Pendangered~!

We are seriously endangered announces a friend in advertising. The Republic of Letters is shrinking. His search for copywriters - good, bad and passable recently drew a blank. Even my howlers, unarguably successful most of the times, didnt help.

Worse is the fact that there is hardly any fresh blood in sight. I can vouch for this, after a year of college-teaching and handling five different classes in a School of Media Studies, I cannot recall more than three kids, who I think were into copywriting. Sadly, one of them has already opted against it.

But to their credit, my pal Prakash and his CD Anantha are not just "moanies". They are taking stock of the fast-depleting wordsmiths and aspiring ones as well. Hop on this link http://pendangeredspecies.blogspot.com and register if you are one. You could also report on this link if you sight one such rare species. Distinguishing details are a must.

And I cant help but rave about my copywriting experience here....hey, its my blog!!
I had some great months in advertising in three different agencies. Ogilvy was the best, I was a trainee and had some serious fun. My work guide, Deepak Deans, insisted that I build my portfolio and with some great help I managed three print ad series apart from some work on Hutch, Jeevan Blood Bank and TN Tourism.

The best I liked about copywriting was that one could stare blankly at space, chew nails, read Calvin and Hobbes unabashedly, sip tea in the canteen and walk down the street all in the pretext of WORKING. Creative license et al. When it was deadline time, it was different altogether, but I dont want to scare people away.

Advertising is serious challenging, decently paid (when compared to obscene MBA salaries) and creatively rewarding. There was nothing like seeing one of my ads in print. But then the journalism bug bit me later at express and I am finding my way through the 5Ws and 1H. But I am glad that I am still with the Republic of Letters and Pendangered~!!