How to Scout the Next Great Creative Talent

We asked several what's important in scouting the next great creative star and whether they would have hired themselves fresh out of school.

Ad Age: Lots of creatives now are focused on "the big idea" or integrated work. Is this something you look for in a young creative's book?

Rob Schwartz: We always look for the big idea. The issue now I see is that a lot of books have an integrated bunch of tactics, fleshed out from a mediocre idea. I'm thrilled that kids are thinking in terms of media arts, but media arts without an idea is like a lot of ingredients in search of a recipe.

PJ Pereira: Big ideas ... another overrated concept. Not because a big idea isn't important. But because it's very easy for us to oversize our own ideas, or even our own judgment of the size of someone else's idea. Why would size matter, though? Sometimes a series of "smaller ideas" is much bigger than a single one that will make a splash then get tired.

Ad Age: What about basic skills like copywriting and art directing? How do people with those skills rank, compared to coming up with big ideas?

Susan Credle: We have underestimated the need for brilliant writing and art direction. I have a saying: Just because you can type fast does not make you a great writer. The last 10 years, technology has been so all-consuming that we have been a bit distracted. It has been necessary but as technology becomes more second nature, the craft of creativity will gain importance again. I have seen many people who didn't know they wanted to be in advertising succeed because they simply were fantastic storytellers.

Rob Schwartz Among Those in Grand Effie Jury - AgencySpy

Effie Worldwide has announced who’ll play judge and jury when it comes to determining the winner of its top prize, the Grand Effie, as part of the 2011 North American Effie Awards. The list includes not just agency folks like TBWA\Chiat\Day LA CCO Rob Schwartz (looking natural above), but marketing execs from the likes of Nike, Disney and PepsiCo. The Grand Effie will be presented at the end of the awards show, which takes place June 7 at Cipriani in New York (why this had to take place the same night as the AICPs we don’t know). Anyhow, here’s your full Grand Effie panel below and you can get further details about the event here .

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