Siriusly?

By now you'd think I'd be used to it. But I'm not. 

I know this happens to EVERY other creative person in the business. And I know they've come to much better terms with it than I. So when it happens, it just makes my stomach turn. And it stirs within me a fire that will not be extinguished. Usually followed by an audible outburst, 

"...fucking clients, you should've bought that idea 25 years ago when we put it on the table."

The year was 1996 and I had just started working at Chiat/Day for my second stint. My return was not going particularly well and I could tell there were closed door meetings to the tune of "let's get rid of Siegel. He's a hothead who thinks his shit don't stink." 

I'm pretty sure Lee intervened and said, "not yet, I think Brian gonna do something good for us."

Somehow I managed to survive the political snakepit and lasted long enough to save my ass with the ABC Yellow campaign. But before that, John Shirley and I got involved with the pitch for Sirius XM, a category busting company that was about to change the world of car radio.

Our idea: Sirius XM featured close to 150 different channels, everything from roadhouse blues to classical to spoken word comedy to Jesus Rock. So let's build an imaginary factory/warehouse where all the DJ's work and co-mingle with each other. And let's eavesdrop in on the random encounters between celebrity DJ's, status meetings, office parties, etc.

In essence the factory would be a stage, complete with lots of Sirius XM branding, from which we could generate hundreds of spots, big and small, that showed, not told, Sirius XM in action. 

Hints of ESPN Sportscenter? Admittedly yes. But were convinced we could make it our own with celebrity appearances by Bowie, Springsteen, BB King, Alex Jones and the like.

Fast forward to 25 years later and now airing on every damn football game I watch, the same idea, though now it's not a factory/warehouse, now it's a home (suspiciously similar to Nissan's Heisman House) where many of the hosts live, a bit contrived if you ask me. 

Plus some of the spots feature Kevin Hart, who is uniquely unfunny in so many ways.

It stings. 

And it stinks.

But it's also a fair reflection of a life toiling in advertising and characterized not so much by, "Hey look what we did" but more of, "damn, we had that idea, stupid clients should have bought that."

And we've all sang that song.

I coulda been a contender.