Saturday, November 24, 2007

my job is a turkey, but i'm thankful for it

It's the day after the day after the day after Thanksgiving and like thousands of (younger) others in advertising, I already dread having to go back to the office. My kids are home from college (the one who was dropped on her head goes to Harvard) and I love waking up without an alarm and wonder (again) why I'm still in the business --but a glance at online tuition bills makes me remember. I've got a freelance gig that plenty of boomer colleagues would envy: I'm covering a maternity leave, so the job is certain to last for months. The sector is healthcare which is a creative ghetto for over-40's (ok, 50s) like me. But it's not really healthcare: the client I'm working for doesn't care about health, they care only about hawking their magic elixir. The unconscionable target is kids 18-29. I can't say more or I'll be in violation of agency confidentiality agreements. I'll only add that the client hopes the campaign I am working on will mean a bump in sales next year of at least $20 million. No wonder healthcare is the one category where ad spending isn't in downturn, the only category I work on where I still get my full dayrate.

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