Lions, pencils and other prizes trigger my anxiety between March and April, when the PRs for campaigns for the big festivals begin. LinkedIn and Instagram are flooded with video cases and tons of 🚀 in the comments, enough to make Mr. Musk jealous. Even with 25 years in the creative industry, working in São Paulo, London, Singapore and New York, the giant of impostor syndrome still wakes up enraged, in a mix of ego, envy, pleasure and psoriasis. And these feelings feed my anxious pathology, but, on the other hand, they fuel motivation.
At that time, I look back at the last 365 days and come across dozens, that is, hundreds of PPTs where 90% of the projects, whether RFPs, bonuses or jobs, didn’t even die on the beach, because they didn’t even reach the sea. So far so good, I’m not a genius, it’s part of the business. Only 10% remained. And it is in this 10% that my anxiety consumes me.
Considering my maxim that “a good idea is a good idea”, I compare myself to what is being awarded and call into question my greatest value: creativity. I want to make it very clear that I am in favor of awards, I fight for creativity every day, period. Yes, they can say whatever they want, whether ghost or real. But it was done, a lot of people worked fiercely, it’s live, someone approved it, someone paid for it, and only then can you judge it and judge yourself, because otherwise you would be lonely, depressed, in limbo on a slide. This gives me delicious hope for my beloved anxiety, because we have a creative direction. It’s for us, it’s for the market.
Honestly, these days, having a good idea is relatively easy; the hard work is in the process of making them happen. Then I stop to think: in 2023, 26,992 cases were registered at Cannes, how many of those took the cat home? I’ll go further: what about campaigns that aren’t at festivals, but are saving companies and paying so many people’s bills? How can a small agency take at least R$5,000 just to register a case, compromising the salary of those running their own campaign?
Anxiety doesn’t choose winner or loser, so here’s congratulations to all of us. Btw, go to therapy, because our names will definitely be on some record.
I “eagerly” await the shortlist.
* Article produced by Daniel Portuga, diagnosed with GAD, founder of Post em Branco and VP, Group Creative Director of Razorfish in NY
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