Okay, let’s face it advertising isn’t always fun. There are clients and AEs out there who are either control freaks or meat puppets, or worse a combination of the two. (By the way let me thank Luke Sullivan for Hey Whipple Squeeze this and giving us a great vocabulary with which to complain.)

Keeping the creative juices flowing can be a chore in its own right and having your head slammed by someone who once took a marketing 101 class and read just enough Ogilvy to think they have the right to judge your work would probably qualify as cruel and unusual punishment in different circumstances.

However, I do have a suggestion. To borrow a page from 9 out of 10 new age gurus who chew gum, be your own best client.

Create a self-promotion radio spot, website, brochure, print ad or billboard. Let your creative juices lose on selling yourself.

Think of it this way. You win three different ways:
1 - It’s a great creative exercise to get the juices flowing.
2 - You have a chance to impress yourself again and remind yourself why you got into this business
3 - If your current position really doesn’t offer any creative outlet for your revived juices, at least you have something to send out to look for a new job.

In an earlier generation, I probably would be suggesting that you find a great cause and do pro-bono, but let’s face it pro-bono clients often try to act as if they are paying for it… and, instead of saying “thank you,” hit you with 93 demands on how they want you to change what is already a brilliant concept. There are, of course, some great pro-bono clients still out there, but most of them have been tranquilized, tagged by major agencies and then released back into the wild, where they can be found if the big agencies need some good PR or a few pieces of acrylic.

That leave self promotion and why not? Self promotion puts you in complete control of your creative product.

Don’t like something? Change it.

Don’t think the layout is exactly right? It’s your baby - go to town!

Don’t have the budget to do it right? What are credit cards for if not this? This is an investment in self, both literally and figuratively.

Sure, there are those of you out there saying, “but creative directors don’t respect self promotion?” True, some don’t, but are you sure you want to work for a creative director who will judge something based on its category rather than its creative merits?

And don’t just do this if you’re getting ready to turn in your notice. Do it the moment you start to feel stale. I, for one, actually love my job, but doing creative exercises like this one lets me be better at my job.

This profession can chew you up and spit you out if you let it.. heck, even if you don’t let it. Every little trick and exercise to stay fresh can only help. This is just one of mine I thought I’d share.

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