We Don't Have Fun Anymore

Admit it.  One of the big reasons we got into promotion and marketing was because they always seemed to be having so much damn fun down in the creative services department.  Are we still having fun?

We all got into the promo biz from different departments.  I started out as a floor director, while a producer I had in South Carolina started in sales.  We all "came in from the cold" in different ways.  Some of us are writers, some producers and some strategists.  The best of us can do all three of these things well, but the thing we all do best is have fun.  I've had drunks, drug addicts and just plain untalented people working for me, but we all had fun.

When I started in promotion at WTOL in Toledo, my boss, the promo coordinator and I spent every weekend in the summer putting up tents, hauling helium tanks and schmoozing with the news talent at county fairs to get people to watch us.  Six to seven days a week of work.  How did I do it?  I know I wouldn't change it for anything.

The media business has certainly changed over the years, but we all work in the environment of today.  It seems that our stress levels have never been higher, and the days of independent owners have gone the way of documentary units.  But that doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate working in the one area of the business other departments would kill in which to work.

The days of heading off to PROMAX, NATPE or the affiliate conventions may have gone, and the bloom might be off the rose when it comes to the dominance of local television, but it is simply evolving...as are we.

We're not curing cancer or even making political policy, but we're still influencing thousands of people with our message.  Unlike journalists, our work can be laced with beautiful graphics, flowery imagery or emotional impact.  Our messages do not have to be all about "breaking news."  It can be all about the fun and great things the comprise living in a strong, vibrant and interesting city, seen through the big monitor on the wall (or table).  It's "Hello, Pittsburgh" 2013 style.

Remember that inside your station or building, you are the Chief Fun Officer, and while a general manager, news director or sales manager might find that to be a trivial thing, we know that we have the power to see the joy in our syndicated product, the power of our news department and how great clients make for great...and fun...campaigns all at the same time.  The ability to move your audience and motivate your station staff is strong.

So, while you're struggling to create another dry-as-toast topical, think of the guy laying asphalt in the heat, or serving your food every day in a restaurant.  That's work!  What we do is fun, even on our worst days.

When I graduated from college, my mother asked "where are you going to get a job where you watch television all day?"  Surprise!  I got my dream job.  She never did.

Maybe we all don't have as much fun as we did even five years ago, but it's up to us to make our stations fun and rejoice in a wonderful corner of a fantastic business.  That's the heart of the Promo Code--having fun and making everyone around us have fun, too.  We work with cool people.  Let's celebrate that.

So, don't forget to have fun today.

--Rich

   

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