Combined, between all of them, I do very much believe that my 2-ish years working in advertising in America trumps their entire experience with American advertising. At the least, I know I've been at this longer than the International Brand Manager (IBM, I'm getting lazy). He got his start in sales (apparently), and was then moved from sales to brand management. And it shows.
His work experience aside, I often find that I am being told by individuals who have about the same amount of experience as I do working in American advertising, perhaps less, how advertising works in America and that what I know, what I have learned, what I have studied and what I have experienced in my 26 years (Happy Birthday to me!) living in the USA is wrong.
Admittedly, these same individuals do have more total experience in advertising. But that's in Germany. And if I have learned anything from my time here, it's that what flies in Germany and what flies in America are often not the same. I could be wrong. I probably am. Mostly because I am of the ideal that excellent work can transcend language, sometimes. In fact, it is not easy. At all. Aside from language, there are cultural differences. Historical differences. Pop culture differences. Anthropological differences. The drinking culture in America is not the same as the one in Germany. Being a beer fanatic, I know this intimately. Yet, most days I am forced to apply a logic to the work that I do that makes absolutely no sense to me. I've fought back. I've tried to stand my ground. And every time, I lose.
And so I pose this question: Why is it so hard for those who have no idea what they are doing admit that they have no idea what they are doing and trust someone who does?
Don't get me wrong. I am still very inexperienced. But I do know a bit. A little bit. A tiny bit. But when it comes to things I know little about, I consult an expert. Perhaps several. And then I listen. I learn. I trust. These people are experts. They make their living knowing a lot about one thing and then accepting money in exchange for sharing that knowledge (intellectual hookers?). When my dog went off the hinges, I hired a trainer because I'm not a dog training expert. If my pipes exploded in my apartment, I would hire a plumber; someone I would assume is an expert with pipes. I am becoming an expert in writing for advertising. It's what I have been studying and working at for the last seven or eight years of my life. I can't survive unless I excel at it and maintain a level of relevancy. So, why is it so hard to listen once in a while?
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