The cold, clear light of January. Maybe that’s just what we all need.

Is it just me or did 2016 seem to fall down the stairs like a bag of groceries? Rolling cans, broken bottles and a lot of F bombs.  Even Christmas couldn’t save it. In my view, the holidays only added literal and emotional hangovers to an already jittery society. Like kicking a dead horse.

Maybe it was our interminable Presidential election: a bitter race between two people no one really liked, barely won by a nincompoop. The whole thing was a shit show, democracy at its nadir.

Red vs Blue. Cop vs Citizen. Black vs White. The election was but a symptom of a country in turmoil. The European Union fared no better. Britain was torn away from Europe like a scab. A wound that won’t heal soon, as refugees flood into struggling countries, running away from places that are even worse.

Our world has never felt more dangerous and divided than it did in 2016. Here and abroad, animosities festered and boiled over. “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” felt less like a classic movie than a means to obliterate people.

Despite all, I am and always will be an optimist. I believe in renewal and recovery; I have seen it happen every day. It’s always darkest before the dawn and though winter has most definitely come the cold, clear dawn of January might be just what we all need.

If what you need in the new year is glass way full copywriting, content creation or creative leadership look me up: https://steffanwork.wordpress.com/

Shaking up the Etch-a-Sketch: New Year’s resolutions and advertising have a lot in common.

You: New and Improved!

Did you make any resolutions for the New Year? Are you going to quit something, like smoking or drinking or swearing in public? Or are you going to start something, maybe swimming at the “Y” or learning a new language? All good resolutions; I’ve made every one of them myself. That doesn’t mean I’ve kept them but that’s not the point. Not yet anyway. Right now it’s all about beginnings.

Beginning a new year is like shaking up an Etch-a-Sketch. We get to get rid of all those squiggly lines. We get to start over. It’s a powerful fantasy all humans can relate to, even if they’ve failed before or plain stopped trying.

Advertising taps in to this very same current. It always has. Everything is new and improved, totally redesigned or better than ever. Advertising is a siren song, beckoning us to try something. Nothing is too small. Even a cup of coffee from McDonalds promises a new and simple joy, a new beginning, and a resolution for the new day.

Advertising makes us want what we do not have. We see a new car, totally redesigned for 2012. We see the new phones and all the new and wonderful things they can do. We think ‘I want to be totally redesigned for 2012.’ ‘I want to do new and wonderful things.’ Granted, it’s a lot easier to buy a Happy Meal than it is, for example, to resolve to be happier. But I don’t want to end on a bummer. Impossible is nothing. Think Different. Just do it.

Happy New Year, Adland!