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Imagine hiring a construction company and not telling them what youโre building. Thats what the agency pitch process is.
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Speaking of halfway done and abandonedโฆ
The biggest downside of freelance work is that there is no such thing as โun-resourced timeโ
Not being resourced is often seen as a bad thing โย a sign that youโre not a first round pick, or that the agency is doing poorly.
But the reality is the agency model runs in cycles; there will always be "down time.โ
So companies keep lean and beef up with freelance as needed.
Look, that currently works out great for me.
However I canโt help but wonder what it would look like if non-billable time was given more respect and value.
I share lots of random stuff Iโve made over the years;
All of it is a product of being at work without much to do.
The scrapbook, Creatives on Strategists, the ABCs, On Presentations, Chrome Dino Strategy Advice, Waves and Currentsโฆ. so much more.
โฆ
I understand profit margins are already thin, so itโs a hard problem to solve.
But there has to be a way to capitalize on the value that comes out of smart, creative people with spare time.
I dunno, maybe thatโs what a think tank is?
Iโm still not really sure what they do.
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A FEW READS WORTH THE TIME;
THE ATLANTIC: Embrace the awkward silences
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VOX: The hidden force that shapes everything around us: Parking (I love this type of journalism)
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DOCUMENT JOURNAL: The internet didnโt kill countercultureโyou just wonโt find it on Instagram
(An important reminder)
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Vipul Shekhawat: GPT makes learning fun again.
an AI/ChatGPT related article that is refreshingly different (and reflects the overall perspective that I take around all this. .
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SMH.com: Why Time is a feminist Issue
Itโs now how much time you have in aggregate โย itโs how much space does your time have to unfoldโฆ
Not trying to equate the two, but this is the same core problem with asking for โmore timeโ as a strategistโฆ Itโs not time you need โย itโs space (large blocks of uninterrupted time).
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In software, it is commonly known that if the technology is free, youโre the product.
And they say data is the new oil or whatever.
If you stretched the metaphor to the ad/creative agency industry, the employee is the fuel.
You are burned for energy until all thats left is exhaust.
fun.
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๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
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Brands/Products/Advertising has to fit into the life juggling these types of questions.
Nobody is thinking about you.
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More Critchlow wisdom:
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Instead of the 4Csโฆ I want to start using the (CB)OH framework.
Getting rid of the alliteration to better enforce the order of operations.
Catgegory ยป Brand ยป Occasion ยป Human.
(stylized as (CB) because context could dictate that the Brand & team should be understood first, but in my experience that the less likely scenario)
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This feels like a metaphor for so much at once.
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How to be wrong (RIP the Outline)
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WEEKLY MONSTER(s)
A couple new paintings: