It’s official; the old agency formula of the genius and his thousand helpers does not work. Today’s advertising strategies, and brand experiences are infinitely more complex and therefore need to be informed and influenced from many dimensions. This requires a hell of a team, a “think tank” who can create, execute and evolve the big idea every time. No one dimension; creative, planning, media, research, analytics, or technology can be ignored.

Tales of “we are doing it anyways cause the hot shot says so” are for the most part distant memories. It does not matter if you work in traditional above the line, direct, interactive, or even PR. We are all now required to justify the business impact of our craft.

I was trying to think of who was still out there playing the role of the iconic creative leader and very few names come to mind. I can remember a time not to long ago when I could name the key creative person at every major shop. What happened? The heroes today are teams, not individuals. Sure today there are a few very visible charismatic agency leads like Bob Greenberg at RGA. I don’t know him, but I would venture he does not touch the actual work.

One exception that does come to mind is Alex Bogusky at CPB. He definitely is the creative nucleus at Crispin. (I’m actually a fan since he’s another Miami boy) That said can his model be scalable or even sustainable. Luckily for them Alex is a young guy and still seems to love what he does. You do wonder what would happen to that agency if he decided to hang it up? Would it fall apart? Would it not miss a beat?

As a creative, I’ve been responsible for some great ideas, and definitely some bad ones. What I can attest to is that the best work I have ever been involved with was enlightened by the collective genius of my team. My bet is on the team.