‘It was an interesting office; most ad agencies are. When you’re
building a place for people to sit and think up creative ways to
sell toothpaste for twelve hours a day, you try to make it fun.
So apart from the regulation display case for all the advertising
awards the agency had won over the years, the J. McCarthy
office also had a pool table in the lobby, beanbags to sprawl on
and a small glass cabin where you could go and scream quietly
when you started getting scary daydreams about dancing
sanitary napkins.’
Ira Bhat, copywriter by day, sleep-deprived copywriter by
night, has only one goal: to not go utterly bonkers as she
negotiates the perils and pitfalls of a career in advertising.
These include, but are not limited to: comma-obsessed
clients, award-obsessed bosses, obnoxious marketing
executives, high-strung creative types, impossible deadlines,
obscure briefs, fiercely competitive colleagues, the death of
many a big idea…and the ever-present danger of falling in
love with the new account planner. Sounds doable, but is it?
Because, when it comes to advertising, somewhere, hidden
in the fine print, there may be an asterisk involved…
