An industry of pathetic proportions
Some have asked the ‘whys’ of this mad job as an ad agency creative. ‘Why do you work so hard doing what is as fleeting as a 20 second spot?’ ‘Why do you argue over typefaces, logo placements, tiny differences in colour?’ The reason must be because we (creatives) are born with a blessing and, within that, a curse. We must create, you see. Create, not works of art for galleries, but messages that sell stuff to people in a very original way. We get our kicks from doing that brilliantly. The curse is, creatives are surrounded by naysayers; those who prefer the bland to the bold. And good work dies every day. But we try, each day, to arrive at brilliant solutions despite the bloody mess. Is there a way to mitigate the pain? Or make the pain worth it all?
The creative who wishes to excel at his or her career, must surround him or herself with people who want great work to go out the door, work that carry brands into the imaginations and arms of people. Life is too short to be spent on rounds of compromises; rubbish that doesn’t attract attention, much less money. A creative forced to compromise will later be blamed for the weak ad by several parties, in a cruel twist of storyboard.
Where there are ideas, there is pain. But pain without the gain of being happy at the outcome is dumb masochism.
My rant ends here.
