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So, have you ever worked on a project that you regretted?   I’ll bet at least someone at the agency responsible for this campaign has.

Fortunately, I’ve been privileged to only work at agencies that had reasonable scruples about promoting clients that are damaging to the environment or to the human populace in general.  While I wouldn’t consider myself super-conservative or anything, there are definitely certain products and/or services that I’m happy to not be promoting.

Last minute changes, client “re-orgs”, agency reviews, new management, etc., it all happens to everyone involved in an agency on a regular basis. Those headaches, major as they are, will never go away. I think every creative person has spent immeasurable hours complaining about how non-ideal most situations are for developing great creative concepts. But that’s why I love this new phrase, which has been making its rounds throughout boardrooms and conference rooms all across America:

“It is what it is”

Loosely translated, it means “look, you creative and/or overly concerned person, I/you can’t change certain aspects about our situation - let’s focus on a solution rather than on the problem”. In the past few months, I’ve made quite a few comments on the business speak and buzzwords of our industry. Indeed, if you Google “marketing buzzwords” you’ll come up with hundreds of thousands of websites dedicated to tracking the somewhat ridiculous sayings that we creative people make up in order to add some spice to our everyday conversations. n-tara even made our holiday video from last year satirizing marketing-speak by parodying a 1970’s infomercial.

Generally speaking (pun, pathetically, intended), I have little use for most of this jargon, although I certainly am guilty of using it in a pinch with clients. One phrase, however, has been slowly gathering steam in our industry and I find it to be actually useful. It is what it is. Got difficulties? Get over them. Change what you can change, otherwise focus on creating a solution and getting the job done.

And because I like you folks, that motivational seminar is on the house.