Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.
— Don Draper
Don Draper was a character I always related to. It wasn’t that he was an ad man. It wasn’t that he had a certain style and charisma that I admired. What I really related to was Don’s inner tension. He was a product of his time and yet so far ahead of his industry, and for better or for worse, he was mostly unapologetic about the way he interpreted and acted on the events that happened around him.
I have felt that tension in my own life lately. I have felt the negativity and the cynicism that seems to be a huge part of our nation and world today. I have felt the need to speak up while at the same time being aware of the lessons that I’m meant to learn along the way. I have faced my own demons and fears, and I continue to face them with an honest and open heart.
But on the other side of that tension are so many good things. On the other side, I’ve found family and friends that love me and believe that my heart is worth having. I have found that even as we grow and expand, EM remains a family-like atmosphere, and I have found that amid all the confusion and negativity, there is strength in following your path and finding the good in those around you and the circumstances you find yourself in.
But I asked myself, what would happen if I began encouraging the team at EM to lead with their heart as well. Yes, I’d love to see them do so in their personal lives, but I’m talking specifically about how we all go about our work at the agency. What would a heart-led agency look like.
Here are a few ways that I think EM-Media is already well on her way to marketing with heart.