Don’t Milk Sacred Cows.

Be afraid of sacred cows. They cannot be trusted. Oh, they look harmless enough, but beneath that docile exterior lays a sly and treacherous beast. Promising an easier road to success, but providing a twisted path of destruction.

Going against tried and true practices is not a novel premise for our industry. Years ago David Ogilvy said, “Hal Riney has broken almost every rule I’ve ever written, and his work is genius.” Yet, more often than not agencies and brands return to a “sacred cow” mentality.

What we do is not a science. There is rhyme and reason to it, but it has no formula. Those who try to find one and adhere to it are doomed to fail. Why? Because creativity is at the heart of everything we do. And creativity is all about coming up with new ideas.

What worked last week for Brand X may not work this week for Brand Y. Today this is truer than ever. In an increasingly media agnostic world, content is the new creative.

Alex Bugosky recently wrote on his blog, “We’re in the business of leading our clients in creating new ideas and even mediums so compelling and entertaining that the consumer searches them out. These ideas can’t be familiar. These ideas won’t be comfortable. These ideas won’t be obvious. And they probably wont feel or look much like advertising.”

New ideas. Ones that are unfamiliar. And make us feel uncomfortable. Hmm, sounds nothing like a “sacred cow” approach to me.

Some say who knows what tomorrow holds. Others, the innovators, the slayers of sacred cows say we’ll create what tomorrow holds. I don’t know about you, but that’s the group we want to be in.