Being extremely creative and had worked in investment banking for a fair amount of time brings benefits. One benefit is the knowledge that no one I have ever meet in banking is creative, they could not spell the word or even be able to give a clear definition of the word! sad really!! The truth of the matter is that for anyone in investment banking, no matter what your capacity is, that everything in this world just like your job bottle of milk, it has a shelve life, and just like post date milk it gets thrown in the trash. Truth!
What makes for a good Designer or Ad man, or Ad woman hum, simple, it’s knowing the shelf life of products. Some products have a short shelf life others have a long one, some are gifted with a no expiry date at all and there’s only one product out there that has the privilege of that and its Henize Baked Beans. So ask yourself, are you as famous, or do you have the branding that a simple Baked Bean in tomato sauce has, I bet you don’t.
Creating an exciting identity awareness for a product depends on how good the product is and it depends on the marketing department that is hiring the designer or advertising team. Great products do go to the wall because the company that produces the great products has a lousy team. My job is to go into a company and look at whats wrong, if everything is right they would not be calling me to come in and help them. The creativity of marketing teams at companies varies greatly, from straight out of College, Uni, to those in their late 50s. Age does not make a blind bit of difference, but, I will add, is that the young will take far more gregarious chances than the older members in marketing. Why is this so, simple, one reason is job security. The person in their 30s, 40s 50s are scared of making a marketing mistake that would cost them their job should the advertising campaign go south. Losing your job is part of the risk which investment banking in London taught me. To be good in marketing being good is just not good enough, you have to be outstanding, and if your telephone rings none stop with offers of being poached by your competitor you know you are outstanding. Word of advice, if this is the case, next time you get that call, get your coat and walk over the road to your competitor immediately. Once there write a number on a piece of paper with lots of zeros, the first number should not be a zero! chances are you will then be able to afford that apartment right opposite Harrods in London. You mention Loyalty. Loyalty begins and ends with your wallet, and Loyalty went down with the Titanic, even on the Titanic the rich would dress up as women to take seats from the woman and children on the lifeboats.
You will have to stand out from the rest, this will mean that you have an inherent lust for the limelight, I have this quality and it got me into a lot of trouble before, all because that limelight that’s shone on me also lit up the office and showed those idiots working with me to be absolutely poodles in business, and where, indeed, well past their sell-by date, which consequently should have been thrown into the bin. You also have to be able at seeing products in the hands of both the seller and the buyer, and that’s in my next quick article. Remember if a competitor rings you up, get over to their office quicker than a bishop from a brothel, and drag over a Savills estate agent with you as they are the tops when it comes to Knightsbridge property, who knows you might even become my neighbor!