Any adman would agree that great work is often the result of a good insight, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you know insightful, relatable and downright funny memes from this social media page is being passed around like free beer at a bar.
Sadvertising is the closest thing to the personification of the advertising industry’s sassy and witty side. Without frills and filters, the man behind the page shows the everyday hustle of an adman through his illustrations — starting from a bunch of memes about the woes of a character called the Art Director, the page pokes fun at situations like having the same deadline for multiple storyboards, colleagues openly commenting on a work-in-progress, dreading a weekend work pitch, and even fonts reflecting the taste of the client.
Soon after, the Art Director was joined by more characters like Client and CD (Creative Director) whose roles are to make Art’s life more difficult. Although he does not speak for everyone in the industry, his relatable depiction of these characters have garnered laughter, ‘likes’, and ‘shares’.
But of course, the characters from Sadvertising aren’t real humans, but they represent real people. The characters are the embodiments of every art director, copywriter, and account executive that have experienced a great deal of stress and appreciates self-deprecating humor.
Sadvertising is you trying to beat all of the impossible deadlines; Sadvertising is the person in the next cubicle fumbling for his next big idea.
The page is the genius creation of a team of two friends, Art and Copy — one stays in the office after 6 p.m. while the other one stays way later. Whoever stays the latest though, we’ll leave to you to figure out.
From their first meme from November last year, the duo has grown an army of almost 5000 Instagram followers, a reach they accomplished organically. Most followers engage with them either by commenting on their posts, even tagging Sadvertising on their own Instagram stories. They even made sets of stickers for the messaging app, Telegram.
While most anonymous pages come with a hefty lineup of rants (and of course, juicy gossip), Sadvertising provides a relief to those who see their memes. What started out as a whim soon became a project with an inbox flooding with private messages.
Although it may not seem apparent, Sadvertising told adobo that they are not an outlet to vent or to exploit the ugly side of the industry. They simply make observations that manifest in one meme or another.
“We just have our own points of view on things. When it’s personal, it’s more universal,” the duo explained when asked about their relevance.
Perhaps because its creators have years of experience in the industry under their belt, Sadvertising knows their audience very well. In fact, they admitted their brand of humor may give away their identity, and some colleagues have figured out who they are, with 69 percent certainty, they kidded.
By staying anonymous, they shy away from the spotlight, preferring the attention stays on their ideas instead of them. If there is anything they get from the page, it’s the satisfaction of being signal-boosted by some of their colleagues and even competitors.
It was especially fulfilling for Art and Copy when one of their former bosses, who is now the president of an agency, liked and shared their post; which only goes to show that even executives can relate to their humor and were once on their shoes too, they told adobo.
Although they do not wish to reduce people to stereotypes, there are still patterns that emerge for most copywriters (lorem ipsum), clients (resize thy logo), and account executives (revise please). There were projects that made them cringe, yet were fun in the execution.
If anything, they tell us that not everybody in the ad industry will get featured by adobo magazine. Yet, that does not mean they are any less important. From directors, production designers, down to talents and mascots—every piece of the puzzle has a place on Sadvertising’s feed.
“We wanted to focus on the unsung heroes of advertising—the types that wouldn’t be featured anywhere but are important to our hearts—hence tempura lolo and prod teams,” said Sadvertising.
To be the face of the ugly and non-glamorous side of advertising is enough for the two. They explained, they do not need their identities out in the open to be the ones to tell the narratives of these unsung heroes (not to mention that they might get fired).
With the support and engagement they get, Sadvertising must be doing something right. In fact, the comic relief that they bring to the table unites admen regardless of which agency they belong in.
Perhaps, the page’s existence is also a reminder that art directors, copywriters and even clients are all humans too, not idea factories nor machines that can churn out an award-winning work in a snap.
And though awards are pretty on display and a validating pat-on-the-back, Sadvertising parted with a good food for thought: “Care about the people, not the metals.”
This was a very interesting and insightful exposé, kudos to the author, more power to you