This past year was a bit of a bastard. And whilst I would love blame Omicron, or Omnicom, the real reason is a bit more mysterious. Firstly, why am I saying it was a dud year professionally? Because basically nothing I worked on got made. Having turned out plenty of ads in 2020, the second year of Covid was far less kind. And I don’t really have an explanation. It’s just how it goes sometimes. I certainly worked on some great briefs. With some great agencies - I spent most of the year with Clemenger Melbourne. It’s an agency I’ve long admired but never worked with before. And I was not disappointed - I met some incredibly talented people and some of the projects have been unreal. But even the great Clems is not immune to the high rate of attrition that is so common in our industry.
A few weeks ago I was at a 4th birthday party, talking to the lad’s mother, who is a teacher. She had asked how work was going and I said there was no shortage of it, but that nothing I had created this year…had actually been created. It took a little while for her to comprehend this.
“So, these brands get you to come up with all these ideas - and they pay you for them - but they don’t do anything with them?”
You’ve about captured it, Jules. There are times when it feels like the advertising industry is primarily a maker not of ads, but of inspiration for marketers and their bosses. Most days we are creating mere fodder - terabytes of slidecraft that just help the client decide what they really want.
Often what they want is to scrap the project for one reason or another. Other times they just opt for some fairly straight film, or something else traditional. Yes, 2021 has seen the continued floundering of activation as a channel. In an industry that has a lot of conceptual roadkill, no creature been splattered as frequently as the Non-Traditional Brand Act. Everyone asks for them. I would say that - comfortably - 50% of my time is spent coming up with them. And they NEVER get made. I have a few theories about why - but that might be another post for another day. Today, I wish to just bid 2021 adieu. I’m hoping that 2022 brings a bit more love from the ad gods.