I love what I do. Not a lot of people get to say that, but I genuinely enjoy the work I do. It’s not everyday that you see like minded people create something out of nothing and it’s always a sight to behold. When you’re new and freshly minted in the industry, you tend to always want to prove yourself.
Every new brief is a challenge for you even if it’s for pedagogical reasons. In an industry where asking for help could look like a sign of weakness, many young creatives tend to suffer in silence and grind away. In the same way, when an insecure senior comes along and takes all that work and poses it as his, they still accept it, glad that at least in some form or way their work is seeing the light of day and getting appreciated. It’s disconcerting that idea theft/ misattribution/ appropriation of someone’s unique perspective gets passed down generations.
The problem is compounded when young leaders inherit these practices and inadvertently perpetuate this unethical behaviour. It becomes a cycle that erodes the collaborative spirit and ethical standards that should underpin our industry, posing a significant challenge to both individuals and agencies.
Giving credit is a free solution to this problem. In an industry where we rarely see (0.01%) attribution and credit given to us in magazines, press or even an Instagram post, giving credit where credit is due is imperative. At Talented, we make sure that we set the right precedence by doing our bit in small steps:
1) Our credit list is in alphabetical order. Clean and simple.
2) Junior and middle management who are primary leads on projects are encouraged to have their quotes on campaign press releases.
3) We celebrate our partners equally. Agencies usually have a lot of feedback to give to our clients but we can sometimes be worse clients to our freelancers and third parties.
At Talented, we are trying to make sure that we give prime real estate to our partners in joint or separate press releases. We are hoping that these practices help young minds to build a solid creative personality and lead to a rich culture of homegrown leaders. It lets the individual mosey around with the idea of what their thought leadership should be. It’s also in retrospect a great business decision as we can always look inwards to look for new growing leaders.
Creative ideas are the lifeblood of our industry and giving credit is a fundamental and not a radical way to acknowledge the hard work and dedication that young creative minds put in to develop these ideas. With affirmative actions and actual intent we can slowly try to build an industry that condemns reckless plagiarising and misattribution, where creativity flourishes, collaboration thrives, and ethical standards are upheld.
The writer is a creative and founding member of indie creative agency Talented. She was also Storyboard18’s YoungGun (Class of 2023). Views expressed are personal.