Less sizzle, more sausage?

“The answer is a 60-second TV commercial. Now, what is the question?”

My, how times have changed since myopic creative directors kicked off briefings with these immortal words.

These were heady, innocent days, long before anyone in Agencyland had heard of credit crunches, the internet or procurement departments. When ‘social’ meant ‘outgoing’ and a ‘tablet’ was something you were offered in the loos at awards ceremonies. (Rennie, anyone?)

Nowadays, clients are understandably demanding a lot more ‘bang for their buck’. So what impact does the pursuit of ROI really have on contemporary creativity?

Does it force clients to be ultra-conservative? Does it foster more, or less, innovation? Does it inevitably lead to an over-reliance on proven, formulaic solutions?

Indeed, is the old school ROI model even fit for purpose any more? Or should we be turning our attention to new measures (Return on Engagement? Return on Involvement? Return on Ideas?) that actually liberate creativity?

These are the questions that keep clients and creatives awake at night. We know, because they told us.

So, in what promises to be the most highly-charged session yet, the third in the series of DMA ZEDTalks will consider the knotty issue of Creativity and ROI.

The aim? To put a few barneys to bed and give you a jolly good night’s sleep.

A list of speakers of this quality should help:
Tim Lindsay (CEO of D&AD)
Simon Gill (CCO of LBi UK)
Mark Hancock (Planning Director at The Real Adventure)
David Meikle (Founding Partner of Red Salt)
Rick Pullan (MD at TBDA)

With these five industry leaders each given 15 minutes to deliver their thoughts - or even the occasional diatribe - can you afford to miss it?

ZEDTalk 3: Creativity and ROI, from 5.30pm to 8.30pm, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 at DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS.