5 things I love/hate about advertising

Seeing as Season 5 of Mad Men premieres this week – and given the fact that I’ve had 6 days off to reflect about my industry (and some other shit that’s gone down just recently) – this week’s rant focuses on the advertising industry. And the things I love and hate about it.

First, what I hate about this business:

1. The “ranking system.” We have this bizarre system in advertising that amounts to people equating their net worth to the number of awards they’ve won. This is ridiculous. I’ve been in the business for 22 years and haven’t survived and continued to be relevant because I’ve won more awards than anyone else. Far, far from it. Yet, this is still how many people in this business judge themselves. And worse, what many prospective employers are preoccupied with on resumes. Not by how they’ve helped their clients reach and exceed their sales objectives. But by criteria that few, other than self-absorbed creative people, care about

Let me put this in perspective: there are few, other creative industries that define their individual worth by the accolades bestowed upon them by their peers. In fact, many artists, actors and fashion designers have pushed on and succeeded despite what their peers thought of them.

2. The “anti-support system.” This very closely relates to point one. Very few industries tend to systematically and intentionally resort to the “eat your own” philosophy that advertising creatives do. The “attack” syndrome. Case in point, this week, PR went out about a business card we produced for a Toronto head shop. And within 20 minutes, there were a dozen comments from anonymous cowards shitting on the idea and saying it’s been done before. Well, let me tell you this: because I thought that someone, somewhere, may have done this idea before, I researched the fuck out of it. I checked almost every award annual I could. I did Google searches for every iteration of Head Shop/Business Cards/Filters I could. And nothing turned up. Satisfied that I may actually possess a cool idea that hadn’t been done before, we produced and launched the business card. The homework was done. And if it had been done before, it was below any radar I could find.

Oh, and get this: the most outspoken detractor, who supposedly developed a similar card for another head shop in Toronto, was called out to be an utter fraud. They never produced the “spec idea” they had. And furthermore, the owner of the shop they claimed to have produced this card for publicly took them to task for their fake card.

But I digress. What I mean to say, like so many before me like Paul Lavoie, Alan Gee, Geoffrey Roche, etc… is that Canadians spend far too much time beating each other up, crapping all over one another than supporting the Canadian advertising community. I suspect, most of it done by juniors and embittered ad folks that don’t have a real job.

What’s even worse is that the vast majority of people hide themselves behind pseudonyms and anonymous names. Fucking cowards all of them!

3. The self-importance factor. There are people in this business that have such inflated egos it’s a joke. Reality is: we hawk products or services. That’s it. We’re not solving complex math problems or providing insight into the ways of the world. We’re not doing brain surgery or curing cancer. We’re not saving lives. So, why the fuck do people in advertising think that they’re more important than they really are? Grow up people. We are the thorn in people’s sides. We are the necessary evil. We are the hemorrhoids on capitalism. So, get the fuck over your self-importance and take a big dose of humility.

4. The “snake oil” syndrome. I hate that I work in one of the most distrusted industries on the planet. Yes, ad folks, we’re right behind lawyers on that list. And I hate that. But there have been numerous “ad scandals” in the past 5 years that don’t exactly help.

It’s funny, when I go to social events outside the industry and tell them what I do, one of the first responses is, “how do you get away saying what you do in ads?” This turns my stomach. And reminds me that, in general, people despise us practitioners.

5. The politics. At best, it forces you to compromise. At worst, it causes you to betray all that you hold dear in terms of integrity. Fortunately, I’ve never had to leave my morals at the door and sell my soul for a piece of business. Or any account that I’ve worked on. I can hold my head high knowing that whatever has come my way, I have tried my best to do the right thing. (Please refer to point 2).

What I love:

1. Helping my clients succeed. This is why we’re truly in this business and any “creative” that thinks otherwise is lost. I have never done a campaign that I have not been intimately involved with what the sales outcome was

2. Innovation. I’m stoked by all the non-traditional ways we have to connect with consumers. Whatever the platform, the old ways of doing a TV, print or radio ad, is antiquated. And I, for one, am happy for that

3. Collaboration. In the Mad Men era, clients trusted agencies to solve all their problems. They rarely challenged them and the agency/client relationship was established. Buzzer! Not that way any more. Agencies need to stop talking and start listening. Share ideas. More heads are better than one. And any agency claiming to possess a magic bullet is one you want to run as fast as you can from

4. Co-workers. Look around you. You spend more time with your co-workers than your spouse and your children. If they don’t inspire you, inspire them. Your working environment is only as good as you make it. Make it better

5. Knowing I have an exit strategy. I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. I’m looking at other opportunities that my skill set is transferrable to. My advice: don’t stagnate. Move forward and capitalize on what you do best. Advertising for me, is but one channel. There are others. Mine them.

So, what has this week taught me? That, for the most part, a lot of advertising people (especially those from the last decade) are navel-gazing, self-absorbed, ego-obsessed individuals that define themselves by awards and peer approval. But don’t really understand why they’re truly in the business.

Oh, and give your collective heads a shake. Because, at the end of that day, it's a job.

I’d rather be known as a great father and mentor to my children than any fucking ad award I could ever win.

And that’s my brain fart for Friday, March 16, 2012.