A funny thing happened to me today. Not in the 'ROFL' way of course. If you want some of that, check out this David Squires cartoon in the Guardian. Jordan Henderson's expression is so perfectly 'WTF', it cracks me up. I could use a few laughs right now and anything at Liverpool's expense is warmly welcome. No, this 'funny' was more in keeping with the world-view that I've become accustomed to seeing. No rosy tinted glasses here.
This morning, a soon to be ex-colleague texted with the exciting (for her) news that she'd resigned. Her song had a familiar tune. She had joined the agency with stars in her eyes, only to have them go supernova and collapse within a year, put off as she was by the meaningless effort, politics and lack of purpose. We'd got talking a handful of months before the lock-down and I encouraged her to take advantage of youth and pursue more interesting dreams. This, she had done. As seems to be the tiresome fashion these days, her following message was to ask me to guess where she was headed. I'm not good at these things and don't have any ambition meandering in that direction either. I hazarded the name of an agency that's at the root of some reasonable work at the moment. Her retort was "Ewww". I think it'd have been the case no matter what name I plucked out of the proverbial hat.
This instinctive reaction threw me into a funk. While the agency life is no picnic, I may have reached that point in my wilting career where an alternative line of work wouldn't be possible. Even the very idea of such a thing didn't occur to me and that raw, unfiltered reply encapsulated the chasm between our situations mighty pithily. I felt quite sad and bad because she's not the only youngster I see flying the coop. The whole industry is a bit of a shit-show; it has been declining steadily for years, with client shenanigans and power trips encroaching on the domain as craftily as an illegal squatter around Bandra Station East. One day you agree to a minor "creative suggestion" from the still wet-behind-the-ears junior brand manager and before you know it, they're dictating what should be written, how it should be art directed and how the bloody tvc should be edited. And while you can always hear agency seniors holding forth on how juniors need to be passionate, work hard and be creative, mate, the feeblest embers of passion and creativity are being extinguished by your clients' demands and endless rounds of feedback, creating an army of zombified youngsters largely going through the motions (unless they happen to be the agency pets, in which case, even their shit will be hailed as gold) and looking for any feasible exit.
It doesn't say much for the future of advertising simply because the next generation is already jumping ship while the current one is fatigued as fuck and only sailing said ship because all lifeboats are gone. Here's what it's like on this side of the age gap. A closer-to-my-age ex-colleague at a previous agency has been slaving away on one account for years. While he's been getting promoted, the devious, paranoid, micromanaging boss (the main reason I left) has managed to successfully scuttle most of my friend's ideas, which isn't great in our line of work. Besides, there are insidious ways of killing too. Keeping my friend up at all hours of night on dead-end briefs and pointless projects, for starters. In any case, the chickens came home to roost one day, 3 weeks ago. At 4 AM, still answering WhatsApp work messages, he felt a strange twinge on the left side of his chest. With cocaine and romance being in short supply, it wasn't a good sign. We are not old men of the mountains by any stretch of the imagination but our bodies may well be over the hill. And so it proved to be. Unstable Angina was the official verdict.
The worst part of all this wasn't the week of uncertainty in hospital or the thought of his young child, wife and aged parents who depend on him or the wretched fact that he's (only) 36 or that his boss informed nary a soul about our man's state of health, instead, sending him a bland "let me know if you need any help" sort of message instead. No, the absolute pits is the cruel reality that he'll have to return to work for the same fucker and eat more of the same excrement (he's been trying to get a brand shift for years and that's been stymied by the 'powers that be' too). I'd say his situation is heartbreaking, but it's too soon for that kind of flippancy. In advertising, with age comes the fear that your designation and salary will make you unemployable, should you be asked to walk the plank. After all, agencies are akin to vampires; preferring to easily suck the energies from the young and cheap, not struggle with the old and tough. So, after a certain point, it's all rather like being one of those musicians on the Titanic; with no Carpathia in sight, one might as well carry the tune and end it all on the wrong note.
Anyway, at the current agency, I am thrilled for said colleague as she's joining a prestigious global organisation to do some good with her mighty brains, fierce attitude and reasonable communication abilities. Meanwhile, I will be trawling through emails, flinching at the next piece of feedback, wondering where, when and how I got myself into this mess. "Ewww" indeed. Cue the violins.
Song for the moment: The Modern Day - Foreigner
Comments
If you really think about it, creativity-for-pay is in itself a very obviously fake deal. The essence of creativity is that it comes out on its own terms and can't be "expected". Imagine if the Beatles were ‘tasked with’ a ‘deliverable’ of one song per week. The reason it sounds laughable is because we are talking about actual creation here. Coming up with new ideas that are basically a rehashed mish-mash of pre-indexed bits and pieces exclusively maintained inside your brain so that they can be so rehashed as needed is NOT creativity beyond a very pedestrian definition of the term. And the paymasters understand that very well. Commercial Art is an oxymoron. They throw around the term ‘creativity’ generously to indulge people to lead them to believe they are somehow not doing what all the other schmucks out there are doing…trading their time, their peace of mind, and in some cases, the hair on their head in exchange for money. Sure, in relative terms one gig might be more cerebrally stimulating than another. But by and large, if it is a job, it lies on the same side of the spectrum.
That said, don’t think that an alternative line of work is outside the realm of real possibility. There’s plenty of fields out there that look for the same skillset but deploy it in less glamorous ways. You won’t be made to believe you are making any kind of dent in the universe, and the money might pale slightly in comparison as well. But in return you might just score some mental peace, and if you want to get ahead of yourself, maybe even some time and space to enjoy life!
In any case, as you said, it's an oxymoron. And the pay isn't great either. So, I do support both views - One, if you have to create boring stuff, at least you get paid well for it and Two, if you're not hung up over money, might as well do something that interests you more and frustrates less.
:) I am looking for an alternative line of work (with the same skill-set) already. I've never thought that ads save the world. If anything, the sanctimony and purpose-driven stuff is nauseating. I'd take monotony, money, mental peace and me-time any day!