I finally got around to watching Art & Copy last night - the documentary about ad agencies, inspiration and the impact of advertising on our every day lives. As you likely know, it's a great watch - lots of phenomenal anecdotes from the likes of George Lois, Hal Riney, Jeff Goodby and loads more. What bugged me about it is that there is so much talk from all of the heavy hitters about changing the world with their work, doing more than just pushing a product, doing something artistic / clever, having a conversation with audience; not just trying to manipulate them. This is great talk but in reality once you're running an agency with hundreds of employees are you really going to be capable of doing massively artistic undertakings for each of your clients?

I'm comfortable with the role that the ad industry plays in our lives (though we all agree it's too omnipresent) but it's sad to think that these passionately creative folks just talk the talk; walking the walk isn't possible once you reach such a massive level of operation. I'd love to see each of the big agencies splinter up into companies no bigger than 20 people each and see what they can accomplish!