I came across an interview at The Ranch a few weeks ago with The Department of Doing CD Mario McMillan. (I like that agency name, like something out of Monty Python.) One of the things he brought up was the notion that you shouldn’t work at an agency that merely tolerates creative, but one that celebrates it. A no-brainer mantra to live by, but it’s something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time.Now, I don’t mean cartwheels in the halls Chillibration® type celebrating, but being supportive of great creative as a means in itself, not just as a way to make 120-page PowerPoint decks look nicer.
Which got me to thinking of all the places I’ve been at where mediocre work is rewarded and high-fived by the account team like it just won a Clio, and the few places where great work is something to aim for and they win awards.
You can make the dollars at the former, but the latter is better for the book to be sure. Ultimately, great creative starts at the top and affects everyone. Likewise, mediocre work permeates everything and brings you down.
You play up or down to the level around you, plain and simple.
Yes, I know we’re all in charge of our careers, and if we hate a given shop, then leave and find something better. Not everyone can though depending on their circumstances. So until W+K calls, how many people have worked where creative is tolerated vs. celebrated?
Tags: advertising, brands, viral
5 comments:
Hi. My name's Irene and I once worked at a sucky place.
Because I'm kinda slow on the uptake, it took me awhile to realize it. But here's when it finally dawned on me: one year, processes changed and approvals for raises and promotions were going to be determined by an executive management team. Each employee in each department would have their performance review OK'd by this team -- which in itself, was not necessarily a bad thing. Except: there was no creative representation on this team. No ECD. No CD. No one who could, you know, knowledgeably evaluate creative talent. So while there was tremendous pressure to do good work, there was no serious regard for the people doing it. The message for the agency leaders was clear -- "creative people aren't our colleagues. They're like vendors who wear odd clothes." Things never got better.
Sorry if my story was too brutal. Hope no young children were reading.
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(The group responds) “HI IRENE”
“They're like vendors who wear odd clothes."
Yeah, exactly right. Vendors who are there to serve at the pleasure of the King and his court.
Hi
I worked at a place that thought it celebrated creatives and gave them all the money and prestige they could ever want. The problem was that it celebrated them as a commodity - the agency was paid for volume of ideas, as opposed to a few brilliant ones, so guess how a creative was judged?
It didn't matter how perfect one idea was for the brief, they had to do more.
No one stayed very long.
More bad = more better Andrew. "Just as long as we show the client something guys!” Says many an account team.
Ouch, Irene, your story is horribly plausible.
The only thing worse is when creatives are evaluated by their creative director, and then remunerated according to the age-old formula - how much he likes them.
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