Creative exodus in U.S. adland: as in Australia & NZ, it’s just not fun anymore – at least for some
September 23 2010, 5:19 am | | 16 Comments
Some of the experiences of top creatives in the U.S. have of course already happened in Australiia and NZ: the likes of Nobby and Mike O’Sullivan, Justin Drape and Scott Nowell, and Dejan Rasic, as featured in CB May/June 2010 issue.
Some of the points raised in the AdAge story was also the subject of our cover story – with the same headline – in May/June, 2007.
16 Comments
No. It’s not.
I think the fun has gone out of most creative industries. Music, movies, advertising, writing – it’s all been democratised by the internet to a greater or lesser degree. So there’s less money, more catering for the lowest common denominator, a greater demand for immediate measurable results, and less long term thinking – it’s all about what’s going to sell right now.
But it also doesn’t help to whine about it. We’re still paid quite well in the bigger scheme of things, for jobs that are at least partially fun. Accountants don’t get to go on shoots. Lawyers don’t get big corporations to pay for hair-brained ideas like giant skill testers. Most clients and corporate folk aren’t allowed to wear pretty much anything they want to work.
The world is less fun. I don’t know anyone in any industry who can’t wait to get into work in the morning. We still have the fun slice of a shit pie.
True lawyers bankers and lawyers don’t get to wear trainers and t shirts to work, but at least they know they have a job till they have enough dosh to live happily ever after.
Unless you get the breaks that allow you to ECD your way to greatness ie Craig Davis, Matt Eastwood, do you really want to be working in advertising with a bunch of 25 years olds when you’re 45? And what about those 50 year olds who can’t get a fulltime gig anymore and have to freelance round taking orders from cds and suits nearly half their age.
I changed careers, from a banker to a creative about 10 years ago. I hated being a banker. I’ve been luckier than some in Advertising, but it was a struggle. Got nice work up, won awards and done ok. But I still wish I’d sucked it up, stuck with banking and found a creative outlet in my spare time instead.
My mates are all set up for life pretty much. They don’t love their jobs but a nice house in the eastern suburbs and holidays to europe and fiji every year sure makes up for not wearing trainers to work every day. Plus they don’t have to think about what the fuck they’ll be doing in 15 years when they’re 50.
This post by Ben Kay is worth a read on the subject too.
http://www.ben-kay.com/2010/05/listen-up-you-need-an-out/
Agree. It’s a job with the occasional fun bit, but for most it’s no longer a career. Few prospects – even if you’re fucking good, and precious little job security.
But worst of all, advertising is no longer a creative industry.
There’s no rebellion in advertising anymore.
Client compliance has led to frustration.
Agencies have put cushions between themselves (especially “bolshy” creatives i.e. the ones with opinions character and talent) and the clients.
Hierarchy and fear is what you feel when you enter most client marketing departments. Placating that fear has became the agencies role.
The modern agency model allows them to get away with “intellectualizing” everything, so they don’t actually have to make decisions.
“There, there, don’t worry. Lets do some graphs and have some meetings for a few months. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know what you’re doing or that, what you’re doing will ruin the brand. We’ll do it with you. Then you can blame us when it goes wrong.”
Agencies went along with it (against their gut feelings) because clients were happy to pay for this level of brow mopping.
It’s a good business model when you think about it. It makes money.
But it’s not a good “fun” model. Because it’s all feels a bit grubby.
On a happy note, it’s Friday tomorrow. And soon, someone will probably come up with a whole new model that’s fun again.
I look forward to it – because somethings got to give.
The biggest change has been the rapid rise of holding companies run by accountants who don’t give a fuck about anything other than maximising their quarterly profits. There’s no long term plan, care or vision.
‘Fuck the workers, run them into the ground, we can always find more bodies’ is their motto.
Luckily clients now smell agencies who do the least possible to service their business. That’s why passionate independent agencies like Droga, Monkeys, Host and AJF are shitting all over the agencies run by blood sucking accountants.
@11:54
On the head mate.
I worked for an agency – a fantastic agency – during the time that it got bought, bent over and summarily fucked by a global giant.
And I remember thinking at the time – Why would anyone buy a successful company for a shitload of money, and then do everything they can to eradicate the things that made it successful?
I hope that this is the new dawn of the hot shop. But let’s face it, it’s a cycle. The little guys will become the big guys, sell out and become the monsters themselves. And a new batch of little guys will emerge.
But damn, now is a great time to be one of the little guys.
10:54 said it all exactly how it is from where I sit and I don’t work for an agency owned by Globocorp.
Maybe the crux of the matter is ethical…. Maybe if you have the feeling of getting up in the morning and feeling good about going to work, whether you get to wear trainers or not (or prefer to wear trainers or not, for that matter), is actually more important. The opportunity to be creative, the opportunity to actively contribute to developmental discussions in a fair and well managed environment – these things outrank money if they are present, but if they are not, and the money is also not there, than you are making happiness / fulfillment very unachievable for yourself and you should seek out a new environment.
I worked in print advertising doing everything for the client – creative / campaign devt, production, marketing guidance, etc – and now I work in superannuation in direct marketing. I now have tangible results and data on my side (after only client-based anecdoctal ‘evidence’ previously), an extremely well managed and financially secure role in an excellent team (after being micro managed, underpaid, and bullied), AND now I’m happy. It’s not rocket science.
Having recently moved from agency to client side, I can safely say that working 70hrs a week for fuck all money is not nearly as much fun as working 45hrs a week for almost double the cash.
Eggshells are what’s ruining our fun.
Account people, with good intentions, are too scared to present anything they feel the client won’t like. It’s natural, they don’t want to risk revenue or their bonuses.
Creatives, naturally naughty shit stirrers, face the choice of being seen as ‘difficult’ by challenging the status quo, or dulled down into the giant bell curve of boring that makes up most of the advertising we see today.
Clients are only interested in good work if they believe it’s going to help their business. Unfortunately, many still religiously follow the book of Ogilvy and apply principles set in the 60’s to a much more sophisticated, savvy audience.
If one was to define the role of a creative in today’s market, it’s working within the parameters to create something truly brilliant. But as we all know, consumers never see the brief, only the ad. And briefs are getting tighter and more fearful.
Research has the unfortunate side effect of every company trying to say the same thing to please what they think consumers are looking for. As a result brands are changing their message so often nobody knows what they stand for. And most of it is a knee-jerk reaction to a competitor or new research finding.
So what’s the result?
We all tread on eggshells. Creatives don’t want to piss off the suits, suits don’t want to piss off the client and clients don’t want to piss off the consumer which leads to the ultimate enemy of creative. Fear.
The worst thing is what all this fear of upsetting anybody leads to.
The creatives let the suits do the creative, the suits let the client do the account handling, and the client lets the consumer tell them the brief.
Result? Nobody who is qualified to do their job is actually doing their job.
What we all need to do is skull a big glass of harden the fuck up, remember we’re here to tell the consumer what they want, not the other way around and stop reflecting popular culture and start creating it again.
That’s when the fun starts.
Agencies really need to look at the environments they create for workers. If you want to retain talented people you have to treat them right. There are plenty of non advertising spaces talented creative people can occupy in business these days. Hell – they can just go and work for the clients – where they are protected from abuse. They do get offered a career path and get managers who actually know something about management and getting the best from people, rather than a guy who tells funny jokes, has a heap of metal but is a self obsessed jealous child.
All industries have a beginning, middle and ending and advertising an an entity is on the decline.
By the way, 9:40 are you kidding? You have serious corporate equity!!! A finance background with ten years creative. Come on? YOU so have a future in business – just leave the environment that puts you in a box. Most corporates would find you skill set unique and attractive. 🙂
This is far and away one of the best comment threads I’ve read on this blog.
I can relate to a lot of the comments in this thread. I am a whisker over 30 and already wondering what on earth future there is for me in this industry. I have won a few awards and done some high profile campaigns, but just as I thought my career was about to take off, it seems to have come to a grinding halt. After working very hard full time at a good place, I am now stuck in a freelance rut and totally undervalued for the work that I have done. This is after several years of starry eyed dedication and a belief that hard work pays off. I am shocked at how one day you’re hot, then the next, you’re really not. It’s a ‘career’ with a short shelf life, believe me.
I agree with the ex banker. I have seen my friends do remarkably well working 9-5 jobs while I always seem to be dissatisfied and not even earning what they are. Before you suggest it, I am planning to leave the industry, but these things take time! I honestly believe advertising has lost a lot of really interesting people in the last 3 years. I look around creative departments and I see the same kind of people. Where have the eccentrics gone? The people willing to ask the tough questions? The women who are over 23? Gone. And that’s a shame for agencies and clients.
I had my heart set on a creative career, did AWARD many years ago but somehow got side tracked and ended up in finance for many years. Kept my toe in with a few freelance writing gigs as well as some self financed creative projects as an outlet.
The passion for finance has gone and am seriously looking at a creative career. Is there any room for a former daytrader/strockbroker with a diploma in financial planning who just happens to have a marketing degree and is an AWARD school grad?
2.02
Former banker here.
It depends what you want to do. If you’re looking to get into a creative dept you’ll need a book of spec ads like everyone else – there’s no way around that really. Your other projects will definitely help, CD’s like to see creative stuff you can do on the side, but you need to show you can do ads.
If you want to grab a beer and a yarn drop me a line at spf2828@gmail.com