Don’t Believe the Lie; It’s Not All About Agencies

I guarantee that some of you, after reading my headline, dropped your jaws in disbelief, dismissing my comment as completely irrelevant and even contemplating my validity to operate as a Creative.

Isn’t the whole purpose of putting yourself through endless hours of sleepless nights, heartless ridicule and cut throat Creative competition to be able to work for all the majorly massive and non-corporate like agencies where they let you chill in PJ’s while munching on Cheetos and bumpin’ Rick Ross in your Beats head phones for Creative inspiration?

That notion may be one outcome but, thankfully, it is not the bread and butter of the business. Before you write to the board of education and demand they hinder my graduation, I’d invite you to ponder the bizarre, yet totally possible notion that there is more to the calling of real creatives than simply working for an agency at the end of the portfolio rat race. A really cool teacher once shared with my class that the world needs story tellers more than they think they do. Story tellers are extremely valuable and immensely rare. Believe it or not, not everyone on this planet is skilled enough to sit and maul over a moral issue, a man-made dilemma, or a cultural conundrum to then express what everyone goes through, stresses over, rejoices in, or hysterically falls out about. Therefore, story tellers are an indispensable asset. That’s a pretty sweet deal to get out of a graduate degree. My question then, to each of you reading, is: why would you confine yourself to the regulations of a large company that will eventually merge and scrap you if you’re not of immense value to your supervisor? Of course, working in an agency is not the most terrible thing in the world. There are a few which are actually very hip and enforce some amazingly cool working cultures, such as Wieden + Kennedy, who are famous for creative story telling on Old Spice, Coke, ESPN and Nike brands.

Don’t forget Droga5 who is infamous for their own genuine and uniquely crafted culture in which their Creatives have ultimate freedom to story tell as they wish: no limits, no boundaries. Yet, it still besets me to mention that the world is a small playground with massive opportunities. Western communication is spreading all over and people are curious about hearing the reality of another. Uniqueness is priceless and copy-cats are played out, so if you can coin your own story telling style why not take your ingenious spark and spread it across the four corners of the earth? It’s the cool and compact, yet larger than life career option of an independent contractor or a less exciting title of a free lancer. Even better, why not build your own firm? Set your hours, set your price range, network like crazy and rake in your millions. It requires more blood and sweat, but when you run the show it’s guaranteed that your journey will be that much more interesting, intriguing, and you’ll certainly have a greater amount of cool stories to share with the grandkids. Some fun and wholesome food for thought.