What's in a title?
Me vida rollercoaster.
A good year and a half ago, at a swag convention, I heard something mind blowing. In a room full of swag mongers, and I mean that in the worst possible way, there was a spark started.
Some real pros in there.
White belts.
Plaid pants- Sansabelt.
Shower shoes. Mullets.
Lotsa money talk.
Uncool money talk.
SWAG Mongers.
One guy named his shop, I shit you not, 'Cheap ass trinkets and trash for less.'
Gag.
Surely all 3 of you who read this fishwrap know a bit about swag.
Stuff We All Get....S.W.A.G.
But another one laid something up that shook me to the core. Something so radical, so bold, so over the top, so scary, so presumptuous, so.....wrong, I knew I had to try it.
He titled all his swag sales folks as .....wait.for.it.... 'creative director'.
jmj, of all the cheek!
After much. much, much soul searching, I took it to my cadre of mentors. Many of them, um, REAL 'creative directors'. Good ones. Each and every person I pitched it to smiled, laughed a bit, and another pitcher of margaritas, and said,,,'make it so.'
All of them.
I served in the Navy; spent some of the best years of my life rubbing elbows with some of the best of the best. One of the things instilled in me was a deep respect for titles. Rank. The importance of showing obeisance to one's superiors. And we all have superiors, if you please. All of us. Even 'the old man' answers to someone.
And even 'the old man' paid his dues.
I was a whopping 41, almost all my adult life spent in the space of creative directors.
Working with them--creating, directing, dreaming, executing.
By osmosis, praps, but I felt compelled to raise the bar a bit. Reach a bit beyond, um, lowly Swagmonger. Ordertaker. Yes man.
Does that make me a tin horn?
2 canoe Commodore?
6 man squad Field Marshal?
So I appointed myself....you damn know it....'creative director'.
And pressed on.
Early this week, at the bottom of the roller coaster, a creative director called me up. And he called me out. Ripped me in a way I hadn't been ripped in years. Seems like last time I heard that kinda disdain was in the Navy.
Said I had no right to call myself 'creative director'.
Went on to slag my shameless ripoff of the genius book and movie, Fight Club.
Ironic, what with him reading or seeing neither. Guess he is too busy doing that fun 'creative director' stuff that he doesn't get much of that manifesto stuff.
Again, I publicly acknowledge my shameless ripoff of the genius book and movie, Fight Club. I openly speak of the duality of man issues I deal with, and am trying to square the circle of.
2 extremes in one soul.
This brought me to a new low, a deep dark gloomy spot.
Am I faking it?
Am I just another swagmonger?
Um, no. Kinda think not.
This week, a few of my mates posted some kind, if a bit overly glowing, words about me on their blogs.
and a few hours later,
and the Duchess, who has a sharp wit and nearly fatal blue eyes looks at me after reading them and tartly proclaims, 'So, who says you are NOT a flipping 'creative director'?
'Cut them loose. they clearly are NOT of your tribe.'
She knew how much the rant stung me.
2 canoe admiral?
6 man squad Field Marshal?
aysm?
What say you, friends? Shall I kill off this affectation of 'creative director'?
Or should I start damn doing it?
That wack 'creative director' stuff.
Approve it, deny it, slag me if you wish.
The battlefield for mindspace continues, and I shall take the battle to the street in my way.
It's on.
as ever,
your obedient, humble, and cheerful servant,
A. Kamran Popkin
Creative Director, Toymaker, & Disruptor
@swagclub
on twitter.
you knew that already.
And thanks for the boost back up, to whatever my title should be, Jim and Olivier. I so needed that this week!
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 01:34
by
Kamran Popkin
in 2009, She of the aqua eyes, work, sort of
|
3 Comments
Kamran Popkin
in 2009, She of the aqua eyes, work, sort of
|
3 Comments
Reader Comments (3)
Its a different world that demands different thinking. So everyone in the shop needs to be creative and generating ideas. The days of account people briefing creatives and then 3 weeks later looking at creative (the day before the pitch) to make sure its on strategy and the graphic's standards are followed are gone.
As one wise man once said at a little shop in Portland, "any one person with an idea trumps a group of 1,000 creatives without one...".
So, as Shakespeare (I think he started at Crispin as a "Junior Copywriter) said, "what's in an agency title?"
If it's easier, just call yourself a CD. Then when vitrial flies your way, you can say, "easy there, it just stands for Cadmium, my favorite element."