April 20, 2018. 8am.
The alarm rings. Los Angeles, 72 degrees and sunny. Some kind of existential anxiety courses through me as I get ready to go into work. It was an awful night of sleep, following at least 30 or so previous terrible nights of sleep. But really seventeen years of restlessness and compromised dreams. All of it has been leading up to today. It’s a Friday. Big agencies always lay people off on Fridays. The two days off lets everyone deal with their emotions on their own time.
This will be my last day at an agency, ever.
Parts and Labor
Some industries don’t really need you, they just need something from you. Your sweat, talent, time or patience. Maybe your math-ing, your objectivity, or the part of your brain that understands the parts of cars. This kind of job goes through the motions of talking to you, hiring you, dealing with you, but it is all really just about your part. Your best, most-needed part. Marketing agencies, though they like to pretend otherwise, are one of those industries.
Born of the Industrial Revolution, advertising, direct marketing and PR, are business-driving functions that need a creative person’s ideas in the way batteries need lithium — it’s a precious thing, but also disposable. The life blood of the marketing…
