One of the stubborn notions still clinging to the mindsets of many advertising agencies today is that creativity resides only in the Creative Department. Any venture that calls for blue-sky leaps of imagination or tackling a challenge that won’t unlock itself with a few taps of a couple of brain cells is regularly passed along to the folks wearing t-shirts and ripped jeans because it’s a “Creative” problem. Merrick Towle Communications is making major strides in overcoming the departmental silos that hinder our internal communication, operational efficiency and even camaraderie. How do we do this? By re-thinking the traditional casting of who a “Creative” is and who isn’t. In other words, all of MTC nation considers him or herself responsible for generating newer, fresher, stronger ideas – for any aspect of our business. Why can’t an idea for a real estate ad campaign come from Media? Wouldn’t it be great if a procedure that further streamlined agency Traffic was born from Account Services? Or if a new high value/low cost human resource benefit was discovered by IT?

Obviously, we all have our areas of expertise and should respect those of others. But there is no reason to come upon a gem of an idea and leave it for someone else to discover simply because it isn’t within agency departmental boundaries. By welcoming viewpoints and suggestions from all states of the MTC republic, we become a more flexible, proactive, and ultimately, more successfully integrated agency.

by Roger Everhart, Associate Creative Director, reverhart@merricktowle.com