Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Unfortunately, this fellow died of cancer.
His writing is amazing and I commend it to all of you, here
Asher
His writing is amazing and I commend it to all of you, here
Asher
My mother and sister were both creative professionals at various agencies for more than 20 years each. My mother was the creative director of a major agency when she retired from the advertisement world. They have both received many awards during their careers, among others the best creative professional of the year title awarded by the industry itself. Having witnessed their way of working and knowing their personal and professional motivations, I can say that the article by Linds Redding hit the nail squarely on the head.
Yes, creative people need to eat. That was taken care of by their salary and the occasional bonuses. In return, they just had to sell their soul and body to the agency. Working 100 hour weeks, always trying to come up with the next idea and the next one after that. Having to present to the customer a full set of ideas by tomorrow, thereby having to forgo any sleep and food. Only to find out that the brief by the account exec wasn't that accurate and the customer had completely different ideas, etc. So were they criminals as Tom seems to be insinuating? No, they were just slaves to the system. If there is somebody/something to blame, it is the free market economy imo.
One thing is sure, they are indeed ordinary people. And I am proud of them.
Asher i just want to clarify that not all creative people are (independent) artists such as Dali. Creative professionals such as copy writers and art directors within the advertising world do not normally get public recognition or fame but their end products might become very famous.Thanks Cem for sharing your experience and insight. Creative people without marketing skill might not get very far up the public recognition, fame and reward systems in our society. Most often they become exploited serfs in service of others. Interesting that one as great as Salavador Dali had a partnership with a psych warfare officer from the British Armed Forces who ran all his Publicity and stunts!
Asher