I had a particularly odd day back in July of 2010. I was at a presentation for a pretty high-profile project. The team had been working very hard, and we were quite happy with the result. The creative director was on vacation, and my art director had to beg off for another meeting. It was a busy time.

One thing that the BP and Cooks Source incidents have in common is hubris, though the two cases are separated by several orders of magnitude in scale. It reminds us that the “social” aspect of “social media” doesn’t merely mean that lots of people are logged in to Facebook, but that they are in fact people, with personalities, opinions, and morals.

Am I one of the 10 most creative people in the Canadian Marketing industry? The suggestion is as flattering as it is unlikely. As we delve into the possible answers to this question, I will first address those of you who already know what I’m talking about. I’ll get to the rest of you shortly.

I’ve been wilfully ignoring the Old Spice hype. That kind of makes me a bad creative guy in advertising/marketing terms, because I’m supposed to be hyper-aware of new media strategies, and (I think) because I’m supposed to cheer on successful creative, even if it wasn’t created by anyone I know, out of solidarity, or perhaps good sportsmanship.

I really have to work on my rhetorical style. And by that I mean to say that I don’t think it’s the rhetoric that’s the problem so much as the delivery. I make what I think is – what I know to be a perfect conversation-ender and then turn as if to walk away, and at that instant, someone says “Yeah, it’s like when…”

I have often said, of my day gig in advertising, “If this job is ever difficult, it’s because somebody screwed up.” You might think that’s pretty upbeat coming from me until you realize that only one screw-up has to be signed off on to make an entire campaign, or even a brand, difficult.

The end of the year is a time for lists, and as I am a writer it only seems natural that my list is about words. And because I am cranky, it is equally natural that my list is about words I don’t like.

dear shoppers drug mart down the street: paypal me ten dollars and i will rewrite your sign for you

I have no sympathy for Money Mart and their ilk, so I quite enjoyed this recent Star article and the Google Ad Fail that followed (click for full size image).

If offered, do not accept a position writing for Google.