Is there anyone that still enjoys agency life after 35? If so, what makes you enjoy it?

Sure do. I started working as a line cook and doing construction clean up. Agency life is basically getting paid handsomely to play make believe. What’s the better alternative? This shits easy.

I’m in my mid-40s and still enjoy it, too. I like working with my team to come up with ideas that the client will pay a million dollars for us to go out with a camera crew and dress people up in costume and put on a little show. And then I get to stay in fancy hotels and eat wonderful meals. Plus, what else can I do that will pay me close to $300k a year?

I do, until something happens to remind me why I don’t.

Concepting is fun, and imagining the campaign come to life.

10-12 hr days, 7-day workweeks, canceling plans last minute because “the client wants those revisions tonight,” and other typical agency life scenarios, is not fun — at all. And gets really old after a while.

I love it. Also got into the ad world later in life, around 30. Was a bartender and salesperson before. The worst day in advertising is still pretty Cherry from my perspective

I’m 76. Yikes! I guess I worked steadily until my mid sixties, but I don’t go out of my way to find agency because i could never get past the gatekeepers who want skills I don’t have

I am having a great Time because I’m creating my own work. It doesn’t always work out profitably but that’s OK.

I was fortunate enough to have worked in something most young people don’t want to hear about—the good old days. They weren’t the good old days they were the great old days I had so much fun did an amazing job and I’m so proud I always put my heart in them.

So for instance, I launched a campaign that helped 300 people get a new job and a new home after Hurricane Katrina. I didn’t make any money on it but hell I change 300 lives. No I understand young people and even myself can’t live off pro bono jobs but I’ve used that work many times to show what kind of person I am and what I can do so I’d merchandise it quite well.

I also made 32 different watches for Barack Obama. That’s a little confusing they weren’t exactly for Barack Obama they were part of his two presidential campaigns.

Obama Watches were often very funny, like the ones that said, “love your mama vote Obama”and another one said “Barack around the clock”and here I made good money selling the watches.

But I didn’t just Try to be creative. There was always a strategy behind what I was doing. For instance I made watches viral. A person who wears a watch generally shows it to 14 to 25 people a day so what I was doing besides making money for myself was to drum up votes for Barack Obama. I am no longer selling Obama Watches so this is not a sales pitch. But if you go to obamawatches.com you can see the entire collection

And even if selling Obama Watches wasn’t profitable—which it was—three Obama Watches that I created are in the Smithsonian. So I will have created a little bit of history

I’m working for mother nature I claim to be mother natures spokes human I’ve been working on this for over a year and it’s finally coming together I actually believe I have a campaign that can change America because it is is light years different than anything that’s out there.

Now I understand that today’s creatives don’t have the luxury of not bringing money. And neither did I I always found the gig here there that supported me. So I could carry on with my side activities.

I don’t know how but if I can be of any help or advice to some of the young people who are so unhappy rightfully so with how they’re overworked and often underappreciated I’d be happy to do what I can which isn’t much to help and by that I mean talking to them and I’ve been empty about strategies that might help them OK I’ve gone on long enough carry on young whippersnappers. Sincerely [jackgoldenberg] SpokesHuman for Mother Nature

I like it way more now. I actually learned how to calibrate myself to care enough to make good stuff but also know when to let go when it's just not in the cards. The highs aren't as high but the lows are definitely not as low.

Got my happiness back after going remote

Go get a dog - guaranteed 10-20% happiness boost

Love it.

I love it. I love this business. And I love the moments when I can stop people I am working with mid argument and be like, “we are literally having a screaming match argument over the color pants the duck should be wearing.” And we all laugh at the absurdity of it.

At least once every two years or so, I get to work on clients whose work is important - a charity, a non-profit. In my sideline freelance businesses, I get to work with fledgling start ups who really appreciate the help. And my favorite part - seriously - is seeing how the work can actually work for clients. I once had a warehouse owner tell me, “since the commercials ran, we had to hire a new fork lift driver.”

We in this biz love to crap on ourselves like we are awful. Advertising has obviously done some terrible things. But my experience has been overwhelmingly nice, smart teammates who like to have fun and make cool things.

Life could be a lot worse.

One time during my first ever job at a big Chicago agency I was having a bad day and marched down to my mentor there’s office. He’s the one who plucked my portfolio out of the pile, created buzz internally around my book and helped me get my first job.

Anyway, after complaining about my day he said “let’s go to lunch”. As we walked outside on a humid Chicago day he suddenly stopped at a crack in the sidewalk and said “don’t move until I tell you to”

I looked up and the crack was within view of a street vendor hurriedly making hot dogs for people walking by. He was sweating profusely but couldn’t take a break for water as this was when he had the most customers. After watching him for what felt like hours my mentor walked back to me and said, “what do you think of your “crappy” job now?”

It’s a lesson that stuck as it reminded me, like many have mentioned here, of my jobs pre-advertising (factory worker, asphalt layer, etc) and gave me some perspective.

Has advertising become less fun than when I started 25+ years ago? For sure. But if you can carve out a little time for side projects. (Travel writing gives me a lot of joy these days) your bliss side deal could lead $$. Or at the very least be a welcome distraction that could re-energize you for the advertising breadwinning money-maker.

Good luck and hang in there!

Grateful every day to do this bizarre and wonderful job.

Lots of changes on my end right now. Tons of new hobbies, started working out.

Money.

I liked it more when things were in person... When media and tech companies were throwing parties all the time and catering lunch for the office.

After 35. Lol! Remember as a kid, you would look at people in their 30s and think they were old AF. 30 is young AF. I enjoy creativity even more now. We get to do crazy things for CMOs to help their business in a way that their thousands of employees don’t. We have amazing jobs. The grind never goes away but it becomes more rewarding…

34 and still digging it. There are times where I have to step back and laugh at some of the absurd things I have to take seriously.

“Does this garden gnome look too menacing?”
“Is it possible to put a wig on the blimp to ensure campaign consistency?”
“Did we really spend the whole day thinking about Milk?”
“What do you mean the clients won’t pay for a helicopter!?”

I still enjoy advertising and creative problem solving. You can love the work and not be at an agency. That’s what keeps me going.

Nope.

Don’t they already get rid of anyone over 40? 50 or 60 at an agency is practically unheard of.