You don’t drink, you don’t smoke and still you are in advertising
Disorder is the new order in creative studios…
Are ad pros really careless or is it cultivated carelessness?
Scene One
It was 2011 and I was at the campus of a premium institute of communications. I was there to attend a seven-day program as part of the online course I enrolled on. During that week, I befriended a hefty guy (must be in his early twenties), who was pursuing his six-month diploma. Those were the wonderful days; we developed a kind of kinship with each other. On the last day, we had a small get-together, where all students were sharing their experiences on the campus. Suddenly, this guy came to me and asked: “Sirji, pahele bola hota to liquor ka arrangement kar dete?” I said, I don’t drink. Next question: “Do you smoke?” “No”, I replied tersely. And a sort of disbelief spread over his face: “Sirji, you don’t drink, you don’t smoke and still you are in advertising?”
Scene Two
It was my first day at one of the hospitality brands in Gujarat; the main office of this company was located in Gandhinagar. Now it is in Ahmedabad. On the first day, after the induction and lunch, my creative head offered me a ciggy; I said I don’t smoke. My ‘no’ hit him like a ton of bricks – “copywriter ho ke cigarette nahi peeta?
Welcome to the good, bad, creative, crazy and snazzy world of advertising…
In the two real-life episodes, I was up against a breed of ad professionals who were unshakeable in their belief that creative guys, who are in advertising, have to stand out in a very quirky manner. And if they fail to stick to this freakish posture, they are not creative. Hence, there was (and still is) a flock of creatures who pretentiously adopt this so-called creative appearance. One might wonder what our ad pros do to project themselves as creative?
To manifest their special qualities, these people do everything that is socially (or rather professionally) not acceptable. They began to break the norms and promote their own crazy laws; their superficial demeanour lands a culture shock on the society. From their weird hairdo to footwear – everything gets a maverick makeover. Unkempt hair, whiskered faces, informal dressing, abusive language (An agency owner and faculty at a reputed management institute, once boastfully blurted out that he couldn’t help using swear words in conversations), smoking, consuming liquor and whatnot…
Who cares?
This is their trademark. Why should we follow the norms? We don’t care about our appearance; in fact, we don’t care about anything. We are lost in our world of imagination because we have to churn out ideas for excellent communications. So it is natural that we are not one of those who have a perfect professional poise with neatly shaven face, formal clothing and refined language.
But hang on! Is this all natural to them? Perhaps not. This seems rather cultivated carelessness. Earlier, this carelessness (inherent or cultivated – it is debatable) in India was limited to the areas of art, literature & film; in the last few years, this attitude has crept into creative agencies too. And art directors and copywriters were the first to join the party. Since creative aspects of advertising bear resemblance to that of literature, art, and film making, it was quite obvious for our ad men to relate their persona to those illustrious artists, littérateurs & film makers.
The Way Ahead
The role of our creative professionals has long been facing an Open challenge; take the word Open literally. Why? Now they are no longer supposed to stay in their closed cabins or corners to muse over that Great Idea; from their cubicles, now they are face-to-face with their clients to make presentation and get the hang of creative briefs. And once you are before your clients, dishevelled comportment sends out a wrong message; chances are that you will be cast aside as one of the legs of centipede. In small and mid-level agencies, this trend is prevalent; but there too, creative clique need to undergo a makeover. Clients now directly talk to the creative department, and when they get to know that the soul (read: creative group) of an agency looks not-so-serious, they would think twice before hiring that agency. So the signal is very clear: shape up or ship out.
Confession
Not that I was alien to the advertising world before the two incidents, but this has certainly changed the way I now look at this domain in general and advertising professionals in particular. During my graduation & post-graduation (with little knowledge of how advertising agencies work) I nourished a dream of working as an ad pro. However, after reading giants in literature and criticism, I came to know about the process of creation. And then I started applying the same knowledge to dream up stories for small ad films. This was purely a non-professional exercise. I was doing this on my own, just to satiate my hunger to create stories and write scripts. But then this became my passion, although I never had an inkling that one day I would write ad copies or generate ideas for creative communication.
Coming to the present day: The untidy get-up of creative folks…
The advertising world has its own unwritten rules & regulations, and if you fail to comply with them, you feel outsider. But the million-dollar question is – why do ad men behave in eccentric manners? Are they allergic to normalcy?
Well, there is a method in their madness. They project themselves as rebels, don’t care about the ways of the world, and most importantly, careless about their appearance.
The two episodes mentioned above provide much gyaan. Summing up this piece with two questions: Is it imperative for a copywriter or an art director to smoke or drink? Do cigs and booze help them think better?
Note
This article is not to demoralize young talent, who want to join advertising. The idea is to encourage them to focus more on developing the core skills than to get overwhelmed by the so-called glitz and glamour of the ad world.
