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What the Economic Meltdown Means To Creatives
By Joel Kirstein
http://12pointtype.com/2008/10/creative-design/
What the Economic Meltdown Means To Creatives? Nothing good my friends. I been through four recessions in my 25 years in the ad agency world and the creative side of the equation always bears the brunt of the situation. No one is immune regardless if you’re high priced talent or the low man on the creative totem pole. We as a group are the muscle that moves the machinery of progress forward, yet receive the least recognition, appreciation or respect for what is TRULY accomplished. Call it insecurity on the part of non-creatives, call it what you want… jealousy, envy, immaturity. All of the above. Ever notice that jealousy includes the word Lousy? Lousy doesn’t even begin to explain how this new financial crisis shakes out for us creatives. We lose our jobs. Lose our financial security as our 401K Plans shrivel up faster than a steroid abuser’s privates and then we have to suffer through being evaluated by those who aren’t qualified to evaluate what time it is! A former colleague of mine just had this exact scenario doled out to them and then on top of it all, they will probably lose their home too. What I find amazing and mind numbing at the same time is that the criminally incompetent insiders and interlopers who perpetuated this culture and climate, from the top down, have the temerity to say that it is a “Worldwide Economic Crisis” and bigger than just one mistake. Gee, ya think so? We do our jobs as creatives to highest level of competence because excellence is the minimum acceptable level. Our accomplishments and our value is apparent for all to see and the always rising bar
of competition is what pushes us to be the best at what we do. Yet we’re still seen as stupid, flakes, irritating odd-balls with no business sense and often laughed at as caricatures. That’s what I like, a healthy team attitude. And agencies wonder why the “us and them” mentality still persists? It’s a mystery!!! The paper shuffling, incoherent wheel spinners whole inflict themselves into the process of what we do, thinking that sending emails, filing, collating and stapling think what they do is of equal importance to creative product are the main INGREEDIENT (Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose!) to the that fuels the “Account Driven” mentality that permeates our industry like a backed up cesspool. This is exactly the same “Account Driven” mentality that drove corporate greed in the financial world that put us in this unflushed toilet that all of our tax paying dollars are going to clean up the mess. Can you hear that sound? It’s all the people who caused this problem and yes, they are laughing at us! Plus by the time some of these bastards go to jail, it will do little to get the homes back to the people who were forced out by predatory lenders. It will do nothing to recoup the value of diminished 401K Plans that were wiped out thanks to massive corporate incompetence and irresponsibility that is the definition of criminal negligence. It won’t get creatives back into jobs that they unfairly lost due to the “Account Driven” mentality that we were forced to work under, like indentured servants and then we’re the first casualties of the “Account Driven” make a sale at any cost, because if creatives losing their jobs is the cost, then that’s OK. We’re just functionaries. Everyone sets up the situation for creatives and anyone could do what we do! This latest installment should show creatives, once and for all what our industry really thinks of us: a disposable element of a transient process. The built in scapegoats to take the blame for the actions of others. It appears to me that the better we do our jobs, the more we’re resented for it. That pot we don’t have to piss in? We would’ve wound up wearing it if we had it. An outhouse in the frozen snow seems to be a perfect metaphor for things as they stand now: crap and frozen!
JOEL KIRSTEIN is a Creative Director who has been in the Ad Agency trenches for 25 years and he wonders why creatives do a great job and lose theirs while the incompetent are rewarded?
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Contributor's Note
For Designers, By Designers. What else is there to say. The best graphic designers in North America are all about the 12 Point Type. If you are a graphic ldesigner or want to reach graphic designers, this blog is for you.
http://12pointtype.com
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This intel first appeared on: http://12pointtype.com/2008/10/what-the-economic-meltdown-means-to-...
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