In a previous piece, I said that you shouldn't diminish your chances of getting a job by having tattoos, piercings or dressing like Darryl Bristow-Bovey - but, of course, advertising people have always been a little different, or eccentric.
Back in 1971, Jerry Della Femina (currently regarded as "the last Mad Man standing"), wrote "advertising is the only business in the world that takes on the lamed, the drunks, the potheads and weirdos."
He also said: "eccentrics are drawn to the business and welcomed into it. Your best grade of eccentric is normally found on the creative side, among the copywriters and art directors."
As one of the leading personalities on Madison Avenue, he readily admits the copywriters' extreme propensity to self-glorification when they start thinking they're Faulkner or Hemingway, but they forget one thing: people don't buy Life magazine to read the ads - it's our job to get more attention than anything else.
His book, From those wonderful people who gave you Pearl Harbour, by the way, is rumoured to be the inspiration for the Mad Men series and that you could have cast Jerry in any role in that programme.
But what he says about getting attention is so true. There are many people creating advertisements as an art-form and they've forgotten the reason for their very existence - to sell more products and services. Copywriters aren't great poets - they sell haemorrhoid creams and dishwashing liquids.
It's true that they get paid a lot more than poets - but they die younger.
Albert Lasker, of Lord & Thomas which later became Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) had a lot of policies (some not so savoury), which supposedly made him the biggest fortune of any other adman. One of his principles was: "when you see or hear advertising that you consider great, find out who was responsible for it. Offer him twice his salary. Work him hard, squeeze him like a lemon. When he runs dry, fire him and get someone else."
The industry isn't as bad now as it was back in the 60s and 70s but it's still not perhaps the best choice for a long-term career, especially from a creative point of view.
This is a story that Della Femina used to tell:
This guy, who was making about $30,000 a year (in the late 1960s) had been fired that morning - the agency president had found a 22-year-old and hired her for $8,000. He'd rid himself of the 30-year-old and saved $22,000 in the process. This young chick is now on her way to making a lot of money. Her next job she'll grab off ten grand, the next one fifteen, then up to thirty. And then she'll find herself in the same position as the guy who got fired... you don't have that many years to perform in. You've got maybe seven, eight or perhaps nine years when you're hot. I never saw a copywriter over 40."
The fact is (as in many other industries, too) some people get scared. You join an agency and you're not worried about giving the finger to your boss because you have a low cost of living and, hey, everybody knows you're a genius, right?
But then you get married.
Suddenly you have a bond to pay and you're breeding children (with school fees and other stuff).
At which point you start becoming a little nervous about keeping your job. You don't argue with your boss anymore and your work becomes a little tame.
So you have to plan for financial independence as soon as you possibly can. Just because you're earning a high salary now doesn't mean you should go out and lease a R1m car - it may very well become a noose around your neck.
When I opened my own agency many years ago, one of my first clients was a car dealer and one day I said I was going to buy a new car from him (I think it was a Fiat). He was delighted of course but when I asked him for the finance papers, he turned me down flat, saying "if you can't pay cash for the car then you can't afford it, so I won't sell it to you." Simple logic and I had to drive around in my old Beetle for another 18 months.
It was a good strategy.
Have a great week!
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