I’m not jealous of mastery.
Okay, I am a little bit. (Who wouldn’t be?) But I’m more impressed with it. And fascinated. I love watching people who are masters at something I just don’t have the skills and/or chops for. That’s one reason I love working in advertising — it’s collaborative, and I’ve gotten to work with some absurdly talented art directors who leave me in awe. I watch them click around and make art out of advertising and make it look effortless, and concept with them as they pull visual solves seemingly out of midair as I sit in amazement. Some of them have come from fancy-pants, big-city agencies, and others are simply, as far as I’m concerned, professionally underappreciated. Copywriters, too — I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside and see work from colleagues that made me wonder where those ideas could possibly come from and how they could be so perfectly conveyed.
Y’all know who you are.
And it’s not just creative work. My boyfriend is a super-polymath who is, professionally, a DevOps wizard (more on that word later) but can also do fairly high-level home repair and Tetris a trunk like nobody’s business, and watching him rapid-fire his keyboard until computering happens or visually scan an empty car trunk like if he was in a movie, numbers and angles would be floating around on the screen is kind of amazing. My mom can pick up anything and play it by ear on the piano and, like, how? And I’m so awed and impressed that I don’t even think to be bitter about their comparative superiority (which y’all have seen is kind of my default mood).
I feel a little bit silly coming out with this so publicly — there isn’t a ton of dignity in the amount of fawning I have to stop myself from doing, and which I guess I’m actually doing here. But never let it be said that I’m not honest with y’all.
(Okay, the next part includes a little of a really unbecoming Unappreciative Whine Alert, so feel free to skip to the paragraph after if you don’t want to think less of me. Hey, at least I’m self-aware.)
Wizardry
Part of it, I think, is because I have received and inwardly rolled my eyes at the “wizard” thing. I know people mean well when they tell me to “do my magic,” because it indicates they’re impressed with what I’ve done and want me to do it for them, so I give them a break about it, but… y’all, I’ve worked my ass off for almost twenty years to get to this point. Hagrid never showed up at my door to tell me I’m a thumpin’ good wizard — I’ve been busting my ass continuously since I started my ad major, and side note, do you know how much sleep is involved in being an ad major? None. None sleep.
So despite the fact that that kind of excellence legitimately does look like wizardry — seriously, I’ve used Illustrator, but there you are with your Wacom just blooping things around and turning them into something awesome — I know how much ass-busting was probably involved. If I thought it really was akin to magic, I might be jealous that they were touched by the wand of the Art Director Fairy Godmother and I wasn’t. But no, they’re innately talented but also dedicated and focused, so all I can say is, good on you.
Where this is all coming from
Recently, Nike (via AOR Wieden+Kennedy) came out with a jaw-dropping wonder of video editing colloquially known as a “commercial.” (If you follow me on social media, you’ve seen it, and if not… why not?) It defies description — the footage so precisely lined up and moving together so fluidly as to almost, but not quite, be disconcerting. Like… holy crap, y’all.
But as amazing as the ad is, you have to also be in awe of the work that definitely, definitely went into it. Just sourcing the 4,000 hours of video that went into the 90-second spot is a job of work, but then there’s the brilliance of the concept to illustrate the message of togetherness, the attention to detail, the attention to diversity and inclusion, the eloquence of the script, the directing, the choices, and, of course, the technical talent and hard work required to assemble the ad itself. At the risk of repeating myself: Holy crap, y’all.
I am, I’ll confess, not that fun to watch live TV with, because I so frequently have complimentary and/or analytical things to say about the ads that everyone else is wishing they didn’t have to watch. But, like, suck it up, y’all. You didn’t have to come over and drink my beer and eat my cheese puffs. Sorry you’re a Philistine who can’t appreciate creative brilliance when you see it.
The point
I’ve had the pleasure, in past years, of working behind the scenes with various advertising competitions, and my favorite part is helping out with the judging process, because I get to see my colleagues’ work laid out for admiration and hear other advertising professionals say complimentary things about them. (I’ve also had to watch silently as the judges said things about my own work, some complimentary, some… less so. I think everyone should do it at least once, actually. It’s humbling.) However far I’ve come, and whatever I’ve accomplished professionally, there’s always work of which I’m in awe, thinking, I know that person, I’ve gotten to work with that person, and they did this.
So thank you to every deft, talented advertising professional who’s ever wowed me with your skill and inspired/challenged me to be a better creative — and again, y’all know who you are. Seeing your work is a pleasure, and watching you create that work is a joy. And seriously, screw that one judge from New York — he was kind of a douche anyway.