She hung over my cabin with a tired look. "Oh-o" I told my self. Here's someone who was about to tell me the story of her life.
"What's it like for you... you know to have been in mainline advertising and then drifted on to online? You miss the fun don't you?"
So this was ostensibly about me? No way! I wasn't about to kid my self into thinking this mid-evening dig into my career moves were the real thing on her mind. And sure enough it wasn't.
She'd been in advertising herself and then drifted on like yours truly into online advertising where both of us found the soul missing. Perhaps that's a little bit of a stretch, but hey, something essential was surely missing. There wasn't enough of the raw energy that so characterizes an off-line agency atmosphere.
The briefing sessions that are even more fun than jam sessions. The fly-loose-structure-later attitude that unfailingly gives birth to some brilliant pieces of result-oriented communication. The self-imposed, addictive, late night work sessions. The sheer love of the job.
Ha! Yes! That is what she was coming to. The sheer love for the job, come what may. Floods didn't stop us from getting to work. Neither did Neanderthal bosses and everything else hellish. The creative adrenalin. The love for the job, the job of creation where we felt like God himself, of flying loose and structuring later... that was what brought us to work in sleet, rain or snow. (So ok, we don't have sleet or snow, but you get the drift don't you?)
Why are most online places so bereft of passion, spirit and job-love?
Wind back.
Because briefing sessions aren't fun. Because the fly-loose-structure-later attitude that unfailingly gives birth to some brilliant pieces of result-oriented communication isn't encouraged AT ALL. Because the-client-is-always-right attitude kills creativity and ultimately spawns a me-too business of run down, run-of-the mill work. Because adherence to impossible, client-pleasing deadlines only deliver a half-cooked product. Because... because... because...
Or so we concluded before my tired colleague tore herself off my low cabin wall and took her weary self back to her's. Was there a point in all that mid-evening postmortem? You tell me.
"What's it like for you... you know to have been in mainline advertising and then drifted on to online? You miss the fun don't you?"
So this was ostensibly about me? No way! I wasn't about to kid my self into thinking this mid-evening dig into my career moves were the real thing on her mind. And sure enough it wasn't.
She'd been in advertising herself and then drifted on like yours truly into online advertising where both of us found the soul missing. Perhaps that's a little bit of a stretch, but hey, something essential was surely missing. There wasn't enough of the raw energy that so characterizes an off-line agency atmosphere.
The briefing sessions that are even more fun than jam sessions. The fly-loose-structure-later attitude that unfailingly gives birth to some brilliant pieces of result-oriented communication. The self-imposed, addictive, late night work sessions. The sheer love of the job.
Ha! Yes! That is what she was coming to. The sheer love for the job, come what may. Floods didn't stop us from getting to work. Neither did Neanderthal bosses and everything else hellish. The creative adrenalin. The love for the job, the job of creation where we felt like God himself, of flying loose and structuring later... that was what brought us to work in sleet, rain or snow. (So ok, we don't have sleet or snow, but you get the drift don't you?)
Why are most online places so bereft of passion, spirit and job-love?
Wind back.
Because briefing sessions aren't fun. Because the fly-loose-structure-later attitude that unfailingly gives birth to some brilliant pieces of result-oriented communication isn't encouraged AT ALL. Because the-client-is-always-right attitude kills creativity and ultimately spawns a me-too business of run down, run-of-the mill work. Because adherence to impossible, client-pleasing deadlines only deliver a half-cooked product. Because... because... because...
Or so we concluded before my tired colleague tore herself off my low cabin wall and took her weary self back to her's. Was there a point in all that mid-evening postmortem? You tell me.
No comments:
Post a Comment