Is Media the New Creative?

In a recent article I read, the author said that "media is no longer a stepchild of creative. In fact, media is almost part of the creative function." The article goes on to discuss the fact that media people are now having to try and tackle this evolving market and come up with new ways for placement. The medium is just as important to the idea as this fragmented media world explodes.

But which came first, the chicken or the egg?

A lot of people think that media is, in fact, the new creative. I disagree. I think media is becoming creative, and I think it is as important as creative, but it is not going to replace creative. It can't.

At R/GA, there was a guy who flew a plasma screen in a balloon over Central Park and people could text messages to a number and have the message appear on the screen. That kicks ass.

But the creative people still play a vital role in creating floating balloon messages. A media person might think of a cool place to put a message, but what is the message going to be? That is where they work together. Not to say that creatives can't invent new media and others can't come up with creative messages. Scott Goodson says that "the borders are coming down on ideas." I believe this whole heartedly, and that means that ideas will be coming from everywhere. That is why agencies must continue to evolve in order to succeed (I'll probably make a post about this later on).

How the message is displayed is more important now than ever before, and inventing new ways to display it is the trend. But that doesn't mean that the idea is any less important.

Media may be newly creative, but it is not the new creative.

More to come on this subject November 17-18 in Austin, TX at the Conference. Come hear what the rockstars of the industry have to say about it.

Thoughts?