Roy Grace, that is. Formerly of DDB and of Grace & Rothschild. Responsible for so many great ads and spots. Someone once asked him what he did as a creative director. Grace replied:
"I take out the garbage."
Grace meant, I think, that he eliminates work from the mix that isn't good enough. And he removes the extraneous crap that somehow always seems to get shoe-horned into work. I'm no Roy Grace, but I often disparage ads by saying "they're a negotiation, not a communication." That is, along the way different constituencies argued for and got their way and stuck in their idea. The end result is a rat's breakfast. And that's something no one wants to look at.
