Let's Make Large Leaps Forward

"A strugglin' man has got to move." -Jimmy Cliff

The Hard Reset is here. It’s upon us now. We are not going back to normal. We can only go forward into the unknown, hopefully with added degrees of grace and compassion.

In the near future, even when we have the best intentions and love in our hearts, I believe many of us will choose to drive instead of fly, we will wear masks and obsess about our own cleanliness and safety of the environments we inhabit and the food we eat. We will also keep our distance from strangers and possibly friends, even while we long for human contact and connection. In other words, these are challenging times.

Talent Belongs on the Field

When it comes to one’s career in Marcom, Colin Lewis, CMO at OpenJaw Technologies, writing for Marketing Week, suggests that there’s no going back to the way we were.

Careers move in sine waves: sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down. Here’s what I now believe based on my hard-won experience.

Firstly, it isn’t talent shortages that keep employers and capable job-seekers apart. It’s the recruitment process. Potential employers look for ‘signals’ – the nature of the brand that you previously worked for being the definition of how good you were. All other capabilities are discounted heavily.

Secondly, age discrimination is an even bigger issue than gender. Once you are over 40 and looking for work, it’s a world of equal opportunity discrimination – male or female. Over 50, you have a better chance of being hit by a sniper’s bullet in your back garden than being considered for a role.

Speaking of bullets, did you know that Kurt Vonnegut wrote a fascinating novel about the impact of a stray bullet on the shooter and the shot? The novel is called Deadeye Dick.

Common Wisdom Isn’t Wisdom

When I think about the truth of ageism, I turn to the examples of so many artists and writers who gave it all until their final days.

One of my creative heroes—Frank Lloyd Wright—was counted out by the critics, and to some degree by clients, more than once. He was finished, all washed up, they said. But Wright never believed that nonsense. He kept working. In fact, Wright kept working on his last great project, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, from 1943 until 1959.

Wright began to design the iconic Manhattan building when he was 75 years old. The museum opened in 1959, six months after Wright’s death at the age of 91.

Artists and writers don’t quit, because to quit making art is to die before you’re dead.

“If you can quit, then quit. If you can’t quit, you’re a writer.”

— R.A. Salvatore

“Code Won’t Save You”

I wrote a new anti-technology themed poem. Poems are meant to be read aloud.

“Content Director” Is Code for “Funnel Filler”

In 2006, at BFG Communications I was promoted from Senior Copywriter to Content Director. I went on to hire three journalists and a photographer, and hundreds of freelancers to help us capture lifestyle content for our packaged goods clients. I could have opted for the more common title at the time, which was Interactive Creative Director, but I chose Content Director because it made sense for my role and what I was cooking up for clients.

Today in Austin it’s the tech companies who hire Content Directors. But the job they’re hiring for is not a “shape and share the brand story” role, the job today is all about manufacturing materials that feed or fill the funnel. And maybe that would work fine…if the tech brands had their brand story together.

Let me make this ultra-specific and clear. Right now, Cloudflare needs a Content Director. What’s Cloudflare? I went to their website and it says this:

Supercharge your website and network

Get security, performance, and reliability with Cloudflare

Tech brands tend to speak in code, which excludes people. Even when customers get it, investors, members of the press, and future employees may not.

The Disruptor Series Podcast

I was honored to be featured on Rob Schwartz’s award-winning advertising podcast. His show provided a great platform for sharing the Adpulp story and providing details about the new Emerging Voices Project, in particular.

Since the ‘cast aired 13 days ago, Adpulp has received new subscribers, new patrons on Patreon, plus inquires about the Ad Legends Workshop, and interest from emerging writers. I also published the first article in the series.

Adpulp is nearly 16 years young, and the journey gets more interesting as I strive to bring new people and new ideas to the table.

From A Distance, Let’s Stay in Touch ;-)

My email is david@davidburn.com. My homepage is DavidBurn.com.

Please feel free to ask me any marketing-related questions you may have.