It could be much worse, and it could be much better.
An interesting riposte has appeared in response to the negative-viral-letter-from-dude-who-left-the-business-then-passed-away that I posted last week.
The general vibe, one that’s annoying undeniable, is the old ‘why curse the darkness when you can light a candle?’
If things are ‘bad’ (always a subjective position to take) or don’t work as well as they could (more objective) then there’s always something you can do to improve the situation. Lindsay’s lament over the passing of the overnight test, and the circumstances that led to such a terrible occurrence certainly makes some good points, but without a blueprint to improvement at the conclusion, what good does it do?
I think it’s pretty clear that advertising is not as big or fun or respected as it once was, and I’ve certainly detailed many of the possible reasons for that, but there’s still plenty of enjoyment and fulfilment to be had. My own working weeks are consistently gratifying, stimulating and rewarding, and they certainly beat working in call centres or behind the till at McDonalds. Are they as fun as my late nineties days at AMV? That’s a much harder question to answer. As I’ve learned from watching my kids, everything is a bigger deal when you’re younger, so meeting David Abbott at 24 probably hit me harder than meeting Lee Clow for the first time a few years ago. But is it intrinsically a less significant occurrence? Nope. Just as I felt happily privileged to get into the same lift as David Abbott in 1998, I now find myself equally lucky to pass Lee in MAL’s corridors in 2015.
But I digress…
The point is that life is as brilliant as you find it to be. There is as much wonder to be discovered in a brick as there is in a rainbow. Reductions in budgets/salaries and losses of brilliant personnel have definitely diminished the ostensible appeal of advertising, as has the mountain of annoying digi-wank and the steady decline in the average ‘I-wish-I’d-done-that’ level of the work, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be like that forever. It could start on an upward course tomorrow. All it takes it for some brilliant people to make some brilliant work, attracting more brilliant people who will create more brilliant work, allowing us all to ride a virtuous circle all the way to the Champagne Bar at Claridges. Or a Nobel Prize.
Now… who might those brilliant pathfinders be…?
Apparently the Chinese word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters, one meaning danger and the other one opportunity. I think there will always be people and agencies standing out by grabbing opportunities to make things happen. Also, I’ve realised that there’s two kind of people: the ones who make excuses for not having it their way. And the ones who will simply try to have it their way, despite all the obstacles and circumstances.
Being ‘happily privileged’ can be such a bane.