‘Thank you to the deadlines’: A marketer’s Thanksgiving list

First, let’s thank all the bold, daring, ambitious clients who make our job fun and help us prove that a great creative idea really can increase revenue. It’s easy to buy expected, safe work that mimics everyone else in the category. So, thank you for taking the hard route and doing something fresh that will stand out in the clutter.

And thanks to the deadlines. For without deadlines, creatives would tinker with the work for the rest of their lives without ever finishing a thing.

Thank you to the election, for being over. And for allowing us to get back to complaining about other things. While many aren’t happy with the outcome, I think we all can agree the world is better without political ads attacking us everywhere we go.

Thank you to tacos, for giving us a reason to be excited about Tuesdays.

Thank you to AI for doing much of our work for us. (However, we waive the right to revoke that thank you if you take our jobs and wipe away our existence. But for now, thanks.)

Thank you to the Super Bowl, for showing us how truly hard our jobs can be – and making us feel like the rest of our assignments are pretty darn easy by comparison.

Thank you to my third-grade teacher who had a pumpkin carving contest and awarded me the ‘most creative pumpkin’ award. Without your encouragement I would probably be in finance. And while I would most likely be much richer, would I be happier? Perhaps. But hey, thank you anyway.

Thank you, weekends. Without you I would never get through all those work emails, texts, WhatsApp chats, Teams chats, phone calls and random files I dragged onto my desktop throughout the week.

Thank you to Delta, who upgraded me once. It was almost worth all the trips in coach to get my status up.

Thank you to Vodka for being my therapist and rocking me to bed at night. Well, not every night, but often enough.

Thank you to a certain former megastar, for blowing up his career this year. After many hours of waiting on set for him to show up (and dealing with his enormous ego once he did), it is reassuring to know he will be unavailable for all upcoming projects.

Thank you to all the students and other emerging talent for choosing to go into advertising. The business is far from dead and when you do it right, it can be a whole lot of fun. And rewarding.

Thank you to kumquat, squeegee, doozy, blubber, canoodle and all the other stupid sounding words, for making our work a little more cockamamie and memorable.

And thank you for reading this all the way to the end. In the days of 140 character tweets (Sorry, Xs?), information overload, and media streaming in your face nonstop, actually reading something is quite a feat. Bravo to you.