Admen take bright spark honours over designers

Did anyone else notice – or care – that the Financial Times Creative Business chart of the top 50 ‘bright sparks who turn ideas into cash’ did not include a single individual from the design industry?

Number one was The Number, the ubiquitous campaign for directory enquiries brand 118 118, but amid accolades for the ad planners, there was no mention of Wolff Olins. ‘The perception is that it is the ad agencies that own the relationship with the brand or even simply “ideas” from a creative perspective,’ laments Jon Edge, the former Wolff Olins creative who is now design director at Interbrand.

Well, the lesson is clear for all designers: cuddle up to a magazine that really loves ya.