lessons from advertising
My first job was a copywriter at an advertising agency.
I knew clients held the power when it came to the outputs in this industry.
I wanted to protect my creative freedom. So I chose to be a copywriter.
I thought it’d be easier this way… Was. I. Wrong.
Everything I wrote got rejected.
There’s always something to re-craft after every submission.
It was heartbreaking for the fresh-out-of-school artist me.
I wanted to quit 3 months in. Good thing I shared my struggles with my college thesis adviser.
He gave me a word…
Persevere.
He told me to give it a year. And so I did. I endured countless overtimes, plowed through revisions, and kept editing until it gets approved.
I even got diagnosed with vertigo in the process. It was THAT intense.
But I’m glad I went through all of that. My experience in advertising built my creative backbone.
Here are the lessons from advertising I took with me:
Separate yourself from your work.
You are not your ideas. Your worth isn’t dictated by your outputs. Those are parts of you but they’re not the whole. And P.S. don’t take comments on your work personally. When your work gets rejected…doesn’t mean you are being rejected.
Empathy is essential.
Yes, there will always be clients who will make you go “seriously?!” whenever they comment on anything. Most of the time, we will never really understand how they come up with that. But instead of cursing them quietly in our minds, we can learn a lot from putting ourselves in their shoes. Plus, both parties can benefit from this! When we help them understand why we designed it the way we did, and when we try to think like them…rapport and harmony is built.
Work smart. Not hard.
Working hard will keep you at your desk until the wee hours of the morning trying to squeeze out ideas. Working smart is developing habits and practices that help you stay inspired and creative. Does talking to a teammate help you ideate? Do you think eating something sweet can help you get those juices flowing? Is a certain playlist going to boost your productivity? Self-awareness will come in handy too!
When you’re stuck, take a walk.
This is one of the practices that helped me stay on track with deadlines! Taking a break to just walk around is sooooo helpful in making room for ideas and inspiration. I got this tip from my first creative director and have kept faithful to it since!
Have fun!
This is the only industry where you get paid to play around with ideas! Laugh about ridiculous client feedback. Poke fun at your own ideas. Laugh a little and throw in some jokes in meetings every now and then. It can be a heartless industry, but it’s never without fun. So have all the fun you can!
You won’t have a lot of creative freedom like I thought. But you will surely grow some balls and courage if you decide to persevere in advertising.
I’m glad I did 9 years ago!
