Seasoned creative Paul Hankinson launches seniors-only shop The Chiddingfolds
Seasoned creative Paul Hankinson has launched The Chiddingfolds, a creative and strategic consultancy that works exclusively with senior talent.
“I know we’re not supposed to be doing this,” says Hankinson. “As creatives on the wrong side of fifty, we’re probably meant to be out yelling at skateboarders or something.”
“But the industry’s painted itself into a bit of a corner; the continued acceleration of title creep has resulted in what you might call the junior senior effect — a situation where ‘Creative Director’ now means someone who has to get the work they’re allegedly overseeing cleared by an ECD, who then needs to get it okayed by a CCO. The Chiddingfolds is a bet that this has not gone unnoticed by clients — one or two of whom will be missing the assurance a more experienced pair of hands brings to the table.”
The Chiddingfolds offer brand and retail strategy, creative direction, campaign development and design, delivered by people who’ve spent years doing the work, staying on the tools rather than just managing the process. No juniors, no middle layers, no learning curves, no buzzwords where know-how was meant to be.
The model is collective by nature — drawing on a trusted network of senior creatives, strategists, and specialists as needed.
Further announcements and website to come.
Contact: hello@thechiddingfolds.com
2 Comments
I hope Hanko’s new adventure kills it. He’s a very clever very funny chap.
Others of our era have tried similar things in the past (The Adults?) with varying success but I suspect the trick is to have a sharp non-creative business person alongside.
If I were a client who wanted to create a difference and believed advertising could be part of that I would be incredibly dismayed by the current direction of the business.
WPP, Facebook (and no doubt many others) are boasting about replacing creatives with AI, which will by definition not be innovative.
That is surely an admission that creativity doesn’t matter. And thus that they’ve been ripping off clients for decades.
If so, what is the point of them? Why would you trust anything they say?
(As a sidenote, I wonder if Facebook will use AI to advertise themselves?)
The accountancy folk (Accenture etc) are somewhat better but see creativity as a product, not a belief.
But before we get too depressed and maudlin, let us not forget that advertising has seen similarly depressing times in the past.
Before Bill Bernbach and Ed McCabe led the creative revolution back in the Sixties, advertising was rigidly regimented, horribly dull and packaged as part of the show – the Colgate hour etc etc. That isn’t greatly different to the way the industry is trending now.
And the more formulaic it gets, the easier it is to disrupt.
The recent success of indies like Eagle Meets Bear, Howatsons and co is undoubtedly due to the failure of the multi-nationals to adapt to the rise of social and the incursion of accountants. At my last multi-national (what the heck, it was WPP) they thought the Big Five moving in was sign they should move out. Thus missing the obvious lesson that folk much smarter than them thought there was much money to be made from the businesses they were abandoning.
How did that strategy pan out, WPP, Interpublic et al?
So I have no doubt that when advertising reaches the peak of the algorithmic blandness it is hurtling towards, some businesses will once again Think Different and succeed, and others will want to Think Different Too.
And a new generation of creative businesses will gleefully plant their flag atop the rotting carcasses of the status quo.
Love this! Please reach out when you need a senior (experienced) pair of hands. 😍