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What is happiness? It’s just a moment before you need more happiness.
Are you secretly Werner Herzog?? (imagine it in his thick Bavarian accent)
GenX here. It used to be really fun. Shoots were constant. Industry parties were abundant. We played as hard as we worked. Creativity was championed. And clients spent money.
Since 2015 though it’s all gone downhill. Now it’s just a job. I feel bad that the younger generations will never get to experience any of that.
Also GenX. And I approve this message.
To me, happiness is not doing this Pharma crap :-/
Why’s an art director wishing for an associate creative directors paycheck?
Yes, happiness is a moving target. But it’s worth trying to get that one. Yes you can be happy in advertising! You can most likely have only 2 out of these 3 things: Money, Good work, Good people. If you know which 2 are your priority, you can be happy. Maybe you sell an idea to giant clients, maybe you go to Cannes, maybe your mom sees your work in the wild. Maybe your work actually change something. Maybe you get delirious laughter. Maybe you find friends and lovers. I’d keep my eye on that moving target if I were you!
It’s really hard when you don’t feel like you have any of those.
Happiness isn’t just your job, if that’s the only thing that’s the problem in my opinion. Happiness is coffee in the morning listening to chill music, it’s watching a sunset on the beach with your kids, it’s all around you, which can sometimes make the slog at work not seem like that big a deal. It’s ok to love your job but it can’t be all you love. But I don’t know maybe that’s just me.
That’s nice. Personally I’ve never worked somewhere where I’ve had that much leverage. I’ve turned down working late only to end up in multiple meetings about it.
I’m incredibly happy with advertising but i have no illusions (or delusions) about the state of the industry and what we do.
Surround yourself with people or an agency that looks to the future and accepts that broadcast advertising is on its way out. That people are actively paying platforms to avoid our work.
Having CEOs that face the reality of consolidation, automation, Gen Z behaviors, and doesn’t lie to clients or over promise makes a massive difference.
And knowing the structure of what an agency should be in 2025 will help with happiness . You shouldn’t have more than five people in the C-suite. Otherwise you’re floating bloat.
Big facts acd3. I would say broadcast is less “dead” now than it was 5-10 years ago (not in terms of spend, but in terms of people talking about how dead it is)
Short answer: No
Longer answer: Hell no
Inspiring. Thanks.
Relative. I make better money than most people but this industry is insanely and unnecessarily stressful, volatile, and unforgiving.
No, it doesn’t.
It’s all perspective and what matters to you. I’m in Pharma. I hate every single second of it. It eats at my soul. But my identity is not tied to my career at all. I have a family, hobbies, and life goals—my career is just the financial tool for supporting the things that make me happy.
And now it’s time for you to do what I did, to find a way to make extra money by doing something you love and are passionate about. My little company that I founded does take up some of my time at nights and on weekends, but it empowers me and gives me something to look forward to when I retire or get shown the door.
Work is just work. I enjoy 10% what I do, and the rest is business - and I treat like it. Yes, I’m in high positions.
A few years back, I landed at a consumer agency, which felt like a step in the right direction. After two years, we lost the account and I got let go. That pushed me back into healthcare, where I still feel out of place.
I want to return to general market, keep growing, and eventually get to a place I actually love. My question is—does it get better once you’re at those bigger, more aspirational agencies? Or is happiness in this industry always a moving target?
I've been in a very similar situation as yours and constantly wondering if I should leave pharma and go back to consumer. Every opportunity I got, the pay was lower. And I ended up choosing money and stability. I guess the thing is: find out your priorities. Make sure you get the part that matters most. And learn to accept and make the best of the parts that are not good. No role will have it all, there is always a "price" to pay. And make sure you are doing things you love outside of work, every day. I like to think: when I look back at this time, will I miss it? Was it a fun era? And if not, make it fun. Work with what you have!
I got to agencies I dreamed of working at when starting out, dream brands, great title (this is outdated)…and sadly there was just as much stupidity and bs. And for the most part people do not care about what we make at all. That said, I also have a healthy retirement, own an apartment in nyc and able to raise a child here. I get to talk about interesting topics constantly with other (relatively) smart and interesting people. I get to poke and prod into different kinds of people’s lives and find strangely deep connections they have to all sorts of mundane parts of life. Reading widely and keeping up with culture and technology is part of my job. I don’t know if it’s truly my forever home but there are a lot worse gigs. Before I went into advertising, I was a waitress.
I started my own company a few years ago to give me something to do in my retirement years that I am passionate about. It’s so important to explore ways to make a living outside of your full time job. If things get bad and I decide to retire early, I’m all set up with my company and other content creation jobs that I do on the side (completely different industry, nothing at all to do with advertising or healthcare.) I sleep well every night knowing my job at IPG is not my life or my only means of survival.
Back in the "Golden" era of advertising, 70s - early 2000s, it was a very glamorous business to be in. Three-hour lunches, 3-week shoots all over the world, rep dinners, parties, and then it turned into a job. Little pay, late nights and weekends constantly, editing your own spots at your desk, doing your own music, etc. So, in the end, I wasn't very happy.
There’s happiness in moments but outside of that which lasts literal moments, it’s work. You might also be confusing “happiness “ with “fulfilled”
Even when you make it, they slowly took away everything that felt like you “made it”. Feels like at some point you should get to work normal hours and get paid enough to not have to worry on the day to day… guess I haven’t made it yet after 15 years
I feel this and I’ve been at it almost 21 years.
Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.
Yes… and I think try key is to (try) to surround yourself around great people.
I’ve found at the 10 year mark into a successful career that work tends to not be as fulfilling anymore. Less about the role and more about where I am in life.
A consumer social shop was more fun than pharma but also feel stuck in pharma the past 2 years
Pro
It does feel like those are the two lanes we have to choose from if we want steady work: pharma or social.