Ever heard someone say they are leaving their job because their heart’s not in it anymore?
That’s crazy. I do my best work when my heart’s NOT in it. In fact, I keep my heart as far away from my work as possible. I think I do my best work when I don’t give a shit. When you’re passionate about something, you overthink it and screw it up.

I do my best work when I’m angry. Usually when I attempt to create a piece of shit just to meet a deadline, it …

I’ve noticed that a lot of ad folks, myself included, have shared this article about how the business is just not that fun any more.
This lack of fun has led to some of the ad world’s top talent moving on to other opportunities, some even to other industries.
But not all of us are Gerry Graf or Ty Montague. We don’t have the built-in cache, award-strewn resumes or (perhaps most importantly) the inflated bank accounts to just up and leave our current gigs.
And if you could leave, then what? I’m sure …

It’s been nearly 2 years since our economy self-imploded. So how far have we come since then?
As far as our industry goes, it would appear that things are headed in the right direction. After a horrible 2009, hiring seems to be picking up across the board and clients seem a tiny bit less terrified than they were a year ago.
But when you look at the national numbers, they seem to paint a different picture. Unemployment is high, home values are still way down, banks aren’t lending money and consumers aren’t …

That’s all you need to come up with something great. 11 minutes and you could fuck it all up. 10 minutes and only 10 minutes. Great work is too often killed by spending or wasting too much time over thinking or over working. You can’t over think in 10 minutes. You might feel guilty for not working long enough. Fuck guilt. 10 minutes starting now. Don’t turn on your computer. Don’t get a cup of coffee. Don’t set up a meeting. Don’t make a big deal of it. Wake up. …

I’ve spent a little bit of time working on the client side of the business. Not much, but just enough to give me a little perspective.

It’s all about the money.
This is not a judgment. It is simply a statement of fact. You work for a large corporation, chances are you get a large bonus when you hit your numbers. Not an ad agency sized bonus, but serious money.
No wonder clients are so nervous about some of the work we present. There is no incentive to take a big risk, the …

Your family and friends are assholes when it comes to achieving your goals. Most great ideas usually sound kind of crazy or stupid at first. While not meaning to do so, friends and family can be the most discouraging when great ideas are at their most vulnerable.
“You want to start a what?”
“You want to go to where?”
“Goooood luck!”
“Seriously, what do you want to do?”
I’m sure your friends and family are nice people. But, when it comes to your goals, they’re assholes. Do not talk to them about your plans. Talk …

Nothing like a long weekend to put things in perspective.
Yeah, sure, I worked most of the weekend, but I still had enough free time to realize something.
We need to slow down.
Even though we work in an industry where being up to speed on everything is important.
And despite the fact that staying clued in via social networking sites and blogs is a key part of our jobs.
Once in a while, we need to step away from the computer, turn off the TV, and just do nothing.
It will keep us sane, help …

I keep reading that television advertising is dead.
But is it?
Try this little exercise:
At any random moment, without being aware of the specific time of day, walk into a room with a television and turn it on.
What’ll be showing?
A freaking commercial!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No news. No sitcom. No cop show.
It’ll be a bloody ad, I guarantee it.
And most likely a crappy one at that.
No, television advertising isn’t dead.
Undead, perhaps, but definitely not dead.
I wonder what’s on YouTube.

How does Apple do it? How have they managed to hang on to my unwavering loyalty, despite the monumental amount of pain they have caused me over the years?
My iphone drops calls with an almost reckless abandon. I honestly have no faith that any call I make will go through. And yet I swear by this phone. I would recommend it to anyone.
My iMac crashes more than Tiger Woods on an Ambien bender. I’ve literally lost days of my life to the spinning wheel of death. My “Mighty Mouse” scroll …

Simple, effective use of Facebook for Ikea, done by agency Forsman+Bodenfors.
But we wont be seeing imitators because Facebook now requires anything like a “competition” to happen within an application, so the low-tech simplicity of this idea was a one time deal.
Pretty smart.
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/online/ikea_facebook_tag
-Shannon McGlothin