Wild year, to say the least. Thought I’d take a minute to reflect on some things I’m thankful for that have at least a little something to do with work/marketing/advertising/etc. Please enjoy.
GENERATIONAL OSMOSIS.
I’m a proud Gen Xer: you know…slacker, rudderless, adaptable, pragmatic. Adaptable actually seems like the most accurate one. Cataclysmic changes over and over again throughout my career have really shaped my point of view on what will stand the test of time and what won’t. (Yes, I know what I’ve experienced will be child’s play relative to what the Z’s will face.)
What’s really cool today is how younger generations are influencing the habits, behavior, and perspectives of older generations. At work, it’s fun to experience where someone’s ideas go based at least in part on how old they are. Whereas I might think first about what story we should tell for a brand, a younger cohort might think about where or how to reach people through a “natural” and relevant connection. A Gen Xer might make movie references to articulate nuances of an idea, whereas a Gen Zer might use a meme or funny TikTok as a touchstone.
The evolution of how we communicate with and teach each other is fascinating.
A REJUVENATION OF “BRAND” AND BIG IDEAS.
The word I’ve been hearing A LOT for the past several years is “assets.”
How many assets do we need to create?
We need more assets.
What’s the asset breakdown from TOFU to BOFU? (JFC)
Can we use these assets on social?
Will that budget cover all the assets we’re being asked for?
In 2025, I was fortunate to work with several brands who want to refocus on…their Brand. Refreshing their look and feel, rethinking what they mean to their audience(s), reinvesting in the creation of big ideas. Many of us have gotten caught in the whirlpool of the marketing funnel, performance marketing, lead generation, and other activities that are, yes, important but also not always centered on an emotional and human connection with a person.
Given the inundation of assets we’re all trying to get in front of consumers’ eyes, we should also realize that we are sometimes giving them something that can be easily ignored (even if it’s high-quality work). If they forget who you are as a brand and what value you add to their life, you put yourself in a very weakened position. I’m thankful for having the opportunity over the past year to be involved with work that entertained people, made them laugh, made them think, and made them remember why they love our clients’ brands.
COPYWRITERS. (IMO, we should drop “copy” from the title.)
“Nobody reads anymore.” A.) You’re reading this. B.) Copywriters don’t write copy; they think and then communicate ideas, much like designers. I’m tired of people talking about “copy” and “creative” as separate things. All creatives make things.
To some, the future of (copy)writers looks dim, even scary. Agree to disagree. Writing for brands will likely always involve some semblance of product differentiation, features and benefits, sizzle videos, TV/streaming spots, all that stuff. Maybe those things and others could be done using the assistance of AI tools. (Side note: The best writers should be even better with a 24/7/365 AI “editor” and inspo-sparker available close at hand, while non-writers who use ChatGPT to replace human writers will fall in love with the mediocrity of their own work and turn their brands into melted vanilla ice cream.) But the future—and, for many brands, present—will be about creating entertainment, worldbuilding, conjuring new ways to grab and hold people’s attention that live far outside what many of us picture in our heads when we hear the word “advertising.”
I’m thankful for the many incredible writers I have known over the years. They are deep, sharp, inventive people who create and inspire in unexpected and awe-inspiring ways. I’m optimistic that the best of them will evolve and drive ideation forward into whatever wackiness is next in our industry.
OKAY, FINE, AI.
I am thankful for the shocking shifts in speed and workflow that AI tools have delivered. Personally, I fully embrace the utility and possibilities of AI, while also striving very hard to respect the true power and value of the human imagination. If you’re not careful how much you lean on AI, it can dull exactly what is so sharp about you to begin with.
RECREATIONAL WEED.
What a time to be alive.
BEING ALL IN TOGETHER.
I looked back to January in my calendar and saw a bunch of meetings in the very first days of 2025 re: an intense RFP—possibly the most extensive in the history of the world—for an account that represented several million dollars. We won quite a few pieces of business in 2025, but we didn’t win that one…which isn’t the point at all.
I recalled how proud I was of being part of an effort that required people from every part of our agency to dedicate time, ingenuity, and extremely detailed thinking to the RFP response. Our response was a couple hundred pages, our in-person pitch was thoughtful, passionate, and excellent, and our collaboration was pretty much unprecedented.
What happened, though, that sticks with me was the time it required outside of our regular day-to-day work, how stressful that got, and how little people complained or chirped at each other in frustration. Like, not at all. Every proposal and every pitch is sort of an all-hands-on-deck situation, and we always seem to row in the same direction and help each other.
We expected the incumbent to retain that one piece of business, yet we buckled the f@ck down and put forth a gutsy attempt. My gratitude for getting to work with these people every day is sky-high.
When all is said and done, I’ll remember 2025 as a year that marked a clear divide between the past and future of advertising. The collision of technologies, generations, perspectives, and possibilities was unprecedented. It’s impossible to predict where we go from here, but I’m fairly sure the ride will be nuts.