Only a couple weeks ago we were talking about the slow but sure effort to establish a real and lasting sense of community within Chicago’s advertising industry. In large part that effort is being spearheaded on several levels at the moment by the Chicago chapter of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
One of the most important parts of that overall effort is the push to get more of the industry’s young professionals involved in developing the larger ad community. Like other aspects of the overall initiative, however, that particular push has been slow to gather steam.
But now there are signs — starting with tonight’s Hatch event for advertising industry interns and new hires at The Underground nightclub in River North — that the city’s young ad professionals finally are poised to do their part in helping return Chicago to its rightful place as a major, attention-grabbing advertising outpost.
Founded almost three years ago, this group first dubbed themselves the “4A’s Young Professionals.” But that name didn’t have much punch, nor was the group sufficiently organized at the time to jump in with a list of goals and projects to accomplish.
So the group went back to the drawing board and came up with the “4A’s Chicago Creative Collective.” The new name, according to CCC president Katie Clow, puts more emphasis on the creative aspects of the group’s planned endeavors. And “creative” is an important part of the group’s mission to create a stronger more cohesive creative community and help infuse creative inspiration into that community.
Toward that end, Clow said the CCC wants to foster closer ties between the advertising industry and other creative disciplines in Chicago, including photography, architecture, graphic design, music and, yes, the performing arts. A planned Creative Event Series will offer talks and other programs featuring talent from these related disciplines.
Creating a Brief the Community campaign
Clow, whose day job is client service director at Energy BBDO/Proximity in Chicago, says the group also is about to launch a project called Brief the Community.
CCC has a selected a client (whose name cannot yet be revealed unfortunately) for which the organization will collectively work on a campaign.
The choice of client and the campaign itself, Clow said, are intended to promote Chicago as what she calls “a creative epicenter.” The campaign for this first Brief the Community project is expected to debut later this year.
Diversity, of course, has been a sensitive issue within the larger ad industry for a long time. And Clow said the CCC wants to put their collective heads together and do their part to promote diversity and help attract a diverse talent pool in the Chicago ad industry.
No group of young people, of course, would probably stay interested in any organization for long if there weren’t parties to attend. Which brings us back to tonight’s Hatch event at the Underground. This is the third such party the CCC has hosted since it first launched as the Young Professionals three years ago. So, it’s clear the social networking part of CCC is a hit. Which is a good thing.
Get-together important for sense of community
Even though the emphasis at tonight’s get-together will be on having fun, it’s really one of the best ways for any group of young professionals to begin to develop and understand something about the importance of a sense of community. Without that, for sure, the Chicago Creative Collective won’t last long or accomplish much.
For the record, Clow said the CCC’s board of directors currently numbers 15 members, including one from each of the agencies affiliated with the Chicago chapter of the 4A’s. The Collective also has about 40 members, so there is still plenty of room for growth.
In addition to Clow, the CCC board officers include vice president Shelley Elkins, associate creative director at Digitas/Chicago, and secretary Mike Lewis, associate media director at Kelly Scott Madison.
Contact Lewis Lazare at LewisL3@aol.com
