“You can’t teach passion. You have to hire it”. I’ve heard various forms of those words lately and I’m really starting to understand the meaning behind them. After watching shows like AMC’s” The Pitch” and Google’s documentary “Project Re:Brief”, a recurring theme (stated or not) seems to keep rearing its head. You either are born with the passion for the advertising business – or you aren’t.

You can watch shows like “Mad Men” and get that sense of what it was like to be on the dawn of the advertising age in the 60’s – the major push to sell, the lifestyle, the changing world. But it’s the passion that keeps you watching – Don Draper’s enthusiasm for the creative, his relentless pursuit to sell the best idea and his drive to win the business based on his merits. He’s born for advertising and his character is well-written and acted to convey that passion to the viewer. It’s also great marketing that makes you root and believe in him.

I see this in everyday life – advertising life not portrayed on TV (“reality” or fiction, although most times they are a really the same, aren’t they) and if the passion for the game isn’t there, it shows. It’s hard to be in advertising as a “9 to 5” type of existence. No cubicle-dwellers apply. No matter what area of marketing expertise you work in, major projects arise, bosses have quick-turn jobs, time gets short - all leading to you pulling extra hours, working overtime, and HOPEFULLY putting the effort into to doing something “great” not just something “good”.

Because when the great idea is there and hits big, there’s nothing like it. As Harvey Gabor, former Art Director on the 1971 “Hilltop” Coca Cola spot (I’d like to buy the world a Coke…you’ll be singing it all day) mentions that sometimes it’s better than sex. Even Kristi Faulkner, partner at Womank!nd gets chills and calls the big idea “orgasmic”. Not too many people can convey that passion about their every day job. Do what you love and the passion will show!