Long Day

Spent the entire day in the meeting room, typing, watching some terrible work, and listening to folks defend it. The highs of last night quickly disappeared. Luckily, there was some good progress made on getting folks to acknowledge the problems inherent in some of this work. A lot of my friends who aren't in advertising will tell me about how terrible commercials are, and how so much marketing seems like visual pollution and unsolicited sensory garbage. I have to agree with them. What they don't know, though, is that agencies try every day to produce work that is entertaining, beautiful, and insightful. There are countless problems in the way, and very often, you'll hear ad folks blaming clients for the crap that ultimately finds its way out into the world. If only we could all pass the buck, and blame clients. But it's not that simple. Very often, to meet deadlines, agencies turn out work that addresses the briefs that come their way, while acknowledging that it's not at the standard they wish it was. It's hugely encouraging to see a client that wants beautiful work, that demands it, that insists that agencies pour blood sweat and tears into making advertising beautiful. This client is insisting that, and as a consequence, it forced a lot of people in the room to take a good hard look at the work they're doing. While we did see a lot of unremarkable work, there were a few gems, and some good ideas, and I left encouraged by the progress that was made. We're all trying to produce good, compelling work that entertains people. Some of us are just farther along the path than others, but it's in everyone's best interests to get on the same page. I can gladly say that I'm a part of the process, and I feel pretty good about my role in making better communication.