By Adam Wakefield

Credle’s trip to Durban will not be her first to South Africa, but FCB’s global chief creative officer is “really excited to discover Durban”, which will contribute to her collection of beach sands sourced from around the world.

When she takes the lectern at the DStv Seminar of Creativity on Friday, 19 August, Credle says the word “advertising” will be the focus of her talk, a word that, as an industry, “we seem to dislike”.

“We euphemistically keep replacing it with other words like the creative, branded content, story-doing, and episodic narrative,” Credle says.

“Confession: I love advertising. I am very proud to be in this business. Hopefully, by the end of this talk, a few more people might confess they love advertising, too.”

As a female chief creative officer, Credle is keenly aware that she is the exception and not the rule within the advertising industry, with most CCO positions held by men. It is a disparity that Credle believes must change. 

“Three years ago, women made up 3% of the creative directors in the United States. When I was first confronted with that 3% number, it was sobering. The number is changing, but not fast enough,” Credle says.

“As an industry, we must continue to tell the stories of the successful and the up-and-coming women in this industry. We must insist that juries and panels be diverse. Diversity cannot be about tokenism or checking a box.”

Before all this can happen, the existence of sexism and patriarchy must be acknowledged and then they need to be addressed relentlessly.

“As an industry, we should stop asking ‘Where are the women in advertising?’ Instead, we should keep saying, ‘Here are the women in advertising!’ and shine a light on them,” Credle says.

“I don’t think we have a problem with women coming into the creative side of our industry. We have an issue with them staying and progressing. Why? There are a lot of theories.”

What Credle believes is that from 27-years-old to 37, advertising is really hard, where you have all the responsibility but none of the power. During this decade for Credle, she says she wanted to quit many times, but she stuck it out and the job became much better the more senior she became.

“If you aren’t asking for that next job because you think it will be overwhelming, you are wrong,” Credle says. “The more control you have at work, the more control you have over your life. So hang in there.”

As a chief creative officer, Credle believes the best way to creatively inspire the team that works under her is by believing in them. Recalling the “beautiful advice” she received from the first creative director she worked under, Credle says being a creative officer or director is comparable to being a coach.

“You have to understand the abilities of a person and what motivates him or her. Everyone is different. Having a strong EQ is important in any job, but essential when you are dealing with people and creativity,” Credle explains.

“At FCB, we talk about being brave together. Bravery is an outcome of culture. It is up to a leader to create a culture where people can be brave or, even better, vulnerable. That’s when creativity gets really interesting.”

On keeping herself fresh and creative, Credle does so by staying current and being interested in things, people, technology, and ideas. A Saturday lunch with three newspapers is a creative brain exercise for Credle, while she also finds herself returning to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way when stuck. 

“Mindless activities are another great way to come upon creative ideas. For me, the shower and the commute to and from work are often filled with ‘aha’ moments. Perhaps they are not so mindless after all,” Credle suggests.

At the Apex Next Level of Thinking Master Classes in July, King James co-founder and chief creative officer Alistair King spoke about how the institutionalisation of process within advertising “cuts the life and soul from everything that we do”, inhibiting great ideas and making creative agencies “ploddy”.

Credle’s thoughts on the issue focus on one word: trust.

“Oftentimes, we forget we are in the business of advertising – a confluence of art and commerce. When you separate the two, the partnership between a client and an agency becomes very vulnerable,” Credle argues.

“An agency must build incredible trust with a client. If an agency doesn’t care about the business, it has no business caring about the creative.”

The best work, and more importantly the most admired brands, usually are the result of a long-term partnership between a client and an agency. To manage this relationship over time, the agency must proactively “rotate the crops” internally. 

“People do experience burnout, brand fatigue. In my own career, I have consciously passed the creative leadership to someone else when I feel my passion for a brand fading,” Credle says.

“I remain involved for encouragement and institutional knowledge, but the next chapter in a brand’s story will be better with fresh talent. At FCB, we believe the best brands are building stories that are ‘never finished’.”

The authors may change, but the enduring and evolving story is what matters.

Loeries Creative Week Durban takes place from 15 – 21 August. 

For more information, visit www.loeries.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Twitter using the #CreativityUnites hashtag..