GETTING THE GROOVE BACK
About two weeks ago, I was having the toughest time since I made my return to the world of advertising. We were working on an ad (technically, I was the only one doing it) where the placement held a lot of creative opportunities but the message I was supposed to incorporate in it had greatly overworn its welcome. And since the other guys on the team were too busy to give much thought to brainstorming for concepts, I was pretty much the only one making them. The sad part is that every one I came up with was pathetically wanting. I didn't even want to show them but since I was the only one doing it, I had no choice but to shoot them out to my boss.
Of course, he had a hard time thinking of concepts for it as well but it made me feel inadequate and I started questioning why I came back. During one of our forays downstairs to have a smoke, I asked this junior AE who was with me, "Why did I leave a cushy job for this again?"
In a wisdom beyond his years, he remarked, "Because you missed it".
I realized that in the advertising world, I sometimes tend to take a backseat to the greatness of others. I'm 30 years old and I've never won a single award. I look at my peers here and I wonder if I measure up to them.
Something I do on a constant basis.
Then one friday night, my boss got really drunk and gave me an impromptu evaluation. He actually loved my work. My dedication. my passion. He just wished that it came out more. My passion that is.
He may have forgotten everything he told me that night but those words stuck to me. These people hired me for a reason. And if you can't take the drunken words of someone to heart, whose then?
Fast forward to today. I'm back in the groove. Confidence is high. Questioning strat. Demanding unique propositions. Defending my work.
I feel like me again.
INXS: Ganns came over last night and we worked on some material for our soon-to-be-launched music careers. I brought out some songs that I've had for the longest time and we jammed for about an hour and a half. We sounded great and I now have three songs ready for recording. I've never been this close to achieving this dream before. Will keep you posted if ever we come out with a single. Hey, I can dream right?
Of course, he had a hard time thinking of concepts for it as well but it made me feel inadequate and I started questioning why I came back. During one of our forays downstairs to have a smoke, I asked this junior AE who was with me, "Why did I leave a cushy job for this again?"
In a wisdom beyond his years, he remarked, "Because you missed it".
I realized that in the advertising world, I sometimes tend to take a backseat to the greatness of others. I'm 30 years old and I've never won a single award. I look at my peers here and I wonder if I measure up to them.
Something I do on a constant basis.
Then one friday night, my boss got really drunk and gave me an impromptu evaluation. He actually loved my work. My dedication. my passion. He just wished that it came out more. My passion that is.
He may have forgotten everything he told me that night but those words stuck to me. These people hired me for a reason. And if you can't take the drunken words of someone to heart, whose then?
Fast forward to today. I'm back in the groove. Confidence is high. Questioning strat. Demanding unique propositions. Defending my work.
I feel like me again.
INXS: Ganns came over last night and we worked on some material for our soon-to-be-launched music careers. I brought out some songs that I've had for the longest time and we jammed for about an hour and a half. We sounded great and I now have three songs ready for recording. I've never been this close to achieving this dream before. Will keep you posted if ever we come out with a single. Hey, I can dream right?
