Lament Of The Greyhairs
In the recent Tokyo Olympics, something amazing happened: Katie Ledecky, the world’s most dominant swimmer for nine straight years, lost a race. The following day, she lost another one. She’d never lost an Olympics swimming race before, and had now lost two in a row. One of the best swimmers of all time is arguably past her peak.
Katie Ledecky is only 24 years old.
Tom Brady is considered a once-a-generation marvel - because he can still play professional football at age 44.
Of course, an agency creative at age 44 would not be considered a marvel - She or he would be considered to be in their prime. That’s because advertising success is built upon a set of skills invulnerable to ACL tears, collective bargaining and weight gain. But that doesn’t mean age doesn’t play as big a factor in advertising as it does in sports. The reality is everyone declines, and most don’t accept when they do (just look at Michael Jordan as a Washington Wizard or ... the Spice Girls Reunion Tour). With an increasing amount of greyhaired creatives confronting ageism in advertising, the question becomes: At what age does a creative begin to decline?
Looking beyond sports into other creative industries is not helpful. For every example of a creative person who did their best work at a young age, there is a counter example of a creative who discovered their best at a later age.
Orsen Welles directed “Citizen Kane” at 25 - and went steadily downhill from there. On the other hand, Alfred Hitchock directed his most famous movies, including “Psycho,” “Vertigo,” and “North by Northwest” between the ages of 54 and 61.
Herman Melville wrote “Moby Dick” at 32. Mark Twain didn’t write “Huckleberry Finn” until 49.
Picasso hit his peak at 26. Cezzane? His best (most valuable) works came around his mid-sixties.
Music doesn’t hold as good of news for ageing creatives. As anyone who has seen a recent Smash Mouth concert can attest (definitely not me), musicians rarely age well.
In lieu of hard evidence or research, it looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way. As an ageing creative myself, it’s time to confront the unspoken realities of getting older in advertising. Here are the hard truths:
Aging creatives have something to lose. And risk aversion is the kiss of death for creativity. When I started as a junior copywriter, I made 35 thousand dollars a year and lived with three roommates. I was obsessed with advancing my career and was willing to risk everything (which wasn’t much) to get there. Now? Instead of three roommates, I’ve got three kids - with three school tuitions. (And even if an ageing creative doesn’t have kids, he or she probably has a nice house and expensive whiskey habits.) If standing up to a client means losing income, we very well may not have the guts. The status quo works just fine for us, thank you. WINNER: THE YOUNG
We can filter extremely fast. Our database knows what’s been done, what hasn’t, how to be strategic, and how to present to a client. We don’t waste time on things that the client will never buy, and know how to package crazy ideas in a way they will. Our writing and art direction is sharply honed. In other words, we can do in a day what younger creatives often take weeks to do. WINNER: THE GREYHAIRS
Our cultural references are outdated, and, no matter how much we thumb through social media or watch Netflix, are rarely refreshed. How many more Macgyver or Back to the Future or Bob Ross or Star Wars or 80s Hip-Hop references does the industry need? None. WINNER: THE YOUNG
We don’t chase everything that shines. We’ve been through enough trends to know that Tik-Tok is probably not going to change the face of advertising forever. And even if it did, my years at Razorfish taught me that every newfangled technology needs the heart and soul of an experienced creative to be truly useful. WINNER: THE GREYHAIRS
Our priorities have shifted: We can’t (or won’t) stay up all night to work on a pitch. We get heartburn from pizza. Travel hurts our knees. We have to do stuff with our kids. Any 55-year-old creative staying up all night to work on a car insurance ad rather than hang with their family is … misguided. WINNER: THE YOUNG
We’re expensive. This gets to the heart of the matter: How much is experience worth? What salary? What day rate? There’s obviously a limit, and usually, when experienced creatives lose their job, it’s because they’ve passed that limit. So while creative experience is undoubtedly valuable, it isn’t invaluable. WINNER: TIE
We develop tricks that we rely upon, meaning just like the Rolling Stones playing “Satisfaction” for the thousandth time as geriatrics, we are prone to making the same type of work again and again. WINNER: THE YOUNG
Our portfolio starts to show its age, filled with work for companies or technologies that no longer exist: Saturn Cars, Radio Shack, Vine, Facebook Apps. Do you need to see my Olympics ad from three Olympics ago? No, you don’t. WINNER: THE YOUNG
Media changes faster than people. I keep hearing that digital is just a new forum for storytelling. That’s a lazy way of saying that you have nothing to learn. You do. WINNER: THE YOUNG
Final Score: THE YOUNG 6. THE GREYHAIRS 2. TIE 1.
Well there you go. I just wrote myself out of a job. Looks like Katie Ledecky and I will both be starting new careers soon.
