But being one of life’s natural iconoclasts, when I view a trending blog I always get a slight nauseous feeling I am being told what I should be ‘liking’ and what my work should be looking like. If you’re not careful (or maybe just lazy) the doors of creativity can start to swing closed and you’ll find yourself trapped in a dull room marked with a sign saying ‘me too’.

For instance:

Can you imagine Mark Denton (the truly original, eccentric and very funny president of D&AD) delivering a D&AD president’s speech on how following trends helped his career? I think not.

Watch this inspirational link on how to use creative self-promotion to build a career and business

http://www.dandad.org/en/mark-denton-presidents-lecture/

Can you imagine the late Paul Arden (mastermind of ‘Castlemaine XXXX’ and ‘Silk Cut slash’ campaigns and author of books like ‘Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite’ and ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’) staring at the creative brief and thinking to himself ‘ Hmm – I wonder what’s trending at the moment’? Actually maybe he did just that – but only to find a way to do the direct opposite in a witty and memorable way.

Can you imagine the very much still alive George Lois (the genius behind mold breaking Esquire covers and VW ads and author of Damn Good Advice for people with talent) being so gauche as to follow a ‘trend’? Here is what George has to say about trends in his book:

“I’m usually asked by reporters “What do you think the trends in advertising will be in the coming year” My answer is always identical to what I said the previous year: “Beat the s*** out of me. I’ll know it when I do It.”

Aspire to start trends not follow them.

Further reading and viewing

http://coy-com.com/blog/2015/08/m-denton-esq-in-a-nutshelll/
http://davetrott.co.uk/2014/02/take-what-you-want-leave-what-you-dont-2/

Links to George

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-1-o52eKRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oncYzOR2lFA

James Wood
Creative Director