US optimism vs AUS realism, and why I put my creative collective on the map in the middle of the Pacific.
The US is in the news a hell of a lot right now, nine times out of ten for all the wrong reasons.
So, I’d like to divert from the overriding narrative to talk a little about the cultural differences between the US and Australia, through a creative and advertising industry lens.
I spent just over six and a half years working in the US, and while from an industry perspective things were generally quite similar, there was one overriding sentiment which I felt separated the two cultures’ approaches to creativity, i.e., optimism vs realism.
There is a real unbridled optimism in the US in advertising, or at least was when I was there. A ‘can-do’ attitude that makes you feel like anything is possible. The downside is the lack of straightforward critique. That is, when creativity could benefit from a blunt ‘don’t’, it tends to be skirted around to avoid being impolite. This can send the uninitiated down pathways that are futile, simply because one didn’t recognise the subtle signposts that were pointing away from a territory or idea. Case in point, when I first arrived, a CD team (who we grew to adore) told us they were ‘curious’ about an idea we presented. We took that as they were very interested in it, so came back with said idea fleshed out. Turns out they weren’t curious about the idea, they were curious about why the f*ck we’d present something so off-brief! So you have to learn to read the signs, which can often get lost in translation and lead to inefficiencies.
In Australia it’s rare to find such levels of optimism. We’re realists by nature. And despite the very popular and successful campaign from that big four bank, creativity can often be mired in ‘can’t’ more than it is in ‘can’. For example, I remember once we were about to run a producer through a script. Before we presented the producer said ‘we’re going to need more money’, putting up a roadblock before they even knew what the ask was. I understand the intentions may have been good, but it did set a negative tone right from the outset. On the flipside, it does make Aussie creatives (and their ideas) far more robust, as they are forced to anticipate where holes will be punched in an idea, and have solutions or counter-arguments ready at hand.
So, if both US and AUS met in the middle, wouldn’t that be the ideal place for creativity to thrive? A happy medium full of creative optimism and positivity, but tempered by the perfect amount of sobering realism?
Introducing Hail Mary & Friends Kiribati! We're smack bang in between Australia and US, full of that Yankee optimism, but with just the right amount of ‘Awww, yeah nah.’ thrown in for good measure. You’ll find us near the Banana Cafe. Just look for the Renault Twingo missing a tyre!
