The Greek philosopher Plato believed that everything we know is a direct result of what someone else experienced before us. He reinforced his theory in the Allegory of the Cave which basically said that if someone is to ever create something totally original, we must lock a person up in a windowless room at birth, then open the door after about 16 years and ask them what they know. With no outside influences to draw upon, whatever this person said would be totally original. And thus creative.

OK, enough with the philosophy lesson. This was just a way to show that while most people think of advertising as a creative industry, the truth is we are just problem solvers who draw upon our experiences and the experiences of others to discover new ways to think about things. We then share these new ideas with people who care (your audience). This makes us less like creatives, and more like interpreters. Interpreters who were locked up at birth and placed in a windowless room for about 16 years, of course.