6 reasons to love the advertising business, whether starting out or wondering why you’re still here

Do the young people in our industry know how much fun working in advertising is? I’m worried they don’t. And if they aren’t having fun, then why would they stay?

Here are a few things I’ve learned after almost 20 (!) super fun years in this biz. So, if you’re thinking of starting out, or wondering why you’re still here, please read:

Best friends

When an agency gets it right, you will meet your best friends for life. Who did I have dinner with last week? Two people I worked with in 2017. Whose wedding did I just attend? A client I met in my first job in advertising in 2005. These are people I still talk to all the time. All because we went through it together—late nights, rounds of feedback, big wins. Whatever it was, we did it together with the same goals and senses of humor. The shared experience is what made showing up so fun.

Dumb games 

At my last agency, every single person that worked on my floor took a running jump to touch the ceiling beam. This would happen on a daily basis, until almost everyone accomplished this critical goal. Once we all did that, we turned our attention to a game that one of the art directors made up: flipping and catching as many coasters as possible without dropping them. There were people who were very good at this made-up, never-to-be-played-again game. And they were praised for it. These drove culture and camaraderie, and they were extremely stupid. But fun. So much fun.