I realised that it would have been far easier for me to literally lock

down half of the city, fly helicopters through and blow up zombies, than
build the latest freaking website. “In all honesty,” I thought, “this is
ridiculous.”

It seems that one of the biggest problems the ad industry has faced in
the past ten years is “The Digital Question”. This translates as: “How
do I produce digital effectively and sustainably?” I think there is a
way that’s reliable, familiar, efficient, collaborative, professional,
enjoyable and highly creative. And, funnily enough, it’s been right
under our noses.

It’s the TV production model, the familiar relationship between agency,
film director and the many independent professionals, that has
consistently delivered so much good work, brand value, profit,
relationships and, ultimately, dreams. Only now it’s digital, it’s new
and it’s a bit harder.

Let’s rewind. We may feel old, but digital is a very young industry. Its
pioneers are still young. A generation that came out of basements and
bedroom studios. For me, digital represented an alternative: the revenge
of the nerds against the traditional media establishment, against the
royalty that ruled unshaken for more than 60 years. Embracing digital
was like joining a group of anarchic idealists seizing the opportunity
to overturn the system. I loved it. The digital pioneers did it all
differently. We were driven by sheer passion. It was a lifestyle, a
social statement, not a job. Ultimately, we had to break the rules and
invent new ones in order to fix what, in retrospect, did not need
mending, just upgrading.

The digital industry is now out of its teenage tantrums and it has done
bloody well. Now the driving force behind the ad market, the digital
pioneers are faced with a big challenge: delivering on a growing brand
demand within a global infrastructure that smells of gunpowder, tastes
of chewed tobacco and reminds me of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo. You’ve seen
companies buy digital businesses as colorfully named and priced as
Fannie Mae and have no idea what they do.

You’ve seen your agency set up digital production in-house and, like a
virtual team of Premiership football players, who are undoubtedly
talented, they follow their own version of fantasy digital, following
Champions League work and ever higher Champions League prices. All of
which could leave you creatively relegated.

You’ve seen outsourcing to either pseudo digital agencies that dress up
as sheep but are ready to bite the hand that feeds them, or freelancers
who are “bloody good value” but disappear like the Iraqi police force
when it’s time to walk down client RPG Alley.

I have seen it too. As we broke away from tradition, there was no model
to follow, no Yoda to show us the way. The digital pioneer broke all
ties with tradition and headed for the unknown.

Yet, the alternative is more ingrained in tradition that we may think.
Ironically, it was right in front of our face; invisible to us, as we
thought it was dead or too old to walk. May we have deceived ourselves
in growing too quickly and thinking we did not need our past? The usual
mistake of youth.

Let’s face it; with more than 50 years’ experience, the TV production
model is the wise old man from whom we can all learn. Patronising and
pedantic, I agree, but it still holds the key to the best professionals
in the industry.

It has established processes and trusted code of conducts. With great
educational programs and an established career path, it provides solid
ground for sustainability. It has already done for TV what we are trying
to do for digital. It will need a few tweaks and adjustments, for sure,
but the basic DNA is the same.

Let’s consider the following. You are a creative working at an agency,
or an agency employing great creatives. Your loyalty is with the brand
on which you are working. You live it, you believe in it. You work day
in, day out to create value for it: providing concepts, presentations,
strategy and success measures. You are the ideas machine and you cannot
be distracted from it. So it was, at least for print and TV.

Not for digital, it seems. Or perhaps it’s just a lot harder. I see
colleagues at agencies spending too much valuable time sitting behind a
flash developer or pushing pixels themselves. Their creative energy is
being spent on actual production issues. A big chunk of an agency’s
infrastructure consists of in-house technicians or specialists.

To me, life seemed simpler when it was all about TV. You used to sell in
a script, then lure in the best director, production and post company
that money could afford. Shoot in South Africa with international
talent, do the post in London, score the music in Japan and party in
Cannes.

We were so very good at finding specialised services. Why do we feel the
need to control it all in-house and have a studio mentality? Sure, the
lack of a new service infrastructure and the slow adjustment of the
traditional one are definitely culpable. But that’s changing now.
Changing quickly.

So let’s fast-forward. You have a concept. It requires sensibility
towards comedy and performance. It needs an eccentric camera motion. It
connects with million of users simultaneously through their phones. Or
maybe tracks dogs around town – no need to limit what you can do. It is
now second nature for you to turn to your favorite interactive director
and their production company. It produces 100 projects a year, giving it
an enormous creative and technical expertise on crafting digital. You
can trust it to add value to your concept and bring it to life. The
global wealth of production knowledge and services, both creative and
technical, stretches much farther than your or your agency’s internal
know-how.

Somewhere, someone, somehow can make it possible, and wants to. It’s
that simple. Trust them to do their job, and you can deliver your brand
concept. Then party in Cannes again.

Pause. I agree. Now it still may be early days, but there is already a
great deal of creative and technical talent out there that is looking
for an alternative lifestyle as we speak. People who want to focus on
the craft, and not on the brand, are now moving away from agencies and
forming the new production companies.

They are moving away from a closed studio mentality and are rebuilding
the golden relationship between agency creatives and interactive
directors with their production companies and affiliates. They are
settling in a space where we don’t argue about credits, but share the
responsibilities to create great pieces. Hopefully, we change the way
people feel and see things.

From the ashes of TV processes, mentality and relationships, I believe
we will see the rebirth of an infrastructure that will service agencies,
as it has always done. This time, for digital too.

- Piero Frescobaldi is the managing partner and creative director, and
Matt Groves is the creative services director at unit9.