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← Back to IdeasUgly Babies: A Lesson in Creative Leadership From Pixar
Ideas are fragile. Like babies, they are born small and immature and need protection. A barrage of well-meaning questions is but one of the ways ideas are killed in their early stages. They also can be stunted by snarky comments or, worst of all, ignored and lost. Pixar calls early mockups of its films “ugly babies.” They are not miniature versions of the adults that they will grow up to be, says Ed Catmull, retired president and co-founder of Pixar. “They are truly ugly: awkward and unformed, vulnerable and incomplete.”
This confession from the studio that first created personalities for inanimate toys in Toy Story and gave screen life to the emotions of a prepubescent girl in Inside Out illuminates why hiring a great copywriter or art director doesn’t necessarily result in outstanding creative work. For that to happen, everyone in a creative organization – whether a movie studio or an advertising agency – must see that his or her primary job is to create great movies or great ads.
At the conclusion of Pixar films, there is the familiar roll of credits – camera operators, art directors, lighting and sound directors, casting, and other crew members. Then another set of credits. “Thanks to everyone who supported this production.” It lists Pixar employees in finance, administration, facilities, human resources, and production. Finance! Purchasing! Imagine how workers in those disciplines feel seeing their names on the big screen.
We’ll probably never know exactly what happened to bring Bob Iger out of retirement to return to Disney as CEO. Under his leadership, Disney became what The Economist called “the most successful culture factory the world has ever known.” It rose to creative heights with marquee franchises like Star Wars and Marvel movies. Iger acquired Pixar and reinvigorated Disney Animation by placing the famed but faded unit under the direction of Pixar. Could he not let go after postponing his retirement four times? Was it the stock at a three-year low and the first quarterly loss since 2001? Ego? Boredom?
Amidst the speculation, there was one telling comment. “His first order of business,” reported The Wall Street Journal, “involved walking back some of the major organizational changes made by previous CEO Bob Chapek, “which were unpopular with much of the company’s creative executive core from the start.” The fan group that petitioned to remove Chapek wrote: “We pushed to have Mr. Chapek fired because he didn’t believe in Disney magic. Disney is much more than just another big business.”
When I became chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, the respected advertising agency founded by David Ogilvy, I added two of our top creative leaders to our board of directors – our NY creative chief and Hal Riney in San Francisco. Ogilvy was horrified. “What are they going to do in those meetings? They should be in their offices writing ads.”
Riney came to his first meeting and said little. The agenda followed a familiar pattern – a review of financials, new business, current clients, staffing, reports from each of our six U.S. offices, followed by a showing of their advertising.
Hal didn’t come to the next meeting. Instead, he sent a six-minute video as his report, featuring two scruffy muppet-type characters, Jasper and Milo, on their visit to … Ogilvy & Mather.
Jasper asks if Ogilvy is a bank. “They’re all wearing suits and ties, with little pieces of jewelry stuck in their collars.” “No,” Milo responds. “This is Ogilvy & Mather creative advertising. You’re looking at some of the most creative people in the world.”
“It must be a bank,” Jasper insists. “They’re talking about mergers, margins, cash flow, profit and loss.” Then he asks how to get a job in this bank (“Get an MBA” and “Learn about mergers, margins, cash flow, etc ….”)
Finally, Milo points to Bill Phillips, then chairman, saying that Bill did something inspiring and creative and went all the way to Switzerland to do it. “Open a Swiss bank account?” Jasper asks, “No,” says Milo. “He climbed the Matterhorn.”
JASPER: “Is that the name of the bank?”
MILO: “No. It’s a mountain.”
JASPER: “Very inspiring. Very creative.”
Pushing Milo aside, Jasper addresses the camera. “How are your numbers, Bill? How are the numbers in New York? How are the numbers in Chicago? How are the numbers in San Francisco? Did you see him – he was dancing! He was doing a little jig.”
“The Ogilvy Bank” hit home. We changed our board meetings and started with a review of the agency’s current creative work. I took the video around the world to reinforce the message that great advertising was the agency’s top priority. One year later, Ogilvy & Mather was Advertising Age’s Agency of the Year.
David Ogilvy’s talent in leading a creative organization lay in part in his ability to dramatize a message and make it memorable. When he felt that the creative department was too focused on entertainment and winning awards, he created his own award – a cash prize and a framed certificate to recognize the campaign that did the most to improve a client’s sales or reputation. “To you, my fellow copywriters or art directors, devote your genius to making the cash register ring.” Outside his office, he placed an antique brass cash register.
When Iger returned to the top spot at Disney, he told employees: “Creativity is the heart and soul of what we do.” He made organizational moves giving more control to creative leaders.” Two years later, it appears that the company has turned the corner. Disney Magic is back.