Advertising. While holiday parties are being canceled, scaled back, etc., it reminds me of all the other holiday parties I’ve been to in my 6 years in the biz. Every year some of the geezers (original MadMen) of the industry and even some of the old guys (30-40 year-old’s, that is) talk about parties past. The wild times without worries or inhibitions. The excess. The skinny dipping. The drugs.

No. I don’t want the drugs. But we didn’t get our good ‘ole days or our dot-com boom. People my age came in at the bust, enjoyed a few normal years, and now have to deal with this crazy recession.

So. Realize this: We don’t want to hear about your stinkin’ glory day holiday events. And realize what we’re thinking on the other days when you tell us to pay our dues: “Why? We’re already paying for the mess you’ve made.”

What we’d actually prefer to do is roll up our sleeves and get to solving the problem. What we don’t want to do is roll up our sleeves and do the bullshit work while you get to “take a stab” at solving it.

You taught us this top-down model. AAE to AD eventually. A good idea can come from anywhere in the creative department. You value our understanding of “the digital life” enough to hear our explanation of how we use social networks but not enough to put us in the room with the potential client, to whom you’re selling that understanding.

And not just in the ad industry. You taught my Banking friends that it’s normal to work 90 hours a week, be unhealthy but filthy rich. You taught the Asset Managers to manage relationships, you’ll take care of the investments. You taught my friends in Fashion to sell on shows, showrooms, and parties. You taught those working for Magazines and Newspapers to worry about content, not the medium/delivery mechanism. You taught new Teachers to stick to the curriculum and focus on preparing students for standardized tests if they want tenure. That this is just the way it is; that we should just deal with it. We fell in line and look what happened.

You taught us to respect our elders. We say, “Earn it.”

It’s time for new ways.

[This rant was inspired by this fantastic post by Charles Frith, a responsible "old" guy in advertising (which there are many others including Gen Gifted on right sidebar), who used the word "party" in the title of his post. My title inspired by this.]

As Noah said (and the copy above suggests), it’s pretty simple. Be able to get in (for free), afford drinks, and find an open cab at the end of the night in New York City. It’s the New Year’s Eve-Eve Party without promoters’ names on the top of post-sized cards in Helvetica font…much to the dismay of Eric. I’ll be there, and so will these two clowns.

But—and you knew that was coming—sometimes I just can’t help myself. (Yes, the holiday sweater party was a prime example.) And—once again, no suspense created—today is one of those times. Because yesterday was Founder’s Day and 1. Some video footage is already on YouTube so I’m less scared about being fired; 2. This was the most unwork company function of which I’ve even been a part; and 3. It was so outrageous, yet so authentic to W+K NY.

As our offices across the globe celebrated the 26th birthday of Wieden + Kennedy, our New York office also turned 13. By the subject of this post, you know what that means. It was time to have our Bar Mitzvah (B’nai probably)…well, time to go out to Charisma Ballroom in Queens and have a Bar Mitzvah party. The theme…Ninjas. And that’s really all I have to say about that. (Still think some things should be left to the people inside these walls.) Except maybe that Coke and Pepsi was played, so the following picture makes some sense.

So forgive me for not doing much today other than recounting the day and night (which you’ve now gotten a glimpse into) with coworkers, looking at pictures, eating, and learning the words to Jay-Z’s verse in Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” (which I butchered at the after Bar Mitzvah bar). Okay, one more picture that must have been taken right after I shouted “the best fur – Chinchilla” into the mic and thought I was going to exit on a high note…only to realize I was just half-way through…

Oh yeah, and the other reason this is titled so broadly yet pointedly is that I just found out that an article I was asked to write (theme – post-Birthright experience) for Contact (a quarterly journal of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish life) was just published. Check it out by clicking on and downloading the PDF of Winter 2008. (Pages 13-14)

That’s all for now. Shalom. Ying-yang. Hov!

In case you missed them and want to find your gems, you can watch them on MySpace. These are not my favorite commercials, but certainly the two standout moments…

The first is the Gatorade ad, “Man’s Best Friend.” I know from my work with Purina that the more frames showing a happy dog, the better. Yet, I connected to it because of the striking resemblance of the black lab to my family’s, Zeus (that’s his name).

The second moment was fulfilling because I was the first person to remember “where is that guy from?” in the Amp Energy commercial. Your turn to try (if you haven’t already).

Yes, you guessed it. Right? It’s Donkeylips (confirmed by Michael Bower Wiki entry) from Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts. Amazing show, and really the only thing that made this commercial bearable.

It’s late and I’m too tired to go spot by spot, but quickly I thought Coke was unsurprisingly solid, E*Trade surprisingly good, and most of the rest forgettable.