Anyone here like Office Space?

Dumb question.

Anyway, there’s a part in the movie that has always rang true to me more than any other, although most of it is biting. It’s the conversation Michael Bolton and Samir have with Peter. And it goes something like this:

PETER
Lumbergh's gonna have me work on Saturday, I can tell already. And I’m gonna do it because I'm a big pussy. Which is why I work at Initech to begin with.

MICHAEL
Uh, I work at Initech and I don't consider myself a pussy, ok?

SAMIR
Yes, I am also not a pussy.

MICHAEL
And they’re gonna find out the hard way that I'm not a pussy if they don't start treating us software people better.

SAMIR
That's right.

MICHAEL
They don't understand. I could come up with a program that could rip that place off big time…big time.

PETER
Yeah.

Later in the movie Michael and Samir get shitcanned. No warning. Just dumped. And all that fuck you bravado went straight out the window.

That boasting and self-assurance is something I have heard throughout my entire advertising career. A bunch of fevered egos strutting around thinking they’re untouchable. They’re rock stars. They kill it. They basically do everything important, do nothing wrong, and if you don’t agree you can go fuck yourself.

They bitch about how poorly they’re treated. They whine and complain about the long hours, the crappy pay, the shit benefits, the awful clients, the dogshit briefs, the lousy account managers, the rotten creatives and the fact that the agency is going down the crapper. But they are the oasis in this desert of mediocrity. They shine. And without them, the whole damned company would be nothing.

I guarantee, you will hear this raving braggadocio conversations in your agency sometime this week. Probably sometime today if you tee up a conversation with “how are things going?” or “what’s going on with client X?”

You may even, dare I say it, be one of the people who believes they are, in fact, the most important cog in the machine.

Think about it.

Do you think “this place would be fucked without me” at least once a week? Do you wonder how half the people around you get a paycheck? Do you have to bite your fist to stop yourself saying “how the fuck are you still employed?” to your boss?

Well, this is your wake-up call.

I don’t care if you’re the boy who gets the mail, the blonde bombshell account exec, the award-winning writer or art director, or the shit-hot creative director.

When push comes to shove, and other suitable clichés, you are not bulletproof. The sad fact is, there are meetings happening all the time about the state of the business. If you’re part of a large corporation, there’s a meeting like that happening right now.

They talk about profit margins. Trimming the dead wood. Streamlining. Hiring a younger team. Bringing in new experience. Fresh blood. Or just “that smartass who never stops complaining.”

If you're a crack creative team with 20 years’ experience, that means you (hopefully) do fabulous work. It also means you get paid more than most, and have the attitude that goes with it. There are younger, better looking, hungrier teams out there willing to do your job for half the price. And they won’t spend all day bitching about the shitty clients and awful briefs, they’ll just be happy to be in work. They’re in, you’re out.

That’s when you sit up one morning, and realize you didn’t have it so fucking bad after all. And shit, where do I go from here?

I know people like this. It sucks for them, and it’s scary for me because I come close to being that arrogant, whiny little bitch on a daily basis. Sometimes, I fit into the role like it was made just for me.

When you find yourself thinking you are unbeatable, unfireable (it’s not a word, but it works) and irreplaceable, remember you are none of the above. You may be great, perhaps even the best at what you do, but it doesn’t give you immunity form the axe. All it takes is for one big client to leave, one important person to hate your guts, or one stinking bad attitude, and you're out on your ear.

And as I finish this, I should also add…spending time doing something other than what you’re paid to do is also something that can put you on the hot list.

But shit, at least I look busy to passersby.

Felix is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. If he uses the f-bomb from time-to-time, forgive him. Sometimes, when you're ranting, no other word will do. In his spare time, he does not torture small animals. He's been known, on occasion, to drink alcohol by the gallon. Do as he says, not as he does.

Every Brand is a Content Network

It was the day after Christmas last year when the movers arrived. After seven years in LA, I was taking my wife, twin two-year-old girls, and my dreams to Colorado.

I've been a hybrid talent before it was trendy, which means I was somewhat out of place in the mega agency world. I've always been about making media-neutral content that tickles brand strategists and audiences alike. So I jumped at the opportunity to return to my beloved Colorado with a hybrid shop trying to do things differently.

I liked that they were called Impossible (not Impossible Pictures, that was so 1990s) because that's pretty much what they're asked to do every day mostly for television networks cranking out award-winning rebrands, promos, commercials and motion design. The new job was going to give me a nice change of pace from the ad world. So I thought.

I soon learned, that the ad/brand world and production/network world are in fact not all that different. They both are facing seismic change with the explosion of social media, new technologies, shrinking budgets, and an infinitely segmented market. Above all, they're both now in the "content marketing" business.

You may have seen the term "content marketing" trending on the conference scene and filling up every "what's gonna be hot in 2013" blog post. Some call it the next big thing in the post-ad world. Reality is, it's nothing new. It's been around for years in many forms and under many different names – from soap operas to BMW films to, recently, Red Bull's Stratos. While I have a great disdain for any "marketing" term, I believe it isn't just another fad. Thanks to social media, content is now the conversation currency of our time.

Today, every brand is now a content publisher and network. At least they ought to be. Relevant content (unlike interrupting ads) gives brands new relevance and a unique voice in a sea of sameness, ineffective ads, and cynical audiences. In short, content is a BFD. Some brands have learned this lesson. Red Bull, Coca-Cola, American Express, Kraft and GE are themselves turning into niche content networks.

Of course, television networks are still players in the content hungry world, they just no longer rule it. For them, they're hope for survival lies in making the pivot from content destinations to content curators across all screens.

Like social media strategy, a clear content strategy (and production platform) needs to be fully integrated into every business model from the inside out. Brands will be creating content labs (much like news rooms) and social command centers to crank out a constant flow and stock of content for their customers to engage with and share.

So whether you do words, images or moving images, this is an exciting time for content producers and marketers. The need for quality and quantity of content is only rivaled by the need for good storytelling and clear brand voice.

So I'm glad I made the jump to Colorado and Impossible. I'm living the dream in the cross section of brand and content. For Impossible, we continue to be specialists in branding television networks but are now poised to conquer all content networks.

Get ready. 2013 is the year of content. And like it or not, we're all in the content marketing business now.

To read the entire 2012 'What I Learned' series, click this.

To make things happen you gotta boon your doggle – Every 6 months or so we find a coffee shop and hash out where our company is and where it is going. This often leads to drinks at a nearby bar as our discussion and excitement cannot be quenched by coffee alone. In our January boon (or doggle) we realized that having two companies, Idaho Stew AND Ink Lounge, was a fragmented brand and that we would scold each and every one of our clients if they approached us to communicate/brand a business model like this. We are many things, but hypocrites is a label we did not want to wear. So we decided to say some lovely words about Idaho Stew and respectfully lay it to rest, with maybe a 21 gun salute, and welcome Ink Lounge Creative. And it made sense, because overall we are a creative company who has built great relationships with our clients, who really don’t care what our name is as long as we serve them well, and with the community who has gotten to know us as Ink Lounge. And did we screenprint our sign and our website? Yes, yes we did.

Mother Nature is a bitch – we had heard that you can expose a screen by using the sun and eagerly tried it out, discovering that it takes mere seconds outside to do what it takes us 6-7 minutes inside using our exposure unit. We even exposed one on a cloudy day during a rain shower – fantastic! We were doing a workshop at the University of Wyoming and this was so much fun we figured we should have the students use the sun to expose screens there. Except that Laramie is a higher elevation, the clouds kept creeping over and their setup wasn’t exactly like ours. The first group was kinda hit and miss so we quickly pulled out lights and went to plan B, which worked great but by then we were stressed and just overall disappointed that Mother Nature was not cooperating, although the students had a great time and were not fazed much at all. Ok, so what we really learned is to have a stellar plan B, and if Mother Nature is part of any equation you better test your process in other parts of the country. In the end we had lots of smiling faces and that’s ALL that matters: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14868235@N02/sets/72157629831181327/

Your head will explode if you don’t say “no” – We have a tendency at Ink Lounge to say “yes” to almost everything that comes our way. Craft fairs, workshops, new clients, speaking events, portfolio reviews, student tours, you name it, you ask it, we do it. And we don’t do it half-assed, we stay up all night, we get up early, we work weekends. Why? Because we love what we do and are super excited to share it with the world. That is until this year when our heads literally almost exploded, and then we understood that if we don’t say “no” occasionally we don’t get to actually enjoy what we do. We want to always love it, and people understand you can’t do it all. It’s not a new lesson, it’ just that sometimes it takes getting knocked in the head by a truck to bring it to the surface.

Cross the pond to pull a sicky – we love to travel and we love design and we love to screenprint and if you can combine all of that into one British ball of amazing, by all means do it. When our friends moved to England for the year and offered up a spare bed to crash, we realized that all that time we spent searching the web for workshops overseas has finally paid off. We sent off our fee to pull a sicky (I swear that’s what they call it) at Print Club London, bought plane tickets and spent 2 weeks learning how the Brits screenprint, design, eat, drink, travel and celebrate the Olympics, plus got a taste of Belgium too. Getting out of the country once a year puts our life into perspective, feeds our creativity and opens our eyes to the world. And even though we already know how to screenprint the Ink Lounge way, there is always more to learn. Wa-lah!

Dudes are crafty too – Technically we did our first Holiday Mancraft in December 2011, but it was a bit of an experiment to see if we gathered a bunch of guys in one place to show what they were made of, if anyone would come to check it out. And they did. So, in 2012 we put even more guys in a place that serves food and makes whiskey, to show what kind of awesome crafts they can man-up and make, and do you know what happened? Even more people come to check it out. And they buy stuff too. Maybe the lesson here is talented guys + manly craft + good food & whiskey + festive holiday shoppers = an awesome time by all http://www.flickr.com/photos/14868235@N02/sets/72157632215558144/

Cheers to 2013!

To read the entire 2012 'What I Learned' series, click this.

I learn small lessons every day. One of my continuing lessons – and it can be a tough one – is to be less aware of myself and more aware of others. This can be something as simple as holding the door for someone or noticing a slight flicker in someone's eyes that lets me know they need some encouragement. I've learned I'll never be "the best" at my craft, and I'm ok with that. I'm content with being aware of my surroundings.

To read the entire 2012 'What I Learned' series, click this.