Ah the crazy world of marketing and advertising; we can all agree it’s a bit of an insane career but it is the career we chose and in most cases would chose again if given the opportunity. We chose the long hours and the ridiculous deadlines.  We chose to work in a field filled with emotion and subjectivity. if we’re honest there are times when we hate it but more often  we love it and  do so quite passionately too.

It’s a creative field where we get to collaborate, try new things, introduce new products & services to consumers, and God willing, create awareness for things that really can make a difference in someone’s life.  It’s a job where we get to drink beer at our desk, have four-day long weekends in the summer, wear jeans everyday and meet interesting people who know how to do interesting things.  It’s a vocation where we get to work hard and where we get to play hard.

I’ve always been perplexed though on why sometimes it has to BE so hard. We’re all just people trying to do a good job, get good results and take home a good paycheck. In fact in most cases we are striving for the same results, the same recognition and the same rewards as our clients.
Why then do we find ourselves at odds, irritated, frustrated, misunderstood and fed up? How is it that this business can be so rewarding and yet so soul-sucking at times?  Is it lack of understanding?  Lack of empathy?  Lack of trust?  Lack of giving a shit?  Does it have to be a blame game or can we just find a way to put all the crap in its place and do great work?

The one thing I do know is that there are three sides to every story; the client side, the agency side and the ‘truth’, which sometimes lies in the middle but is always the hardest to find.  Maybe just maybe if we all took a step back to consider ‘the other side’ or ‘another side’ we could find common ground, we can get past the garbage that creates garbage work and focus our efforts on the good stuff.

In this column, The Agency Whisperer, that’s exactly what we’ll do.  We’ll help uncover the common ground; help to create a better understanding of why things are they way they are, and in most cases why they don’t need to be that way.  We’ll break down barriers and we’ll look at better ways to approach volatile situations to get us back on track; bridge the gaps (or the great divides); take the personal out of the personalities and get back to doing the things that make our hearts beat (and not in the bad high blood pressure type of way).

Beefs, Bitterness and Bullocks

This is where we’ll start.  Over many years on both sides of the business I’ve accumulated many perplexing stories of unneeded ridiculousness.  I’ll share some of those stories as well as the beefs, bitter feelings and overall crap experiences from folks on both sides of the business.  I will offer a point of view, a new way of thinking about it or approaching it with a solution that hopefully works for both sides.
I ask that you share your war stories, problems to solve or those crazy things that keep you up at night and I’ll take a crack at those as well with commentary, builds or congratulations.

PLEASE feel free to include Kudos, Magical Moments and Shared Wins with us to.  There is, as we know, a lot of good in this world to hear about as well.

All notes will remain confidential, anonymous, no names, brands or companies will be included.

We’d love to hear from you! Please fill in the space below or send us your situation at julie@grassskirts.ca