If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Brian Millar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:16:11 GMT

Plus, remember: a G5 is how a Playah rolls...

www.youtube.com/watch

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Brian Millar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:14:53 GMT

I used to be part of the mayor's Creative London forum, but I came to a similar conclusion: creativity largely comes down to pounds per square foot. If you can afford to rent a space and live cheaply then you can experiment, opening galleries, creative spaces, bars where drinks are priced on the roll of a dice (there's one in Berlin)...

and you don't need to make a huge amount of money to keep going, and keep a roof over your head. That's why Berlin is such a vibrant city: great bars, great nightclubs, avant garde music, digital shops.... and no property bubble.

All the committees and grants in the world won't change that. Look at the explosion of creativity in London in the 1960s... a little money went a long way in Notting Hill in 1968. I was talking to some retired advertising CDs at a party last year: one said he lived down the road from George Best in Chelsea. Except his house was bigger than George's, his ex-wife's house was bigger than George's ex-wife's and his car was cooler.

Now you can earn more driving tube trains. He didn't understand why anyone would go into the profession.

Look at New York in the 70s. Where would Warhol set up today? Not downtown Manhattan. Today a bar needs to be taking six figures a month to stay in business.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Stefano Augello — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:31:54 GMT

Hmm. Some of these proposed benefits are arguable: I work in Oxford Street, and if my agency were to move to Ashford I know I'd resign immediately. (This is England, not Spain. It's not like you can work outside while catching tan!)

Same for other ideas, such as the 10-hour workday: personally, I tend to stop being productive after 5.

The good thing is, this is not what you need.

People are attracted to this industry by the opportunity to be creative and to be in the company of talent coworkers.

Keep creativity and talent, and you can save the money (to a reasonable extent).

P.S. Problems come when you lose the talent, as I blogged about.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

K B — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:01:26 GMT

Absolutely fantastic piece, I hope you raise these points at this morning’s board meeting!

One point to make on bankers; they in fact some of the most imaginative people around – so creative are they that they’ve managed to sell people debt and monetise risk. More and more imaginative & elaborate ways of creating wealth through producing actually very little in terms of product or service illustrates this. Point is, as you mention, is that the marginality of wealth v. happiness sets in very early (40k I believe) and the cycle sets in.

N.b. Brighton's unemployed work force is the most highly qualified in the country, imagine the benefits & savings of employing such people in a city that delivers such a high quality of living?

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Konstantin Penkov — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:30:15 GMT

Wow. I'm tempted to send the link to all the people, who've been asking why I'm selling my BMW and going to Falmouth this September to get MA in Creative Advertising :) And thank God BMW's are so expensive - comes handy when one decides to trade a nice ride for a brilliant job.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Jonathon Hall — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:53:59 GMT

Belatedly I have come to the discussion. Before I joined the creative universe, I was a city boy, managing funds and enjoying the oh so hilarious discussions over dinner on the knotty subject of Canadian Macro Economics, ahead of a team meeting at 7am sharp on a Monday. How the hours just flew by. And the only rebellion in the 'if you want a friend, get a dog' world was my red silk lined tailored suit. Oh yes, and we didn't have Porches because they were considered profligate in clients eyes, but still, we had cars of equivalent value..and Paul Smith of Ogilvy said us city boys made ad folk look good...

I did have cause to wonder why I was doing what I did and helpfully Benjie Foot, head of Save the Children in Africa and brother of the much missed Paul Foot, told me I was making money so people could donate to his charity. A bit cod but I bought into it.

Stil, it made me think about what I was doing, how we (the city) evaluated eachother and how herd like we were in going about our business, the way we spoke, the things we did both in and out of work.

So, I left, jumped ship and joined the dark arts as my ex city colleagues put it. Sure, we're a bit more free in terms of how we think, but I find the same issues arise as I experienced in the city. Business at the end of the day is business. In my mind, I obtain more satisfaction with the product of advertising than I ever did from the city but, and it is a reasonable but, the money is worse.

I also worked for Ogilvy at The wharf, a stale and sanitised environment (The Wharf, not Ogilvy) if ever there was one. The city boys had to be taught how to dress down on Fridays, we prided ourselves on a degree of flamboyance in the new grey square mile. Our clients came to us, but we had to stick an office in Theobalds Road to ensure that we could snare clients who couldn't be *** to get to The Wharf...although our own boat was a big willy waving plus here....and in our industry chinese whispers took the whole boat concept to another level...the Ogilvy hovwercraft was one, the Ogilvy helecopter was the best though.

Working in the rural idyll is a wonderful dream and in some contexts it's a bonus to be able to quaff an ale in a hearty rural pub (Hants, West Sussex on the Downs is best) but few things beat the dynamic of working with a bunch of people who, in the real world, would never coalesce. In short I love it and still wonder who decided a five day week was how we should trip through our working lives?

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Jonathon Hall — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:52:26 GMT

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Vimbai Kavhumbura — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:33:12 GMT

I too am fascinated by how the 'credit crunch' has shifted the vein of this discussion. As a graduate looking for that foot in the door, I am keen to learn what kind of house is standing on the other side.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Ryan Nell — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:06:29 GMT

Rory, I am reading this somewhat belatedly (due to a slow internet connection and lack of the heavily-lauded RAM). What has happened since? (Please take your time with the reply - it will no doubt be another 10 months before the page loads).

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Rory Sutherland — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:20:26 GMT

"I showed this piece to my wife who is a banker at JP Morgan. She was spewing at how crassly Ad Men still misunderstand anyone who works in the square mile." I know all this from my banker friends, but the fact is that banking does propogate a terrifying groupthink. It is easy for bankers to believe that their industry has become wildly creative when they work in a business where wearing a pink shirt is considered an act of daredevil nonconformity. I am certainly not questioning the intelligence or imagination of bankers, but I do frankly question the openmidedness of the culture. As for Jeremy Bullmore's point, I would maintain large offices in London. I certainly don't advocate moving to the Outer Hebrides. But there is no reason for us to spend all our working hours in The Great Wen.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

James Walters — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:21:18 GMT

Bankers flushed out, if only.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

PATRICK GRIFFITH — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:24:37 GMT

I showed this piece to my wife who is a banker at JP Morgan. She was spewing at how crassly Ad Men still misunderstand anyone who works in the square mile. She said Rory's view of 'bankers' is hilariously 80's. Apparantly the Nick Leeson types have long since been flushed out, and replaced by smarter - and dare I say it - creative thinkers. So what the hell is creativity and how come we claim it so dearly? Surely creativity is everywhere in business these days? Unless we affect purism and say creativity is 'art' - in which case we all wallow at the decidedly grubby end of the art world, and that aint a great sell. We are creative about business. As many other industries are. It is mildly pleasing that our creativity occasionally enters pub conversations, in a way that a creative solution to a new derivative deal structure probably won't. But that doesnt make us more worthy, just more populist. So let's get over ourselves. The Bankers find our small-man syndrome risible.

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Adam Crowe — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:36:57 GMT

@Richard Superior transport links!

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Richard Morris — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:08:40 GMT

Hi Rory, I loved this piece and so agree; but one thing troubles me. I remember Jeremy Bullmore pointing out that one of the reasons why agencies are all in central London (apart from tradition, laziness and proximity to the Ivy) is that clients can visit all their chosen coveyors-of-the-marketing-message in one easy swoop - a bit like you always get rows of jewellers in the same place - and so wouldn't take kindly to making the trip from say Bray to Charing, just so we can all live in much nicer houses. I bet you have enough trouble dragging people out to to Canary Wharf as it is.How have so many of the US folks got it all so sorted?

re: If you heard a friend had landed a job at the Playboy mansion, your first question probably wouldn’t be “What’s the pension plan like?”

Daisy Cresswell — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:53:44 GMT

I laughed out loud when I read this blog, and then sighed as I sit on the crowded commuter train back to brighton. I seriously believe in this idea. The obsession with london being self-purpetuatingly self obsessed, is as I describe, crap! My biggest ideas come NOT when in an office or even in a designer studio, but when u get a bunch of like-minded people together in a much less restricted environment.. Like down the pub.I will celebrate the day when you big thinkers finally set up that awesome creative camp, perhaps on the cliffs of peacehaven, (like the name suggests, allowing true thinking time and head-space) where u could look out to sea and perhaps create the next big thing as awesome and memorable as JAWS! Bring it on!