A fond farewell

Even more so than virtually every other day at my work, yesterday was pretty awful. And it didn't start out that way; it had hopes and dreams of being good - the sun was shining for the first time since February, Mark and Brian were actually entertaining on the commute, and I didn't drop any weights on my toes at the gym.

Things were looking up.

Then it happened.

I get to work, see my Senior Art Director who just got in from a week with his wife and grandkids at Disneyland, and we (along with a junior Art Director and Senior Writer) headed off for morning coffee. Not fifteen feet from the super-secret side exit door, he drops this bomb: he's put in his two week notice.

Don't get me wrong here. This guy deserves the job he just got at another agency in town more than anyone else. He’s been in the business longer than anyone else in the agency. He's an incredible creative asset and a great guy to be around. I've learned more from him than anyone else in the past 12 months.

So why am I upset that he’s going? Because he is the one person that is able to stand up for good creative work. Sounds obvious, right? We’re an ad agency, that’s what we do. Unfortunately, it’s not. Our advertising, as much as we try to point it in the direction of impacting, emotional branding, usually falls short; we usually take the safe and secure (read: boring and unexciting) route.. Sure, this is partly due to client kills, but most of it is done internally by none other than our Executive Creative Director -- this person simply does not know great work, and routinely kills great ideas.

Good times.