Popping the Integrity Pill is Hard, But It’ll Make You Feel Better.

Integrity, one word most people in the ad industry can’t lay claim to. We sell things people don’t need; we make business decisions in the face of creativity. So often we fall on our knees hoping the client won’t fire us for whatever reason has struck their fancy that week. We aren’t do-gooders, we’re not particularly green, heck, most of us aren’t even that friendly to outsiders.

It pains me to admit all this. I always wanted to save the world. Instead, I’ve sold my soul and gone into the industry that does the exact opposite. Honestly though, I don’t regret it.

I got lucky. I started my career at CP+B in Boulder, interning at an agency that, unlike most agencies, has integrity. They try to do the right thing, because that’s how Alex Bogusky has brought up their corporate culture. They try to line up their beliefs with their creative (Bramo’s B-cycle, Plum Card’s initiative to help small businesses, Domino’s transparency). The agency stands up for their creative, for their people and for the good of society (as much as the industry allows them).

I remember one Town Hall last summer when I interned at CP+B, the partners announced that they wanted everyone to spend the day coming up with a solution to stop the BP oil spill. The result of that brainstorm wasn’t much, but Just the fact that tried, made us feel better about our job for that one day. There's integrity in that intension.

Today, from where I stand, CP+B is showing another sign of the principles Alex left behind. According to him, the agency is probably parting with BK because ‘they have too much creative integrity to do the work the new BK team is asking for.’ Where most agencies would bend over backwards to keep such a big client, CP+B shows us yet again that selling your soul is really not worth it after all.

It’s not okay to just be sell-outs. It’s not okay to go against your beliefs and let the creative suffer: it’s not okay to be agencies that have no backbone. It’s certainly not okay to sell things you don’t want to sell. There is a way to be a part of a better advertising industry. We have to make those decisions ourselves.

So here’s to integrity. May we all retain ours.
Cheers.

PS check out Alex Bogusky's blog on the topic. http://alexbogusky.posterous.com/the-king-is-dead