Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity

My favourite suite of orchestral music is without a doubt Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. My first exposure to it came in 9th grade orchestra, where I was an extremely inadequate piano/bells player. We performed a movement from the suite, called Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity (if you listen to this link, the recognizable parts start around 1:39 and especially 2:57). While it may sound unfamiliar, trust me, you've heard it before. It's been adapted in films ranging from Knowing to Sense and Sensibility. It was also the theme for The Rugby World Cup in 1991 if you follow that. Anyways, I often think of this suite, and more specifically Jupiter. It just seems so cool that someone wrote a whole series of brilliant music based on the planets and astrology. And poor Pluto didn't get a song because it hadn't even been discovered yet!

Why am I on this spiel about string music from the 1930s? Well, for starters, I've been filled with a lot of jollity as of late. And a lot of that is because of Jupiter. Not the planet, the company. Just over a week ago, I started a one year placement at a full-service South African advertising agency called The Jupiter Drawing Room. For those of you who don't know, I'm employed by an advertising conglomerate called WPP, and last February we bought a 49% share of Jupiter and its affiliates. As my job allows me to spend a year at three different WPP companies, Jupiter became an option once this deal was in place. After spending a year at Mindshare UK, a media buying company, I was ready for something a bit more artsy. So I packed my bags and headed down to here to the city of Johannesburg, and I began working on October 1st.

Jupiter did not get its name from the celestial body or from a piece of music. It actually got the name, appropriately for me as a writer, from a short story. The story goes like this: "The agency name comes from an obscure Guy de Maupassant short story. In a country house in Normandy, France, Madame Tellier and her young ladies 'entertained' the local tradesmen downstairs. The local dignitaries however, had a special room set aside for them on the first floor: The Jupiter Drawing Room." In addition to the wonderful distinction of being named after a house of ill repute, Jupiter has become renowned in the advertising world for another reason; that reason being that every piece of work advertising the company brand (so The Jupiter Drawing Room name, as opposed to the products it is hired to advertise) features a Chesterfield sofa. These elements, along with several other company rituals, give it an unavoidable old world charm that I found absolutely irresistible.

Why am I so happy here? Well, I've only had seven days on the job so I'm not going to start counting chickens just yet. But the primary reason is that I work for an absolute legend. My boss, Graham Warsop, is not just a giant in terms of South African advertising - he's a giant in the world of advertising as a whole. Now, if you know me well, you know that being famous isn't going to win me over just like that (unless you're Beyonce). But the thing I've enjoyed so much about my boss so far is that he is so eager to give people (more specifically, me - haha) opportunities. And also, while recognizing that advertising must move forward into digital areas and beyond, he maintains an unwavering allegiance to the mediums that helped shape the industry - most significantly, print advertising. I'll write more about him, and print advertising, at a later date. I will just say that I feel quite lucky to be sitting in an office with such an accomplished individual who is actually eager to share his experiences and also hear about mine. And he's a scrapbooking fan - what more could you ask for?

I'm not suffering from hero worship here. I'm sure the man has flaws. But the thing is, from a work perspective, you don't want to search out personal flaws. You want to look for qualities that, in a 9 to 5 setting, make you feel professionally challenged and fulfilled. Any problem I had with my last job at Mindshare, which is a fantastic company, came from feeling undervalued and like I was not given opportunities. I also felt that some people there were very eager to search out personal flaws rather than focusing on work and only work (although I have no personal flaws so I'm not sure what that could have been about - hahaha). At Mindshare I always felt like I was given the work that no one else wanted to do, or was asked for my opinion from people who had already made up their minds. I've already been asked for my honest opinion more times at Jupiter than I was in my year at Mindshare. I've been invited into the decision making chambers and allowed to analyze and argue with everyone else. And I feel like I'm performing well. And that confidence is making me work even harder.

I think that sometimes both teachers and employers forget that the best way to get people to excel is to allow them to discover what they're good at. I'm not saying I know it all, or anything for that matter, but it seems to me that negative criticism can just pile up until a person is crushed under the weight of it. By the end of my year at Mindshare I had started to wonder if I was capable of good work. Lack of confidence had never been my problem before - what had happened? You see it in sports all of the time. An athlete can be on top of the world and then a string of bad results can leave them reeling. I often think of Karrie Webb, the golfer. Through the end of the 1990s through 2002 she was the world's best female golfer, regularly beating Annika Sorenstam. Then came a couple of bad results. Instead of taking some time to reevaluate, she kept hitting tournaments and going home early. Eventually, she was on the verge of retirement. A big break, an evaluation of her skills and weaknesses, and some hard work allowed her to come back a few years later and put in some great seasons. But what had happened? Why had the wheels fallen off?

A field like advertising likes to see itself as similar to professional sports. An industry of superstars. The problem is, the thing with stars and comets is that they eventually (a) crash or (b) blow up. Occasionally you'll get an insane cult riding your wake, but pretty soon you're all alone at there until everyone tunes in to watch you explode. Advertising has so many big minds and big personalities that when someone suffers even a minor meltdown it becomes a huge problem for that person and the people around them, just like professional sports. My hero Serena Williams, you may recall, recently went on a tirade against a judge at the US Open. Apparently she said something about shoving an "f-ing ball" down the judge's "f-ing throat." Okay, so this is aggressive language. However, not aggressive enough in my opinion to be talked about in Sports Illustrated, Regis and Kelly, Good Morning America, CNN, BBC, NPR, and beyond for days a and weeks to come.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent. But I hope you see the point. When the wheels fall off in advertising, as in sports, they fall off in a big way. I feel like I lost my wheels for a bit. But, so far, The Jupiter Drawing Room has gone all Forza on me and put me back in racing mode. This is not just because of Graham. Everyone at Jupiter, from the guys at the security gate to the creative directors to the little lady who makes up the coffee trays, has been absolutely splendid. They've welcomed me just like a family. It's also so multicultural. I know that there is serious racial strife in South Africa. However, even with the tension, it is so nice to be in an office with people of myriad backgrounds and skin colours. It's almost like a little glimpse into the future, as I certainly hope that one day every office in the world is filled with people of all different races and origins.

Actually, most of the people I've met in South Africa have been completely welcoming. No one had been more welcoming than Graham's PA, Debbie, who also sorts things out for me as well. She in an hysterical woman in her late 40s/early 50s who loves white wine, cigarettes, and long lunches. She's also treated me just like I'm a long lost nephew. She found me an apartment, rented me a car, and has also peer-pressured me into quite a few glasses of very-necessary wine at the end of the day. I am so blessed to have her around and it gives me confidence - if Graham surrounds himself with such great people, he must think highly of me as well.

I'll be writing more about work in the year to come, but I wanted to give a background for (a) what it is we do, and (b) why I've been so happy since I've started working down here. I am sure I'll have my ups and downs but I can't help but feel optimistic in this world of sunshine and smiles.

Have a magical weekend!

Mike :)