Creative Hedonism

Ididn’t get into this business to have less fun than my accountant. Did you?

When I was in college and dreaming about my dream job, I thought advertising looked like a fabulous option because it was the intersection of art and commerce. Which led me to believe there had to be an element of, as the French say, joie de vivre. Was it really supposed to be all work and no play? Or was play an essential part of the ad business and the creative process? I certainly thought it was.

Why, then, does it seem that the ad biz is losing its grasp on fun, which in my strong opinion has deep implications for creativity and productivity?

At every major ad event I’ve attended in the last few years (save the recent fundraiser for Miracle House—but that was conceived by my sister Susan, who has the same attitude I do), the...