Grown-ups founding partner Andrew Moss departs

old people have short attention spans after all

Not surprised about this, the offer wasn’t new. It’s tough out there in Adland, bloody awful actually. The website is beyond daggy (jeans and brogues? The 80’s are calling) And the Three Wise Men look tired and jaded.

Perhaps he just forgot where the office was ?

pretty savage comments. good on you guys! it’s tough in adland OK, but try being on the wrong side of 50 and still full of beans. where to get work! Having spare time might be making my handicap come down, but housing and feeding the ankle biters is more important. I know more now about how to make clients wishes come true than I did at 35, but the opportunities to participate in the industry drop off too fast after the magic 40 comes around. The grown ups need our congratulations for having a go, not smart-assed comments from generation WTF.

Well said Mike. Couldn’t agree more.

I couldn’t agree more Mike!

9 months ago I found myself on the receiving end of some bitter and twisted comments from the shallower end of the industry’s gene pool when I dared to say that experience actually mattered.

I also had an enormous amount of support and encouragement. After 9 months of consulting I have delivered some of my most successful work so far with more to come.

The industry still disappoints me as I have also met with a huge amount of people whose skills are no longer wanted but also found that clients are screaming out for them!

Isn’t it about time the industry became a little more grown up?!

Well said Mike! What you wear or how old you are should mean nothing if you can offer strong experience and a history of successful campaigns. Something that Adland is very much lacking.

It’s true that advertising is a game for young, talented hard working people.
Talent and hard work will get you so far but age is inevitable. Clearly some of you are young, not overly talented and definitely not working hard…
Enjoy the industry while you can Mum and Dad will let you move back home

Any advertising person who doesn’t have Plan B well and truly sorted by the time they’re 40 is nuts.

You can bitch about it all you want, but unless you’re one of those rare people who can maintain a Peter Pan-like ability to seemingly remain youthful and energetic as they chronologically age… you’re fucked.

Tip: look after yourself, stay fit and don’t hit the piss too much when you’re young.

The minute you start acting old and tired and worn-out and dated… you’re dead in advertising.

Agencies won’t want you, and the vast majority of clients won’t want to work with you either.

By all means be senior and grey. Just maintain genuine enthusiasm, and trade off the quality of your current work… not on past glories or the fact that you’re older than those young kids so you automatically know more… and you’ll be fine.

But again… have a Plan B. And make sure that your Plan B isn’t setting up your own agency with a bunch of older ad guys. Because it probably won’t work.

Thanks for your insight and thoughts Kate.

Got anything else worthless and petty to add to this?

Andrew must have realised he had some growing up to do?

people in their 20s are largely conceited dickheads and it’s not just confined to ad industry types

With the experience of Booker and Hunter !
How could you go wrong. I would believe that most younger creatives would want to join such an agency with such success.
Well done Grant and Mick .

Perhaps they just had different ways of doing things.

not a good start

Wow… some of the comments in here are fucking appalling.
What a sewer anonymity allows.

I’m sure the negative comments are from people who’ve never opened their own shop.
[Something Grant has done successfully before Grown-Ups]. Most probably come from relatively junior creatives who gladly pick up their cheque every week without ever thinking about the people [particularly small independent shops] who are left with the responsibility of finding the money to pay that cheque in the first place. Truth is, we need more people with the guts to open new shops to create more jobs. They’re the people we need to be supporting, not people like Kate – always first to judge, but the last to put their money where their mouth is. Whether Grown-Ups works isn’t the issue. What matters is they’ve had the guts to do it – which is more than most of us ever will. Grown ups in the industry understand that. Good luck guys.

either that (Money #17) or most of the negative comments are tongue in cheek like mine.

get a sense of humour people.

I absolutely agree btw that we need more start ups and innovators in this market and also that massive credit should be given to everybody starting their own agency/business.

In this instance, it may well be that these guys started that agency because they couldn’t get jobs in big agencies. So it actually does matter whether Grown Ups works for various reasons. If it does, they may persuade agencies that a bit of grey hair is an advantage and not a disadvantage and that wisdom and experience can actually be more profitable than youth and vigour.

but let’s also not think that just because they’re older, that they are automatically going to be better either. Some of the older candidates for jobs aren’t being rejected because they’re old….it’s because they’re crap

just saying

let’s not think that because people are young they have vigour. There are plenty of narcisstic, pretentious and lazy 20 something hipsters in advertising who only understand energy if it comes courtesy of a line of white powder

as an advertiser i am amazed that advertising is the only advisory industry in the world in which wisdom and experience is less valued by proponents than their clients

Booker: “Agencies have been dealing with ever decreasing margins over the last five to ten years and so have reduced the number of senior people on staff.”

Unfortunately, agency staff (us) can’t expect the same kind of salaries paid in the last 5-10 years. Just like bankers who in past expect massive bonuses, now have to accept lower levels of renumeration.

The ‘law-firm’ mentality of doing your hard years early in your career to make partner/upper management – then sit back on huge pay packet and simply ‘oversee’ work, doesn’t cut it anymore.

I’m not ‘senior’ staff but from an outside perspective – it appears very senior agency staff either have to accept lower pay or roll their sleeves up and get back into to the trenches…

Well said Golum!

Rather than lash out and have this same young versus the old argument and hostility (which is always generalised) don’t you think we should be addressing those who are doing the hiring in management?

I believe you will find they are a cross section of the generations? It’s the decision makers who are not acknowledging existing talent. I think you will find that most of the younger generation respect and admire the experience of those who have been in the industry for a longer period of time and vice versa the older generation are re-energized and challenged by the enthusiasm and new ideas that the younger less experienced people bring.

It would be a shame to think that this mutual respect no longer exists, without a past there is no future.

In relation to Grown-ups; only time will tell but at least they are giving it a go and believe in their model.

but seeing we’re dealing with cliches Golum, let’s also agree that some older agency employees aren’t full of wisdom either but are stuck in middle ranking jobs or being pointed towards the door because they weren’t smart, diligent or talented enough to build their career faster

I’m in my 40s to be clear and believe that in the main, agencies undervalue wisdom and experience, but I find the ‘old agency folk good, young agency folk bad’ stuff as odious as the opposite perspective

When the so-called leaders within industry grow up it will realise that great creative thinking comes from great creative thinkers and that the quality of thinking is not an age related issue. I have worked with many great people in their 50’s.. a lot of shit ones too.. the same applies to younger age groups