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I once saw a small ad agency hire a photographer to be a Creative Director, yet he had zero conceptual ability or design experience.
Get out.
Maybe ask him why he likes what he likes? Start a dialogue that gives you an opportunity to explain you’re thinking?
The question then becomes why are generic tag lines even included in the mix?
RIght? Like, ever hear of a "straw dog" concept.
Rising Star
Taste is one of those things that can’t be taught. So he’s not going to get any better. Get out.
Yep those types of places will actively make you worse creative. Don’t stop being you. Or, if you want to do an experiment- purposely write the worst shit and see if he likes it. Im sure he will.
In the long-term, look for another job, projects laddering up to other CDs, and hope that his bad taste is the safe taste of someone with one foot out the door who’s given up the fight for good work (and eventually gets a job somewhere else).
In the short term, really make sure you’re showcasing your best, most creative ideas in a way that fits the strategy and brand. Good creatives shouldn’t need to see the same verbs and adjectives from the brief and the brand tagline to get that an idea is on-brief and on-brand, but bad CDs (and account, and clients) often do
Leave preferably, but if you’re stuck, try exercising your empathy. Taste is by definition subjective, tho I’m sure you’re right. Maybe find the little bits of overlap where your sensibilities align and try to grow from that. Don’t make him the enemy. It won’t help. Learn anything you can from whoever’s there. And come to peace as much as possible with the fact that it’s not an auteur system. We have to work with teams. Do you best on every project and win people over with your enthusiasm, not your self-assessed taste level.
Maybe it’s you?
The nature of taste is that it is subjective.
I gotta stick it out for a year, doing my best to ask questions in a conversational way …
You should quit. Your job I’m assuming is to support him and the company. If you don’t believe in what he’s doing you won’t be much help. You could on the other hand try and work with him a while and build some trust. Make suggestions and when he rejects them, be positive and see how you can help make his vision work.
The client specifically asked for “x”
We should include this option as an alt as it addresses “y” and let them decide.
Cash the checks, esp if he’s making the decisions during business hours. If he’s one of those geniuses that can only give notes at 1pm on a Saturday… keep cashing those checks until you find somethin new and quit.
Leave. It won’t get better.