There has been a growing trend in advertising over the last year that has been a little hard to miss: Vaginas are popping up everywhere. Perhaps some think it is edgy or liberating or educational. Or maybe they believe that referencing them liberally makes ads more current and viable. Anyway you slice it, the vagina is here to stay...

Traction recently celebrated our 10th year in business. To commemorate this auspicious occasion we did what any self-respecting agency would do—we threw a decadent party of ridiculous proportions—Distraction X.

If you weren't fortunate enough to attend, here is a just a small peek into the silliness you missed.

It is hard to believe that Traction has now existed for an entire decade. What initially started as little more than idyllic chatter between old co-workers has blossomed into something we never imagined. When I think over the last ten years, I can't help but think back to how naiveté, passion and a little libation-fueled bravery started it all.

In these lean times of economic turmoil, budgets are being slashed to ribbons yet project scopes continue to be loaded with every new shiny tactic. With this obvious disproportionate distribution of funds to workload, something has to give.

Unfortunately, one of the first activities to get the "boot" is copywriting.

A new disturbing trend has been infiltrating what was once an idyllic utopia populated with alien invasions, monsters, zombies, and incredibly fast hedgehogs. Yes, I'm talking about the world of gaming.

Traction's Creative Director, Theo Fanning, had the opportunity to share some of his views on advertising, media, mobile and more at DIGIDAY: ON MEDIA and DIGIDAY: MOBILE.

Needless to say, some of his comments were insightful, polarizing and occasionally charmingly incoherent.

Watch the panel discussions and judge the carnage for yourself:

With the advent of social media, crowd-sourcing and consumer participation, brands are finding themselves deluged with comments, complaints, suggestions and requests. Many are struggling to navigate and decipher this new wealth of consumer generated content. So how do successful companies take advantage of this new source of information without drinking from a fire hose of data?

Most just ignore it.

Agencies develop a wealth of concepts and ideas that often never make it over the finish-line for a variety of reasons: internal politics, budget constraints, shifting strategies or aesthetic differences. Sometimes the lost ideas aren't worth crying over, but sometimes some real brilliance hits the cutting room floor.

Instead of letting these concepts gather dust and fade into forgotten obscurity; we occasionally like to parade them around to make ourselves feel better.

With the advent of Mad Men, I get a lot of friends, family and clients asking me if my work life is anything like the wild, alcohol and nicotine fueled creative rage that they witness on cable. And with confidence, I can say, “No. No it is not.”

Don Draper drinks, smokes, curses and screws his way through his day, while I focus mostly on making sure I don't do any of those things—on purpose or by accident.

But while there are many difference's between Mr. Draper and myself, there are a few similarities:

There is no question about it, being a creative professional is a difficult job. But working with creatives is no easy task either. They are moody, judgmental and opinionated. They can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. They can make or break your project, career or business. How you work with your creative team is directly proportional to how effective they will be for your business. Here are five simple—but often overlooked—things you can do that will insure that your creatives respect you and work their hardest on your project.