The Taxi Driver Test

A couple of times over the last week I’ve spoken to people about the Taxi Driver Test: when you get a cab and the driver asks what you do and you tell him you work in advertising, we all know what happens next:

‘What have you done that I’ve seen?’

A bittersweet position to be in. After all, you can do a lot of excellent work for smaller clients, for digital campaigns not aimed at taxi drivers, for press ads that appeared only in Bristol yet win every award in the business, for massive pitch wins etc. But if you haven’t done the one your cabbie likes, you’re fucked. And what are the chances of pulling that one off? Pretty darn low, I’d say.

Now, that may be something to be ashamed of; after all, what we’d all like to do is a piece of work that crosses over into popular culture, but the vast majority of what the vast majority of us produce does not fall into that category.

And so we have the slightly awkward chat with the cabbie that ends with the uncomfortable silence and you trying to turn the intercom off as subtly as possible.

Anyway, here’s a nice bit of film that addresses exactly that issue:

(Thanks, J.)