When I was working at an agency in Manchester over 10 years ago, I had a marathon month.
(This was an agency that habitually did 12 hours a day anyway. Thankfully things are a little less brutal these days)
Pitching for a supermarket, it mattered.
Working on one of those demanding showpiece clients everyone wants to work on, that only looks good on the outside.
A series of workshops, the ones that demand hours of prep, dressing the room, timed to perfection, all me.
It was too much, it was exhausting, I got little help. I was simply told to feel lucky to work there.
It was the agency where a director said they loved recessions because you could squeeze more out of your people.
You get the picture.
There was one day I got in at 7am (after a hour's commute) to frantically make sense of a pitch brief.
I finished after midnight sticking reference onto boards for a workshop the day after.
In at 6 the next day to finish it off.
When it all ended, I called in sick with man-flu, but it was exhaustion. I was running on fumes.
Simply crumbled like a Jacobs Cracker.
Did I do my best work? Are you kidding? I was lucky to simply get everything done.
My boss was more bothered I had an Excel plan for each workshop with each minute accounted for.
The creative director was more interested in the workshop boards looking symmetrical.
The boss also cared more for a brief having a disruptive bit than actually translating business opportunity into creative opportunity.
Things we're, obviously out of balance and I'm glad for everyone this is less common than it used to be.
I'm also determined no one who works with me ever has to go through what I did.
Yet even now it's common to hear senior people talking about 'earning your spurs'.
Not through excellence. Through sheer brutal hard work.
What the fuck is that about?
Yes, creativity is not a just a process, it's not predictable and things can get out of control.
Yes, there are late nights sometimes.
Yes, adrenaline is cheap and hiring more people is expensive.
But when you decide to look after your team, you are looking after your business.
You have to make sure the insane times don't become the everyday.
A culture where people can have hobbies makes the people more interesting.
And the work.
95% of marketing is crap because it's done by people who only care about marketing.
A culture where people take holidays and even lunch breaks keeps them fresh. They work less, but they work better.
A culture than encourages actual fun, rather than away days to make up for the lack of it, makes people do their best work everyday.
I business that looks after its people makes those people want to look after the business.
It means you can trust more people to do their best work while you do yours.
That means you are less alone.
It's lonely at the top, but with a little more balance at least you're a little less isolated.
Your team are more creative, more committed and more fun to be around.
It's too hard not to be fun.
This needs to be read by every client and agency head.
Posted by: Rob | October 15, 2020 at 07:54 AM