Weirdness, Words & My 15, 16, 17…Minutes

Weird to be south of the deep south, weird to have fallen in love with the skies and the birds and the Everglades, weird to be receiving emails, ads and promotions inviting me to go where I already am, weird to be writing at an agency where I’ll wake up on a Sunday morning to one of the Harley TV spots I wrote, weird to hear my scripts on radio as I drive in to work, weird to go into my bathroom and see my girls have peed on my print ad for the jewelry stores … nature’s way of keeping writers humble.

A number of us here at the agency are from the Detroit area and we watch what’s happening up north with a mixture of horror and pain. I saw an AdAge article where some guy said part of the problem with the car companies is all their creatives live in Detroit.

I WENT OFF – and am proud to have been quoted …(I think in the print edition – I’m not sure.)

“Jeff ... sorry man, you don't get it. The soul of the US auto companies is IN DETROIT. Their creative has to be there too, they have to LIVE AND BREATHE product to sell it properly.

The problem is not the incestuous nature of creatives vs. agencies in that town, it's the fact that top execs at the auto companies need to give their agencies the freedom to break old molds.

Meaningful creative is NOT designed by committee. I can imagine the amount of twitching & bitching that would have gone on in any meeting proposing a Hyundai-like guarantee wherein you can return your vehicle if you lose your job.

Break those molds people. Lead, don't follow.

I wrote for several of the big agencies over the years. During those times when I wondered if my work had meaning, I thought of family, friends and neighbors who were affected by our agency's ability to sell the cars they build.

EVERYONE in that town is dependent on the auto industry in one way or the other, from the woman who bags your bagels to the mailman. Their spouses or kids work for the manufacturers.

Some of us go back in the business several generations. We take personal pride in it.

That's why we call it MOTOWN. You won't find that level of knowledge and dedication anywhere else.”

http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=133777

The night of Barack’s inaugural, I went to a local “ball” to be with the wonderfully mixed bag of people I’d enjoyed in two pre-election rallies. It was a night of celebration after all that blogging and ranting and terrorizing editorial columns. (Yeah, I know I got vicious about self-righteous aerial hunting Obama-bashing pro-riot Palin; and I don’t apologize one bit. I wish she would just go away.)

At 7:30 every attendee (who didn’t have a walker) joined in an Electric Slide that was synchronized to take place at the same time at every ball across the nation. FLASH. I walked in the next morning to have my coworkers standing in the lobby saying I was a celebrity. Emails were directed at “the dancing queen.”

The photo was planted in (what I consider) the keepsake inaugural edition. So I bought extra copies for my Granddaughters so years from now so they can laugh at how goofy (but involved) Grandma was “in the day.”

Yesterday I was in our lobby and noted a Gulfshore Business Magazine headline that looked familiar – “Who makes a better boss – men or women?” I’d been interviewed a month ago, but I thought it was for some newspaper article.

I opened to the article and they quoted the hell out of me, it was pretty cool. This particular quote was prominent …

"Fortunately, I have only suffered through two ‘Devil Wears Prada’ types. These are women who believe they have something to prove and heights to reach and they’ll leave bloody stiletto prints on anyone who gets in their way. These ladies are amusing as gal pals but nightmares to work for. I have watched ‘friends’ of this type track coworkers like prey and get them canned for sport."

My “Devil Wears Prada” types will never see the article and wouldn’t recognize themselves if they did.

Tuesday night an acquaintance asked me if I like to write. It goes beyond like or love - I said “it’s like breathing.” On a good day at work, it’s like getting paid to play.

Today our VP asked me for that quote I told him some weeks back; he wanted it for another magazine … he said it was something about the sky and the mountains. And I remembered my own quote; “God made Florida flat so there’d be more room for sky.”

The skies here are INCREDIBLE. You have to live it to know it. They take your breath away.

Cool that he remembered the quote and wanted to use it.

Cool that I get to do what I love –

and cool that I get to do it here.

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” (John Lennon.)