Come on, 'fess up!

Everyone is getting a conscience these days, even those of us in the big, bad world of advertising. And there's now a place on the internet where creatives can seek forgiveness for their worst sins - The Creative Confessional. A lot of it is distinctly unfunny stuff from nerds who have obviously watched too many episodes of Mad Men, but there are some goodies in there that got a nod and an absolution from this Planner-turned-Priest:

'I immediately throw resumes in the trash if I see the word "visionary" or "ninja"'

'No, I don't enjoy designing wedding invitations for free.'

and my favourite this morning:

'I'm repulsed by those who believe that we emit creative juices and their uninspired brief can get them flowing'

Planners aren't sin-free by any means. For each creative sin of re-cycling or borrowing ideas, I'm sure we can match it with re-cycling of strategies and positionings. The most cunning of us actually set up consultancies specialised in this very activity and make lots of money from it. Or there's the trick that preys on the fact that ad people have very short memories - dig out a business book from ten years ago, give it a snappy title and throw the word digital in here and there then get it published as original work. And the old chestnut of making up data. Who's to know?

My worst sin, I think, was running out of patience with a creative team, writing my own script and presenting it to the client. Inevitably, they liked it (and, an awful admission, so did I).

Mercifully for all involved, the budget was cut and the film never got made.