides of the jury over the three days of judging this year. The simple fact is there’s a fair few 29 year old ‘heavyweights’ in the industry these days; complete with heavyweight salaries, titles and an enviable clutch of precious metal. Which, perhaps, explains just how ‘young’ so much of the winning YoungGuns work is.

Frankly, if we’d been told we were judging a major international ‘grown up’ award, I don’t think any of us would have been thrown. In a way, that’s a compliment to the high levels of craft and the general sense of sophistication in the conceptual thinking. But it’s also kind of sad, and a bit odd. Like a teenager walking around in his dad’s business suit.

Personally, I was expecting more ‘spectacular failure’ - wild, radical and dangerous new thinking that totally ignored industry law and broke some new ground, albeit with a crude naivety.

Admittedly, there were some glaring exceptions that felt fresh from the asylum - ‘Counterfeit Mini’ (Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami) is a corker, across all media. The Gold Bullet winning PlayStation bubble-wrap outdoor (McCann- Erickson Malaysia) is a genius alchemy of brand and consumer. The safe sex cards (Leo Burnett Canada) deserved their gong in copywriting and who could forget ‘Gay Nazi Rally’ (Saatchi’s, Norway) in the Bottom Drawer section? (By the way, a pure gift of a category criminally thin on outrageous creativity - given the criteria is ‘work the client didn’t have the balls to run’. Come on guys!).

Overall, the winning work is genuinely world class and the creators deserve to be proud. That said, this show is as much about sticking a cattle-prod up us industry old farts as celebrating youth, and I’d like to question what’s driving young creatives based on the bulk of the work.

After all, it’s all very well repeating the sins of your fathers, but the real fun is thinking up some fresh sin all of your own!

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

KNOB

11:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

KNOB

11:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

KNOB

11:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

KNOB

11:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

dats funny cause it's...TRUE!
Scam away!

8:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe the youth are playing with guns and shooting people, judging by how many ads Saatchi's do for gun control. It must really be an issue, 'cause you guys would never do anything like that just to win an award would you?

C'mon Saatchis do some more gun ads to stop the youth from being Gangbanger shooting people, and let them have a life and enter Young Guns. Oh and what about the irony hay YOUNG GUNS.....

You should see about changing the name to something less gun friendly.

Then the youth would improve.

5:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You would have to be the biggest retard in the world to not know that Saatchis has a worldwide mandate to do intitiatives and win awards. From Droga to Granger to Nobay. They built their careers on it for gods sake.It's transparent as the ads for gun control, Second hand book store, charities and mothers against drink driving. So what's the problem? Let them get on with it, they don't really hide it, it isn't hurting anyone. Is it a shock that they want to do good work and that they'll find any way to do that? And that they find ways to make stuff happen? A lot better than not doing it i say. Pulease...think of something else to be upset about.

11:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I dont think he's upset buddy, looks like you are.

So they have an obligation to take advanatge of a charity so some cunt can make more money? good one mate.

Nobby talking about young peoples work, whats that shit? Maybe the reason why some of the work wasnt what KING NOBBY was expecting was because its fat old men like him who have the final say and what goes through. He wants new thinking? well what would he know about that? he writes advertising, not quality TV, film or books.

I know that there was some great stuff from overseas in YG's that didn't go anywhere because these old bastards don't understand it. Things that were so different but they weren't done by 'cool' agencies so nobody looks at it.

Plus they should rename it from Young Guns to
'Work done by senoior creatives at Crispin that have let a 29 year old art direct some kerning on a letter so they can get a credit so the agency wins more awards'

Paulie

6:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh shit you are right, I take it all back. Seriously. I agree. I was just a little upset. Sorry Paulie.

9:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Um I have a question, Paulie, list those other ideas that didn't get in:
1.
2,
3.
4.
5.

12:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i made the good work from overseas bit up...

paulie

4:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you are the Paulie I'm thinking of, I believe you are far too young and far too green to talk with such arrogance.
The saddest bit is that you sound very bitter too after only a couple of years doing this. My advice for all its worth: remember how much you wanted to do this when you were at school. Quit whingeing on anonymous blogs, keep working hard, keep your ego under control, and hopefully everything you are pissed off about now, won't mean that much in 10 years time. You know it makes sense. And Yes, I know who you are.

11:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

keep on craping about Paulie, and you're back to despatch, mate...

8:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Paulie sounds pretty funny...and people that bite back are just as sad.

11:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm actually 45, not a junior and I agree with what you say...I'm just bored with life...talking shit.

Paulie

11:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paulie does have one point. Congratulating peers, I've received responses such as "I just wrote the endline" "we just did the third execution" or "I was really just his mac op". Whilst there are some young creatives doing some great work from concept to finish, there are a lot of others riding on the coat tails of seniors.

2:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paulie Catmur?

5:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So writing an endline, coming up with an execution or driving a Mac does not constitute work? Do you do all that yourself?

5:29 PM  

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