INTERNET: Web advertising offers creatives a whole new arena in which to shine

For a bunch of people who are supposed to be the most open to strange and unusual ideas, creatives are a funny lot. Mention Web advertising or database marketing to those who are rooted in traditional advertising practices and a vast number of copywriters and art directors will either stare at you blankly, or, in more extreme cases, make an excuse to leave either the room or the company. However, in today's rapidly-changing marketing landscape, neither of these may be an option. And nor should they be. Creative people should, surely, be embracing these new opportunities. After all, aren't they simply new channels in which to express ourselves and demonstrate how creative we really are? The way I see it, the challenge for all of us is to introduce the kind of minds responsible for award-winning work in the traditional media to these new channels. After all, a great idea should still be a great idea, no matter what medium it's in. For instance, what's an Internet banner ad if it's not simply an opportunity to do a great poster for a client? And for any creative person who has ever complained about the insights available in a brief, how would they like to have access to a database that not only shows you the kind of person you're talking to, but can also tell you what kind of house they live in, what other products they buy and even what kind of music they listen to? These databases exist and are crucial to a company's competitiveness. And for the very reason that there are so many new channels to carry our messages, truly creative ideas are more vital now than ever before. After all, we're being constantly bombarded with so many marketing messages through so many different channels that to stand out from the crowd, your message must be more startling, more visible and have better "stopping power" than ever before. Personally, I reckon that when advertising starts appearing on the back of the till receipt you get from the supermarket (as it's started doing here in Singapore) things have got beyond a joke, but I am sure you see what I mean, anyway. Of course, as these new channels become available, the temptation is to tailor individual messages for each of them. But the danger is, of course, that we forget about that other vital element of our clients' business: their brands. However, I believe that the ability of a creative team to translate a "brand" concept into any number of different media simply proves how good (and how big) the idea really is. I mean, think back to some of your favourite brand ideas of the past: surely the strength of something like "Heineken refreshes the parts ..." or Nike's three-word mantra is that they could translate seamlessly into any number of different media. I'm convinced that the new media that is becoming available to creative people won't kill off great TV ideas, brilliant outdoor work or press ads that appear in the pages of every international award annual. But my hope for the future is that the people who judge and produce these award books will have to keep even more pages available for work that falls outside the categories.

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