Home or away?
I’ve had three long-term art directors and they’ve all left the country (I’m trying not to take it personally).
Two of them are now CDs at Droga 5 in Sydney (excuse me if I got the exact job title wrong, D and C; I think one of you is also head of art), while the other is the CD or ECD of Saatchis Vietnam, so it seems to have worked out quite well for them.
Other friends of mine, such as Dylan Harrison and Simon Veksner, have also made a great success of moving Down Under, and they’re far from the only ones. I recently joined LinkedIn only to discover that many ex-colleagues are now working very successfully all over the world.
And that seems pretty impressive.
Back in the day, when the UK was the envy of the world ad game, the idea of moving abroad was stigmatised as some kind of admission of failure. Why, after all, would you move from the best? If you did so that would have to be a move downwards. But now we’re all aware that great work can come from almost any country on the planet (except Micronesia; their Cannes record is a fucking shit show), and it’s no coincidence that so many Brits have ended up surfing (geddit??!) the wave of Antipodean excellence.
Obviously this isn’t all a result of the rise of other nations; it’s also a consequence of a drop in the quality of UK work. But what came first, the brain drain or the off-putting British shiteness (and weather)? Has there been an overall drop in global quality? If so, this is not a UK exodus so much as people reaching a certain point in their careers and making the most of a new opportunity. Like I said, it seems to have gone well for many of them, so it seems like they made the right decision.
So, as someone who has yet to leave this scepter’d isle, I’d like to know: have you left your home country? Has it worked out? Why did you do it? Would you ever go back?
Answers on a postcard…
i remember scamp writing a strikingly simliar post about 3 months before he left for oz… news ben?
Currently I feel like advertising is draining my soul. Leaving the country would not change this.
The fact is, advertising is no longer as fun as it used to be. There was a mystery to it back in the day. But the public are far more aware of being sold to. As a result clients have become much safer.
Sure. Working in a sunny place on a good wage helps. But we got into this career to be creative. To make stuff that we’re proud of. I just don’t think that’s possible any more.
Nope. No ulterior motive.
Curiosity + desperation for a post topic.
I’m a young(ish) gun who moved out to learn in Chicago – thought well why not, everyone stays in London.
The US gives you a great perspective on how lucky we are in the UK to live on such a tightly knit little island not some godawful sprawling continent.
In that case dickhead, quit and go manage your local mcdonalds. Then we’ll all benefit.
I’ve always found it fascinating how many creatives leave to go east. Rarely do they go to the states. Or South America. Unless a senior uk creative goes and wants some mates. Then there’s an exodus.
Australia as a move is 80% lifestyle 20% work.
Touring Asia is 95% fanny 5% work.
Europe? Can be 50/50 if you go to Sweden? But when you think that the whole Swedish advertising industry is smaller than Bbh. It kind of puts it into perspective.
But what would London be? Maybe 40/60? Often 30/70. For people like dickhead. It’s probably 20/20, in which case the missing 60 could be better spent knocking one out in the toilets or onto someone’s big mac.
I’ve worked in three different countries so far and here’s my take on it.
Having worked in London gives you the upper hand in negotiations with agencies in other countries. The stereotype of “he’s worked in London so he must be good” still holds true in their eyes.
This in turn gives you more leverage in having your way and turn out good work which wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
The foreign agencies hire you because even the most mediocre shit you’d do here is still lightyears ahead of what they are doing.
Hence the perception of “good work can come from anywhere” . It mainly comes from expats who got lured to Mumbai with a huge salary and the promise of being in charge.
I’m an émigré from the Republic of Mancunia and I seek political asylum.
I’ve been out to Shanghai to work quite a few times and there’s a thing the hookers out there do which is called a “Helicopter Blow Job.” Which, so I’ve been led to believe, is worth uprooting your life, wife and kids and going East for.
And they have beer.
fucking lol at gout legs.
“We got into this career to be creative” always makes me laugh. Like you can’t be creative if you don’t have a corporate logo on your work. Truth is, you can be creative for free any time you want.
I got into this business to make some money, to muck about … and the option of travelling overseas to muck about some more is definitely one of the advantages of the game we are in.
I would assume as a copywriter you are limited to the English speaking countries? But still, that’s a lot of the world to choose from.
Lolz McFee.
I like the fact that when you move East, it’s like going back a few years over here. If you have a good memory for what was the shit in say, 2009, you can look really fucking amazing in Mumbai or even Sydney. And in the latter, you can surf before work and try and avoid the cricket during the day. It’s even better if you have absolutely no interest in theatre, movies, art, literature, etc.
That’s not fair.
You can buy the books of other countries from the Apple store, even on Australian Wi-Fi. Ditto decent movies.
Theatre you are fucked on, though.
And art.
Sport, though… Australians are quite into sport. It looks like they might do the ashings any day now.
(PS: the above is designed to be ‘jokey’.)
When my career is about to flatline (months, even weeks, from now) I will pack my bags and go East. I don’t like the theatre much. Like a shouty version of average telly dramas.
Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore win far more Cannes Lions per ad agency creative than the UK does. Plus you can’t beat the weather! (Except for New Zealand, which is much like the UK.)
Nobody ever really leaves London. She’s a suductress, she’s a siren, she’s a virgin, she’s a whore.
Cannes Lions are the Zimbabwean Dollar of advertising.
ha ha ha.
oh scamp.
i love your ironic banter.
Living in the UK is a bit shitty at the mo. I don’t blame people for wanting to get out. I sure do.
Worked in the UK as a junior. Now in the east. The east sucks. Big time. And I don’t mean it the hooker type of way. Budgets are miserable. If the budgets are good, it is usually shampoo, whitening creams, shavers – the P&G, Unilever types.
Sure money is good. Life is comfortable. But increasingly expats coming in from the west (and even Australia) are view with ever increasing suspicions (by locals in the industry) – that they are here for pussies and money (nothing wrong with that) and probably failed in their home country.
Ever heard of the acronym F.I.L.T.H?
I do miss the UK. The main difference is UK marketing directors want to be rock stars too.
Much like the school’s nerd (with a massive ego), he hangs out with the the college band. The nerd has the cash, throws it at the band and hopefully one day the band will make it.
Going East to work mostly on scam whilst the day to day stuff is piss poor? Are we talking about relocating to Canary Wharf and working at Ogilvy?
“Going East to work mostly on scam whilst the day to day stuff is piss poor? Are we talking about relocating to Canary Wharf and working at Ogilvy?”
Get back to work, Andy. We all know it’s you.