Beware the arrogant DM creative

Despite what the ATL nobheads say, there are talented, creative people in DM.

Okay, so you might not notice it from all the work they do. Some of it will be shit - that, sadly, is the nature of the beast. But some stuff is brilliant. And some of the pitch work is incredible.

These talented, creative people, however, tend to be quiet. Or are lazy. Or lack confidence. Or are ugly. Or are immature. Or are Northern. Or their mum is dead. Or they had some illness when they were kids.

The above traits aren't very helpful in the world of above-the-line advertising. So they end up in DM. Where they can make a good living and do a version of what they are good at. In the bitchy, image conscious, "dress creative" world of ATL, these people have targets on their backs. Targets that good looking, loud, confident - dare I say, wealthy - people with enormous support networks do not.

I'm not criticising that. It's been that way since Madison Avenue in the 1950s. ATL is a second tier glamour profession. Game on. Fair enough. It's the way it should be.

But I digress. This post is not to criticise the flash ATL creative. Or to praise the talented-but-meek DM person. It's more to question the flash DM creative.

If someone has all the trappings of a archetypal advertising creative - the attitude, the clothes, the looks, the arrogance, the swagger, the wealthy two parent family - what the fuck are they doing below-the-line?

Would it be too sweeping a statement to assume it is a lack of talent?

That would be the only thing stopping them going above the line, surely? No-one loves DM that much that they would eschew the glamour and gold of the soho boutiques in favour of it.

Looking and acting creative in DM advertises a lack of something in the character to me. Nasty cunts don't belong in our business.

DM should be full of people who are as good as above-the-line creatives, but not as cool. And who ultimately, weren't quite pushy enough to prove it.

That's my policy anyway.

Beware the arrogant DM creative.

The chances are they are shit, as well as poisonous.