Look mum, I’m working in one of the least trustful professions

It looks like the glory days of advertising are behind us. And have been for a long time. Stress levels have raised dramatically and the image has already flopped to the very bottom of the honesty and ethics charts. In the last couple of years advertising people came second in term of the least trustful professions only to – now we should stop for a moment and silently thank the higher force for the bare existence of – car salesmen.

So, the cliché that we in advertising can change the world for better sounds even more off. Besides I have never really liked it. It always seemed like a shallow conclusion and maybe it mostly was. But then a really powerful idea strike.

Not the one you believe is good and impactful and whatnot, but the one you feel is. The one that makes your skin crawl. And a moment later it makes you euphoric. And then scares you again because you know it's going to strike deep and make some changes. The one you feel would be easier not to deal with it at all. But you know you have to.

These are those rare moments that can really change something. You, a brand, customers and maybe even – very slightly – society and the world.

For creativity 4 change you, and everyone involved, have to be brave. And when you are, the pay-off is great. It is beneficial for companies, brands, customers and society as a whole. It could be done and it should be done. A lot more frequently.

Sašo Petek, Creative Director, Agencija 101, Slovenia