Over the years, I've written quite a bit about the ills of advertising, ills that can literally cause Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach and Diarrhea. Some, namely my wife and my CPA, claim I write too much on the topic.
Though it should be noted that last week and this week I'm on kind of a dream gig. I'm at an agency near my house. There's still some old school folks in the building. And the young (they're all young) creative director I'm working for couldn't be smarter or more pleasant.
Nevertheless, let's not sugarcoat things.
This business, from a 90,000 foot level, with its crazy deadlines, its fickle nature, its dwindling budgets, and its constant client/agency tug of war antics, can be brutal. Brutal in a soft, white collar, completely insignificant and non-newsworthy kind of way, but brutal nonetheless.
But let's step back for a moment and take a pause for the cause.
Because if you think you're in a particular type of hell, whether you're seated next to a throat-clearer at the Long Table of Mediocrity™ or the client wants you to produce a video about Q-tips that will go viral, I'd like you to consider this...
The 15 second version is bad.
And I'm sure the 30 second version (which I could not locate on the interwebs) is even worse.
Now, close your eyes and picture yourself not as an inconsequential viewer of this campy advert. Imagine yourself on the set, with a banana strawberry smoothie in one hand and an overly picky Chief Marketing Officer on the other.
" I thought Take 53 was a little better."
" I didn't like the way she rubbed her stomach on Indigestion."
" I know it's been a long 15 hour day, but I want to make sure we get some safeties. Can we just do three wild lines on Diarrhea?"
Outsiders will accuse me of overly exaggerating the situation. Insiders, meaning those of us who have sat in production meetings and conducted 3 hour discussions on wardrobe sweater selection, know that I'm not exaggerating at all.
They also know Day 2 of the production was even worse.
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For those of you who enjoy earworms and wasteful brand extensions, here's three minutes of your life you'll never get back:
1 comment:
there's also this.
must be a trend you and I are too stupid to notice.
g
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