How Creative Do You Want To Be?

In my earlier career, I remember being disappointed by some of the television commercials that the agency I worked for did. I hoped that they would be more creative, but they kept churning the same commercials over and over again.

One day, I decided to ask why.

The answer was simple, "It sells". Afterall, isn't that what marketing is supposed to do?

Let's put being creative aside and get on with writing and developing campaigns that work. Sometimes, when we try too hard, we miss the point of why we are doing it in the first place.

Look at this advertisement from Carmichael Agency for Carmichael Collective from May 2012. It is creative with a focus on "creativity for creatives sake". The plant tags are super-sized adn are placed strategically around environments like park benches, fire hoses etc. If you zoom in at the guidelines, you will see quirky suggestions like "keep warm with butt" for the park bench etc.

What do you think? Is this creative worth the time and effort that it took to put together?