A LITTLE over a month ago, the chief creative officer of Lowe & Partners Worldwide, Adrian Holmes, was in the city to give a back-to-basics talk titled Thinking Inside the Box. It was an apt counterpoint to the current battle cry to break out of “the box”, vilified as the bete noir of creativity. 

Holmes’ timely nugget reminded us all that creative people couldn’t just hare off in any direction they please because creativity for creativity’s sake doesn’t cut it. The stark reality is that there is the client, the brief, budget, target market, in some cases legal implications that are part of the framework, or “the box”.