D&AD, the not-for-profit organisation that champions excellence in design and advertising, has just launched a new brand manifesto created by Uncommon. At its heart is a provocative question: is creativity dead or alive?
The campaign kicks off with a 90-second film that pulls no punches. "Creativity is dead," it declares. "It wasn't AI. It wasn't social media. It wasn't short-form. It was you." The film goes on to blame "every person who wrote thought pieces instead of thinking, who scrolled instead of doing" and "every critic, every passenger, every excuse." Then it launches a call to action, urging us to "make something more than noise" and revive creativity through doing rather than discussing.
What we need?
Look, I get what they're trying to do here. The industry is drowning in hand-wringing and analysis paralysis. But here's my problem: this campaign feels like it's added more noise rather than cutting through it with something useful. The central question – "Is creativity dead or alive?" – is obviously a provocation. But is this really the provocation we need right now?
It's a question we've already answered a thousand times on LinkedIn, in Medium posts, at industry events, in Slack channels. We're thinking about this constantly. The problem isn't that we need to ponder it more deeply. The problem is that we can't stop bloody pondering it.
And here's the delicious irony: Nils says we should "shut up and make," but this campaign is itself a manifesto, a film, a microsite and endless LinkedIn fodder. It's telling us to stop talking whilst simultaneously generating more conversation. It's a call to action that is, itself, more talking.
What exactly are we supposed to make? The campaign doesn't say. It just points fingers at everyone who's "scrolling instead of doing." Well, cheers for that. Really helpful. Most creatives I know are desperately trying to make things. They're just struggling to get clients to pay for it. Tortured by unpaid invoices. Wondering whether their job will exist in two years. Whether they'll be able to pay their rent or mortgage. Whether they'll have to declare bankruptcy.
Need for leadership
That's where this campaign really misses the mark. The forces it mentions – AI, social media, short-form content – haven't killed creativity exactly, but they've made it much more difficult for many people to make a living from it. This commenter on D&AD's YouTube video nailed it: "I hear photographers, animators, videographers, artists etc all saying much the same thing; 'I love it, I'll still do it as a hobby.'"
What we actually need right now is leadership. Proper, clear-eyed leadership that acknowledges the real structural issues facing the industry. We need someone to say: "Here's what's happening with AI. Here's what it means for different disciplines. Here's how we should respond collectively. Here's what clients need to understand. Here's what we need to fight for, who we need to fight, and how to do it."
Instead, we get a conversational ice-breaker that suggests apathy is the real enemy, not AI. But that's a false choice. We need a proper reckoning with both the external forces changing our industry and our own responsibility to push back with brave work.
Freelancers are lying awake at night, fretting about the loss of income. Agencies are teetering on the edge. We need organisations like D&AD to step up with real analysis, strategy and a collective response. A manifesto should unite people around a shared mission and give us something to march towards together.
This one just asks us a question we've already asked ourselves a million times, then tells us off for thinking too much. That's not leadership. That's a missed opportunity.
Don't get me wrong. D&AD is a fantastic non-profit that's done decades of great work for the community. All the creatives involved in the organisation are at the top of their game and lovely people to boot. But come on... read the room, guys.
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