Today,

I'm honest to goodness going to ramble.

I used to work in advertising as a layout artist, copywriter for a department store in my home town, and eventually for a company that published yellow page telephone directories in Southern California.  I can appreciate a good ad when I see one.  I adore originality.

Lately, there has been an advertisement running (for a well know insurance company) that features of all things, a talking camel.  Talk about original.  So fun.  Anyway, this camel begins to saunter through an office, asking everybody if they know what day it is. 

Most of the employees try to ignore him...but...how can you, considering the size of this creature, and the fact in a very jolly voice he keeps inquiring if anybody knows what day it is.

Finally he says to Julie..."I know you hear me, what day is it?"  He is totally ignored.  He asks Mike, again totally ignored. Eventually he ends up standing behind Leslie, and asks again what day it is.  She meekly, and a little reluctantly replies, "Hump Day."

"Wooo hooo", says camel sooo delighted...because yes, yes it is.

Now, close up of two guys standing on a small stage, camel approaching.  One guy asks, "Who's happier than folks saving hundreds of dollars on XYX Insurance."  To which the other replies. "A camel on hump day."

Happy camel saunters out of view...cue music.

I'm telling you this is one clever commercial. You would think for all the world that camel was actually walking through the office and actually talking to all those
people.  Great acting by the people, too.  The looks on their faces are priceless. The people who created the camel commercial are very gifted indeed, and I humbly pay they homage.

I wish I had been there to help with the creative process for this ad.  I know what it is like to have merchandise to sell, and all you have is a blank, white, newspaper sized sheet paper staring up at you from your desk.  When, all of a sudden a germ of inspiration is born, from the deepest crevices of the brain, and rough scribbles come to life on the blank page, images appear, words materialize.  It's a miracle.

Let me add, there are also disasters, too.  And, oh, do those failures hurt.  There's your baby, out there naked and vulnerable.  You want that advertisement to grow, mature, make boocoo bucks for your company.  When they don't, ouch, ouch, ouch.  Oh, believe me, I've had some of those.

Still, there is nothing quite like having to meet that daily deadline.  You had better have gotten everything right because you are accountable not only to your company, but the local newspaper, the radio station, the department store buyer, the publisher, the company salesman, the owner of the business that has bought that yellow page ad for a year. 

As the creator, the end result of any advertisement rests totally on the your shoulders, the illustrations, the words, the grammar, the attractive display that make the ad pleasing to the eye, oh yes, you'd better have done the job right.  Mistakes are costly. 

Would I give up my years in advertising, a career so challenging, engaging, thought provoking, scary, adrenalin pumping?  Nope, never.  Besides, it's the only job I know where you can get caught daydreaming, and get away with it...after all, you are simply being creative.  How can a boss argue with that?