Quote of The Week, Monahan – 1/27/08

"To be creative means you are forever stepping into the dark, unchartered unknown. That place I affectionately call ‘The Void.’ Few of us operate in ‘The Great Void,’ where Einstein, da Vinci, Picasso and other masters played. But when we aim to do something truly creative, something the likes of which has never been done before, that means we are approaching The Void, or at least putting one foot in it. When you’re in or near The Void you’re where no one’s ever been, so you simply have little or no known criteria to evaluate how good it is. And that’s a good sign."

-Tom Monahan

Right now I’m reading Tom’s book, The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy, and (as Coz says) ‘I gotta tell ya,’ this guy knows his shit.

My desktop background is the following image:


In many ways I have it there because of this quote. To me, it’s a perfect representation of what I think advertising is. My views are similar to Tom’s, but I prefer the use of a different metaphor. (Every ad person I have ever met loves metaphors).

I believe that we’re all in a dark, endless forest, each stepping forward at his or her own pace. Each feeling around for something, looking for a little bit of light ahead.

No one knows what advertising really is or what it will become.

Everyone only knows what it was, what’s been done before and repeated and done again in the past. If you were to turn around in this forest, the light would shine brightly on all that came before you. The second you turn back, it’s dark again on all sides.

But sometimes, in our moments of temporary brilliantness, when we stop thinking of how to make an ad that looks and feels like every one before it and end up doing something truly original, the light pokes through and illuminates our clearing. For the briefest of time you can look around. You can even see ahead a ways at all the neverending bright patches, the neverending ways of doing things, of solving these problems. You can see what this business is and will become.

The only way to do this, however, is to be a part of what this business is and will become.

dubs. out.