Do You Have An ‘Off’ Switch?

As we saw a couple of weeks ago, when golden-voiced Ted Williams went from homeless man to YouTube sensation to national Kraft voiceover to rehab in 7 days, things happen fast. If you had decided to unplug and take a few days away, you’d have completely missed this.
So do advertising and marketing people need to be always on? How do we cope?

Ad agencies and marketing firms are stretched thin as it is. It’s increasingly difficult to keep a core team in place that’s always accessible and we can’t always have a backup person always in place for an immediate request. Taking quick action also requires a substantial amount of full-time staff with a deeper base of knowledge about the client and its business–which is also a trend we’re moving away from.
Think about your own job: Is someone prepared to handle certain situations when you’re off the grid? Even if it’s not an immediate problem on a large scale, what would happen if you or the team you work with disappeared for a day?

It’s the subject of my new column on Talent Zoo, which will be on the home page tomorrow.