TIME FOR THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY TO COME FULL CIRCLE…

It’s something that the person I am closest to said in passing yesterday morning, and what we have been discussing for almost five years: “There’s so much technology and living 24/7 with a mobile phone that people have forgotten how to think for themselves which means that real communications are being eroded every day”.

She’s right, of course, and even thinking if this is just the tip of the iceberg, or the actual hummock, it brings to mind something that DDB Chairman Keith Reinhard, my mentor in advertising, warned us young creatives about decades ago when he said that the technique is never the idea. He emphasised the need for face-to-face teamwork for there to be those lightbulb moments.

Today, the technique has become technology and what I see as “lazy content” with not even a modicum of teamwork involved and without the standard of creativity known to anyone who has been in the advertising industry and learned through trial and error about strategy, consumer behaviour, marketing etc and instinctively knowing what is good advertising.

But how to explain this and what’s “good” or effective creativity to someone who has posted something online that their idea of “advertising” or “design” is an epic fail?

When deciding whether I should dive into working with the notoriously political and somewhat disorganised organisation that is the Hong Kong Jockey Club on what became the Happy Wednesday brand, at least Richard Cheung, below, let me know upfront that he didn’t know what was creative, and so if he saw something that he liked, he told his team to copy it.

It’s not how I worked, but I respected Richard for being so innocently candid who was the Executive Director of Wagering for the HKJC AND looked after marketing.

I know, I know…

It’s something that still brings a wry smile to the face of someone who has been in the very clearly defined and structured world of advertising, whereas then when in the music industry, let go of our Human Resources Department and never used a research company nor a public relations company.

My reasoning was that if WE didn’t know our product, how could they?

But when trying to shirk accountability, some strange and nefarious corporate conspiracy things happen…

Today, there’s AI, and though I see where it might be helpful, I also see how it’s a bit of a con.

I see this especially when those whose levels of intelligence I know well suddenly become “artificially intelligent” and use words and phrases not in their lexicon.

Also, asking AI anything has very quickly dissipated into rubble, because the same almost sycophantic answers appear, and which are often a mish mash of different data that has been been fed over several months.

For example, I recently asked about Ozzie Osborne and received something about Aussie horse trainer John Moore and then more useless information about a certain racing club changing strategy and structure and moving away from the typical corporate world. Sure.

In the wrong hands, this misinformation can be harmful and could easily derail true creative thinking and also stop someone from being an individual- someone intuitive and knowing the importance of keeping it real.

Why, for example, am I drawn to a talent like Jessie Buckley?

What made me interested in the character of Don Draper and which made me follow the television series “Mad Men”?

Why am I still in love with the same person with whom I first encountered this magical feeling called love?

Why do I cry during certain moments in “Jerry Maguire” and why do I feel so much of everything when listening to the song “Moon River”?

No amount of “artificial intelligence” is going to have the answer because it’s something so personal and with no need to “share” anything. It’s become all too easy to “own” ideas. The slightest hint of this- and I have learned the hard way about being ripped off- and red flags go up.

All this posting online and scrolling and sharing and being duped by emojis is not taking most of us anywhere- certainly not towards reaching a certain standard and working with like minded individuals on something with meaning.

Often, being in that online world is just some time wasting because interest levels in the world around us have shrunk and which often means being geographically challenged and around intellectually bereft and dumbed down birdie num num company.

Just look at the deplorable standards of English in Hong Kong these days.

Why would international tourists with spending power want to come out here if they think that this one-time “Asia’s world city” has become a third world samba and where English has become an endangered species?

If there aren’t enough people to practice speaking English to and with, one ends up making mewing sounds and which doesn’t help make someone smarter.

It’s probably why lyrics to many pop songs these days are basically nursery rhymes that “aunties” in Hong Kong like better than young people.

This is because most of this music is being produced by fifty and sixty year olds with formulaic and generic ways of thinking and working and not unlike being inside a research laboratory.

No one seems to be asking young people what THEY want- about anything- and the more this happens, the more they stop doing because they’re not inspired and don’t see the point in even trying.

This is what one can learn from going back in time and learning from the level of creativity of musicians like Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, the Beatles and others who were in their EARLY TWENTIES and lIving in the real world of the Sixties when they created some of their first recordings and hits.

These beginnings started their evolution and the musical revolution that inspired all manner of other art- fashion, filmmaking, photography, advertising and marketing- and gave birth to young entrepreneurs.

Fast forward to 2026 and what is there? News updates on the usual 24/7 online channels with news on the usual suspects or another shooting somewhere and guesswork.

It’s draining, especially when around those weaned on this “lifestyle” and modus operandi.

Our individual worlds with individual thinking often mesh with all this other superfluous stuff and the result stymies progress and allows in clutter to infiltrate clarity and create nothing except confusion.

This is why I have an aversion these days to the term “leader”, because I see showboating and very little leadership.

Far better if the world has mentors- qualified mentors and not teachers, because I remain skeptical about what can even be learned from “teachers” and curriculums.

Bottom line: I’m so bloody fortunate to be what is known as a baby boomer.

www.HansEbertisgardening.com