Cockeyed optimism or rational thinking?

A pleasant byproduct of Nov. 3’s election and the subsequent tsunami of celebrations/finger-pointing was that, for a brief moment, everyone seemed to forget about the economy. Like when you just lock the door to the room under the stairs where your crazy aunt lives and go ahead with the hugest party ever because, hey, who doesn’t love a party, right?

Now, though, it’s back to reality. And the current down market (possibly the most genteel term I could conjure for the sh&%storm that is this economy) seems to just be getting worse, what with layoffs, closings, cutbacks and the noxious mix of fear and paranoia wafting through the air.

Hell, I’m just glad I didn’t pick now to open up shop and start looking for business—oh, wait…

Yes it’s true, I did just open up shop. Gabardine started at the beginning of August and, truth be told, there hasn’t really been any positive economic news since. But unlike some of my colleagues (and friends, and family and—you get the idea), I refuse to believe that my new company is in a dire position.

Cockeyed optimism, you say? On the contrary; I’m nothing if not a realist, and my confidence is based squarely on two pillars:

1. More than twenty years of experience during which time I’ve seen that, come what may—scandal, recession, bankruptcy, tragedy—business is business, and business must market in order to, well, stay in business. Sure companies may slash budgets, scale back internal resources and look for lower-cost service options (all of which, it must be said, benefit the little guy, i.e. Gabardine), but in order to remain viable, they have to continue communicating with customers.
2. Work; Gabardine, thankfully, continues to get it, albeit with greater difficulty than anticipated and at lower-than-anticipated margins.

So while I acknowledge that there may have been more favorable moments in history to open a new agency, I’m certainly not crying in my beer over having chosen this one.

Norman Rockwell - Freedom from want

Instead, all my colleagues and I can do is keep cranking out great ideas and smart creative that motivates people to act, despite the markets.

And that, I want to believe, will be enough.