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We’re losing original creative heritage everyday. I was reading a feature on Alan Aldridge who among other things illustrated ‘The Butterfly Ball and The Grasshopper Feast’.

I remembered being shown this book while chilling out with a mate a long time ago and the impression it made on me then; gorgeous, trippy visuals of great depth and character able to unite adults, kids and experimental adolescents alike. Just look at them! So I rushed to Amazon to reunite with this work, which is still as original today as at the time of publishing.

But stone me if it wasn’t out of print! Has the world of publishing lost its mind? A national treasure of anti-clichédom is drifting into the world of collectibles. It should be on every agency shelf. Every brand manager should read it to the kids hourly! Bring it back. Now.

You’ve only got yourself to blame. Or rather you should only blame yourself. If everyone took this attitude we’d soon be rid of the clichés.

If everyone said I’m not settling for this because everyone’s used it before, all of a sudden there’d be a discussion point. With the inevitable question: how do we come up with something that’s not been done a million times, something that isn’t a literal interpretation of the point we’re trying to make? That’s where it starts! It’s funny because every marketing agency, B2B or otherwise, claims differentiating strategy and creative work as standard.

WHY then? Why is it so rare?