Uncharted territory is our playground. Whether you’re part of the in-house creative team or an outside agency partner, if you’re open to innovative, new ways of getting to the big idea, great things can happen. 

Here’s how we can all be, and stay, inventive. 

Take chances. Together. Collaborate early, manage expectations, and take chances. Failure might happen, but it’ll happen fast. So be ready to use that learning to start over again, and create something even greater than you imagined in the first place. When the team at A&G worked with Beats by Dr. Dre to create an Instagram-powered holiday tree, we were up against an inevitable deadline—Christmas. But we fearlessly pushed forward, and ultimately prevailed.

Do the obvious well. Then push. Deliver on the work expected so well that the naysayers can’t say no to new solutions for engagement. This year, the team at A&G invented a cologne that smelled of The Essence of Racing with our Sunoco client. Pushing boundaries we never would have imagined, with a client who embraces what we at A&G believe: that inventiveness is the new creativity.

Be resourceful. Set expectations for deliverables and then stand by them. Implement timelines and resource plans. These add to productivity and prove a quantifiable ROI. And make future plans for more inventive work more digestible by everyone in the long run.

Creative collaboration produces work we can all be proud of, no matter who we are. Or where we spend our days. I was recently on a 4A’s panel with our client, Umang Shah, Global Director of Digital Marketing and Innovation at Campbell’s who put it quite simply: “it’s about teamwork, and pushing together toward that singular vision. Because that’s when really great work happens.”

At the end of the day, we’re all makers, inventors and ambassadors for the future of consumer engagement. Who are excited to explore the unknown and challenge the status quo. Together.

Andrew Graff is the CEO of Allen & Gerritsen (A&G), an independent external advertising agency and IHAF member company located in the cities where independence was born—Boston and Philadelphia.

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