Simon Veksner: Is advertising really a business, or is it actually just a giant game?
January 12 2015, 10:11 am | | 7 Comments
By Simon Veksner
Creative Partner, DDB Sydney
This is the time of year when the predictions for the future of advertising are published.
Words like integration, big data, and real-time marketing are bandied about, and it all sounds horribly serious.
Yes, advertising is a business – a serious and important one, with high stakes. READ ON…
7 Comments
It’s more potent than that. It’s a form of religion and has the same affect on people. It turns good people into zealots and allows them to behave badly.
The dollar is divine, the awards are the ‘The Messiah’ and the suited-up high priests convince them this the way. And every member of the commercial cult is convinced they’re doing something holy.
A deluded, greedy world.
It’s a good time to become an advertising athiest.
It’s serious business which attracts too many immature players who treat it like a video game.
Like video games, it takes up too much time, players get disconnected with reality and become too obsessed with winning worthless prizes and high scores can be rigged with ‘cheats’ .
It’s all fun and games, until one gets retrenched, a business fails and your mortgage is unserviced.
Those who succeed are creatives who grow up or work with partners who are grown ups.
@Power Up
Exactly!
If the dollar was divine, why the fuck does everyone get paid so little?
The best people in advertising realise most of it’s shit, which enables them to create campaigns universally adored by the masses and award juries.
@@both of you
It’s true-everyone is paid less than before.
But I am sure their bosses and their bosses’ bosses aren’t.
Maybe they do play the game better.
But we don’t do ourselves any favours by not differentiating ourselves and accepting to work under such crap terms.
It’s a free world, don’t moan. Move.
@@both of you
I’ll spell it out for you.
1. ‘Divine’ is being used in a religious context. As in ‘God’, not ‘delightful’. I think that’s pretty obvious. The suited-up high priests refers to CEO/Management who do chase the dollar.
2. “Creating campaigns that are universally adored”. Another example of delusion.
The world, universe nor cosmos cares.
3. To ‘Power Up’s’ point: ‘the business attracts to many immature players…..who get disconnected with reality’. You just proved his point.
@@both of you
It’s true-everyone is paid less than before.
But I am sure their bosses and their bosses’ bosses aren’t.
Maybe they do play the game better.
But we don’t do ourselves any favours by not differentiating ourselves and accepting to work under such crap terms.
It’s a free world, don’t moan. Move.