Happy new year, my friends in marketing (and beyond)!

What a wild and wonderful time to be alive, eh?

2022 marks not only our millionth pandemic year (or so it seems), but ABZ Creative’s 40th anniversary. From humble kitchen-table-typesetting beginnings in 1982 to a full-service agency specializing in strategy, branding, content, communications, marketing, design and advertising: It’s been a wild ride that we are blessed to still be on as we continue to learn and grow to better serve you.

Marketers are notoriously terrible at putting their own marketing first and we have been no different the last few years. We’ll be using our 40th year to rectify some of that with a revamped presence that better reflects who we have continued to evolve to be.

Each new year is a wonderful time for reflection and resolution – new beginnings and gratitude for the foundation that brought us to where we are today.

I recently spent time with a young man who is set to graduate in May with a marketing degree but has found himself utterly confused by job descriptions in the industry and a full understanding of what marketers really DO – despite numerous internships under his belt. It brought back that old pang of what I think many people feel as they ready themselves to fly the nest of higher education and put themselves to good use in the working world. It can be daunting. You need experience you don’t have to get anywhere and rarely does one’s education prepare you for how your skills translate into a real-life job situation.

Every generation has its challenges jumping into the workforce. War. Recession. And more. I don’t envy the current generation. They face a landscape where everyone is conditioned to believe that the world can and — even more damaging — should be at your doorstep overnight, supply chains be damned. It’s comforting to know we are not alone; every industry is struggling with how to stay viable, competitive, profitable and even remotely sane in a world that demands more, better, faster, cheaper and NOW (or even yesterday) – even in the face of unparalleled labor shortages.

Whether by default or design, the world has made Veruca Salts out of the lot of us. It’s unattractive and ultimately (perhaps thankfully) unsustainable.

While I firmly believe the root of all career successes and pitfalls lies in successful communication, nowhere is this thrown into sharper relief than the marketing industry. We live and die by the sword of communication and our task to disrupt, cut through the clutter and make an impact has never been steeper — there are more channels than ever to bombard consumers’ eyes, ears, hearts and minds.

My conversation with this soon-to-be graduate covered the gamut of all of this. What marketers are asked to do. How we try to do it successfully (and what we can learn from our mistakes). And how we answer to a world where everything now needs to be produced faster than ever before with quantifiable results.

At the end of our call, he asked: “Do you have any advice for entering the marketing industry?”

I paused more than a beat before responding.

I paused again and realized that this advice was really less about marketing and was more pertinent to ANYONE trying to stay viable, relevant and even remotely helpful in today’s economy.

I turned to him, smiled and said, “It really all just boils down to basic life advice. Be kind. Do what’s right. Do your best. Speak your truth. Share what you have.”

As I reflect on our firm’s storied history — where we’ve been and where we’re headed — and what another new year holds in a climate that only feels more and more frenzied, frenetic and polarized, I return again to this advice. It’s a guidepost for the culture at ABZ and holds the key to what we need to return to as a society to flourish.

These are forever resolutions.

• Be nimble.
• Learn. Grow. Stretch yourself.
• Do the dirty work (when you have to).
• Be kind.
• Do what’s right.
• Speak your truth.
• Share.

Stay tuned for the (ever hopeful) chance to celebrate 40 years of ABZ together this year. Happy new year and may this, and every year, be filled with success, fulfillment and good health.