Live In New York? Not.
I grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan. Central Park was my backyard. After going to high school across the street from Lincoln Center, I went to college in Boston and San Francisco. I returned to NYC to go into advertising and spent my formative advertising years at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and Saatchi.
In the early 90’s we shut down the agency at 1 PM. This was rather easy as we were in the pre-24/7-Internet days. We weren’t as ‘on-call’ as we are today when its all-on-all-the-time. When we left the office, we left. And, our clients knew it. And, because it was the olden days before they really squeezed the hell out of our margins, my clients didn’t seem to mind.
Back To NYC.
Thinking about half-day Fridays reminded me of the incredibly stressful mad dash to get out on the Long Island Expressway before 1:30 to try to beat the rush hour traffic to the Hamptons where I had a house. Every summer weekend started with the MEGA stress of getting out of town and ended with the stress of trying to get back in.
So, here’s to my NYC buddies. Me… I’ll take Portland Oregon. And, yes I have a guest room if you ever want to really take it easy.
Which brings me to a point. Finally.
I am a B2B marketer. Are the last two weeks of August good times to be a B2B marketer or should we take the last two weeks off?
Cons:
People are out of the office.
People are taking it easy.
Pros:
People don’t do the summer shut-down the way they used to.
People are always on now. Even if they are on ‘vacation’.
The outbound marketing pressure is lower so my messaging will actually get through the marketing membrane to your head.
Hey…………. you are reading this, right?
Which brings me to the big point. Finally.
Don’t stop running your advertising agency’s business development program. Ever.
Shaun Nestor says
Thanks for your insight, Peter. I hope readers do not confuse “Don’t stop running your advertising agency’s business development program … ever.” with “Don’t ever stop.”
We need rest. As humans, we need the physical and metal recharge that comes with getting away and “turning off”.
Successful agency operators will understand and respect the need for great systems that run in the background — even if we leave the office at 1pm. Or for a week. Or for 2 weeks.
Don’t stop business development; but don’t stop stopping.
Peter says
Shaun: I completely agree. That’s why we invented automated systems like Hootlet and buffer. Social media and blogs work for us 24/7.
drift hunters says
I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Peter. Don’t ever cease conducting your advertising agency’s business growth program is a bold statement, and I hope readers will not take it literally.