Much has been written about agencies’ capacity to make digital things. I have written about how I find it strange that—while it has never been cheaper or easier to make things as an industry—we seem to be making less and researching more.

There has been recent discussion as to whether agencies could ever make the next Instagram, Klout or Twitter. My two cents on that is no. Agencies make ads. We can debate about what ads are: Nike + is an ad; BMW Films is an ad; the cool things Uniqlo do are ads; all those smart projection mapping things are ads. The debate goes on.

What is easier to say is what are not ads. Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Klout, etc., are not ads. I don’t think they’ll ever come from ad agencies. It requires a different mindset and skillset. It takes years of late night coding, miserable failure and huge debt to produce something like that. I don’t think ad agencies have the stomach for it. We at JWT have made little pieces of software for various things but those are essentially ads for us, not standalone products.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe agencies can make things. Maybe all they need is a little incentive. Well, it just so happens there is an excellent project being launched by a group of agencies and thinkers and doers to help raise $1 million for victims of the famine in East Somalia. What with all the news about hurricanes, riots, double dip recessions and a Kardashian marriage, the most serious famine in recent history has been sidelined in much of the mainstream press.

The fact is, a child dies in the famine every six seconds. That means in 50 days, 12,000 children die.

The 50/50 project is an effort to get people in our industry to help raise money by making things. If you ever had a little idea that you thought could raise money or get hits on the web, what better excuse would you have than to do it for the famine?

At JWT we have been working on a pledge platform that aims to connect people all over the world. It’s something we were doing anyway but we now we have the added impetus that we can connect it to other similar projects and real cause. We want to part of the 50.

So, go visit the 50/50 site. Watch the film above. Grab a bunch of people in your agency and see what you can do in 50 days. The deadline is October 16th: World Food Day.

Go on, make something amazing. Prove me wrong.