The Eternal Conflict

Had an interesting lunch with a creative person just now. Sigh.  Ya just can't teach a dog new tricks. It applies to me and the other person too.

There will always a conflict between me and the creatives. Although I'm from client servicing, I wouldn't say I represent the entire group.

We agreed on some stuff (which were, obviously, neither of our domains) but when it comes to the creative work, we disagree.

On the point of how some great work get canned because it wasn't 'sold' properly, it was implied that the fault lies with servicing.  This, I most vehemently, disagree on 2 accounts: 1) the work doesn't 'sell' itself, i.e. not compelling  or 2) I'm being forced to sell something I do not believe in.

Advertising was created to sell something to millions of people on the get-go.  Simply because, a salesperson can only sell so much. Because, there was suddenly a medium (print first, then TV) that can do the job of talking to millions in one shot. Case in point, The Bible.  Ever since the Guttenberg, the message spread.  In a way, it sold itself and the 'salesmen' (i.e. missionaries) were selling something they believed in.

There will never be Muslim 'salesmen' selling Christianity. It just can't get any clearer than that.

But no, this guy talks to me like I'm some runny-nosed neophyte. On my assertion that ads should not make the consumer think too much, the guy has the nerve to say that I am not representative of the public. In which case, I agree but I also said that although I may not represent the many, I'm pretty sure that there's quite of bit of them like me.

The other thing we disagreed about is on the wining and dining of clients, which I do not generally do and in which he thinks there can never be enough of. Don't get me wrong. I believe in giving TLC to the client, but I'd rather dazzle them in delivering what they want, when they want it. That is how I win brownie points.  Because after all, business comes first when you're working.

And so the conflict continues. This is why I truly hate traditional advertising. We fool ourselves into putting in more effort than the work truly deserves (I mean, why spend so much time on an ad that only has 2 seconds of anyone's eyeballs?). We fool ourselves into thinking that it all matters when it doesn't.

Wanna know the worst part? We can never put hand over heart and really say, "Hey Mr. Client, this ad is gonna help you make a million bucks!". But from the way we're prancing around in this dying industry, we're either dead stupid or dead liars.