Being the oldest person in the room
In this guest post, Bruce Matchett, who over a 40-year career as a creative director at the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, Ogilvy Australia, JWT India and now Sapient Nitro – with a stint at a monastery in northern Thailand in between – talks about what drives him, and what keeps him going.
I’m easy to spot.
Just walk into any meeting full of shiny, fresh-faced young ad men and look for the oldest person in the room.
That’ll be me. Bruce Matchett.
Great piece from a class act
Nice one.
Great post. Always interesting to hear the path people have taken to get where they are in the industry and the values they hold up as most important.
Wonderful read for anyone, in any profession, looking to get ahead whilst remembering to enjoy the day before.
A fantastic read ! Thank you Bruce
Born 1940 – — Still going Strong.
You could make a slogan out of something like that,
An inspiration. Thanks for sharing. Each life journey is unique, just keep enjoying the ride
Beautiful honesty.
Not enough Bruce’s around unfortunately!
“Shiny, fresh-faced young ad MEN” – hasn’t changed much in all those years.
Nice one Bruce, very inspiring. Have you still got that Mealtime Monkey at home?
Bruce the industry needs more mentors like you. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you for sharing Bruce!
Ha. On ya Bruce. I always loved and fondly remember the line, “I’m gonna add to your thunder – not steal it.” And you always did. Taught me a lot. Stay curious mate.
Ego? You bet.
Good darts Bruce!
Half measures avail us nothing.
True in recovery. And in creativity.
Not too many ad gurus actually live up to the ‘guru’ part
I should say, you absolutely do Bruce!
Bruce, what did you do during your various stints in these huge agency networks to improve the trend towards youth and away from experienced elders?
Most agencies can only afford a couple of grown ups in the creative department. It’s a battle and a balancing act.
I found this inspirational in many ways. Thank you for that.
One question: Anecdotally, (probably empirically, but I don’t have the figures or the time to Google for them), and from personal experience it is very difficult to get hired into this context if you are over 50. Is there anything you can do or suggest that could mean that, just occasionally, you wouldn’t be the oldest, or the oldest by much, in the room?
David, from what I’ve observed, agencies with a creative founder (and I’m talking about the older ones), tend to be more open to older creative hires. That’s because they value and trust and see merit in people around the same age. Basically creative guys that can bring experience. Which, by the way, can only be learned through experience.
But as I’ve said in a previous post, young talent is the life blood of this business. But even the kids need a little guidance.
Thanks Bruce. Truth is I am not in advertising – my background and accomplishments are in marketing and corp comms. I had some time out and then moved continents. I could not get hired here. I was caricatured as “over-qualified” – which was neither true nor funny. I suspected that it was because I was “over-50” [not by much], and perhaps even just “over here”. Then some of me accused the rest of me of looking for excuses. It was a fair cop.
After two years of depressing under-employment, including depression, someone I knew overseas knew someone here who wanted someone who could do a bit of marketing. Now I am GM/proxy CEO and I am hiring a marketing specialist to do what I should be doing if I was’t leading the team. Who knows, I may not have to be the oldest guy in the room soon either?
Inspirational read Bruce. There’s nothing wrong with being the oldest person in the room. especially when you’re the one dispensing the wisdom, experience and honesty. Keep on keeping on. AP