We used to turn to a D&AD annual for inspiration; now there are online archives. For images we'd head to stock libraries; now there's flickr. Animatics and mood tapes were once drawn from films, now we just YouTube it. With the web, it's easy to access new ideas from around the world, but anything experienced online simply can't replicate the personal first-hand experience of theatre.
Several productions have inspired me over the years - in 2002 I saw Marcello Magni perform a one-man show called Arlecchino in which he played more than 30 characters using only his physicality and a mask.
The accessibility of online archives has cost our industry originality, but great theatre, which has a firm grasp of the importance of narrative, can help us to rediscover what we've lost.
It's this art of story-telling that's missing from today's creative job description. We rely too heavily on one-off executions - searching on YouTube for what's cool and trying to make it fit for a brand. We need to create compelling stories for brands again and earn our 'creative' title.
My advice is to book tickets for The Globe's Timon of Athens, Peter Brooks' Samuel Beckett Fragments at the Young Vic or catch David Tenant and reawaken your creativity.
Guy Bradbury, creative director, Touch DDB