The Brighter Side

Dan Morales, vp and creative director, Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York: "It doesn't feel like a job. I've been in the business seven years, and maybe four weeks of it felt like work. It's just everything that I enjoy doing: writing, dealing with film, music. Everything that's cool to do, I'm doing."Bill Ludwig, chief creative officer, Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich.: "My job is not always fun, but it's never boring. The best part is looking at someone's face when they have that moment of creative spark—when they know they have the big idea—or the look when someone sees the big idea. It's a twentysomething who's hit it and can't wait to show me something, or the smile on my face when I see it. There's nothing like that."Phil Jacobs, evp, chief marketing officer, Publicis in Mid America, Dallas: "I get to work on a different piece of business every day, and that's great, because I have an ADD personality. Other people need to know every day is going to be predictable—I couldn't do that."Martin Mcdonald, evp, chief creative officer, Rapp Collins Worldwide, Irving, Texas: "Sometimes I wish I didn't have to deal with the accountability, but the very accountability we're facing means we have to get really creative. We're on the leading edge of how this works, and that's why it's hard, and that's why it's satisfying."Pat McKay, copywriter, The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va.: "I get paid to do things now that my teachers in Catholic school punished me for. There are 33 balls of paper on top of a duct in one of the rooms [we] use for coming up with ideas. Instead of getting my knuckles whacked, I got a paycheck. ... You get to totally be yourself. You get to inject your personality into projects you work on. I've often had people tell me they could tell I worked on something. I like that."Lawrence Kimmel, chairman and CEO, Grey Direct, New York: "In the agency business, you get to play in an incredibly diverse array of categories: one minute it's financial services, the next it's healthcare, then it's travel. The diversity is exciting. In the direct marketing business, you get to work with sophisticated analytics professionals and creative geniuses. Pulling together left- and right-brain folks to create a higher order of success is exhilarating."Melissa Lea, evp, director of business development, Mullen, Wenham, Mass.: "I can't help but compare my current situation to when I was practicing law in New York. I'm used to having clients and trying to help them win. I work now, as I did then, with some very smart people. I can say, however, that the people and clients I work with now are a much happier lot, energized in a more positive way. I also think new and different ideas are valued to a higher degree. In law, most things are based on precedent and rules. In marketing/advertising, you are rewarded for having new and different ways of looking at things." Tom Mooney, executive producer, Headquarters, New York: "Dealing with the people. Creative people, most of them, are a lot of fun. I like the diversity—there's so many different points of view—and their energy. And they laugh at my jokes. It's a people business, but people forget that."Judy Neer, evp, managing partner, Pile and Co., Boston: "Having spent 20 years in the advertising agency world, consulting has been a refreshing change. I am still in the business, but not in the business, which I love. I work intensely over a few months with some talented clients. Then I get to move on. Maybe best of all, I get to watch presentations from world-class agencies."Mike Woolf, director, Beef and Pie Productions, Austin, Texas: "Free coffee."Tell us about the best—or worst—part of your job. E-mail mberelowitz@adweek.com.

Brand Marketing

The Brighter Side

Cliff Freeman's Dan Morales

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Cliff Freeman's Dan Morales