Mediocrity has a nasty habit. It masquerades as free foosball.
Cameron Day
Author of The Advertising Survival Guide trilogy. Mentor, mediocrity repellant, and human intelligence advocate. AI pragmatist. Available for speaking, brand-tuning, repositioning, and random F-bomb hurling.
Mediocrity.
It's a vocational finger trap that derails the middle years of many promising ad careers.
You find yourself saddled with too big-to-fail clients amidst account handlers who routinely blunt the edges off your thinking for fear of being able to afford their kids' braces.
Your principals drive fancy cars but haven't done truly remarkable work in years.
WTF?
Advertising is a mediocrity magnet.
False prophets and outright frauds run amok while the best thinkers get passed over or conveniently removed from the premises.
Greg. George. The list goes on. And so does the bullshit.
Truth is, nobody is going to manage your fucking career for you.
Those free energy drinks? They're laced with compromise. That foosball table? it's a ruse. Your agency "family"? It eats its young and takes the most admirable creatives out behind the barn because they don't "fit in".
If you're on your toes, you can recognize the cancer of mediocrity and pivot before it costs you a car or a house.
Don't fit in.
Don't buy into the "family" trope.
Pivot as if your fucking future depends on it because it does.
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I've written the Advertising Survival Guide trilogy in hopes fellow creatives can learn from my mistakes and recognize the traps before they get stuck in their own careers, or between the shoulder blades.
I got a lot of great advice along the way from mentors who made a huge difference in my career. My dad. Ernie Schenck. Jim Durfee. Jean Craig.
I conversely got a lot of really shitty advice from agency founders, colleagues, headhunters, and fair-weather friends riding shotgun on the org chart.
Stuck as fuck in the middle of your career is a tough place to be.
I've been there.
I got through it.
You can get through it, too.
Read your way out of the pickle you're in.
Take a deep breath.
Then pivot.
www.iamcameronday.com
Cameron Day lives in Austin, TX. He writes for money, mentors lost souls and solves shit chop-chop. Hand-signed copies of "Chew with Your Mind Open" and "Spittin' Chiclets" are available through his website or Amazon. His Advertising Survival Guide trilogy is punching its way to the final bell with "Stick and Stones," scheduled to launch at the end of this year.
Unless he pivots.
Senior Copywriter / Associate Creative Director
1yThanks for speaking up on this Cameron! 💪🏽 This is exactly why I chose to write, “…plus never settle for mediocre rushed work” in my CV. I’ve seen the other side and groundbreaking stuff just doesn’t evolve from it. So I wait. Patiently but not passively. Trying to connect with as many awesome peeps as I can in the industry. Refusing to lose hope in applying for jobs here, because I know in my heart (and from experience) the right team + culture will embrace this mindset! 🤞🏽✨🙏🏽 You and Jay Roth have always been such an inspiration. I’m honored to know you both. In a perfect world, we’d open up our own agency where “excellence” was our middle name. 😘
Strategic Brand & Creative Consultant
1yBelieve this veteran, I’ve battled mediocrity for him and with him, he’s sharing the unfiltered experiences.
Like a blinded prophet shouting from a tall stone remembering the adventure of light and telling people not to take it for granted.
America's Newest and Oldest Freelance Copywriter
1y"Welcome to ______,______ & _______, here's your office, a seat at the Long Table of Mediocrity™."