Creative Director Searches For Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet

Former Y&R CD James Othmer will publish a new book in September entitled ADLAND: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet. Othmer describes the book as "a semi-memoir about the past present and future of advertising."

Since it's Cannes week, Othmer agreed to share a Cannes-related passage from the book. It's the first line from his chapter about Cannes 2008:

"The future of advertising is hunched over in the center of Boulevard de la Croisette outside a tiny yet unthinkably crowded cafe on the French Riviera at 4:18 AM, hands on tanned yet wobbly knees, uncertain whether she will succumb to the excesses her industry has bestowed upon her and puke, call it a night and stumble back to her overpriced, mega-agency-sponsored hotel room, or gather her wits, her stomach and her constitution and rally to take her skills to another, more exciting place where the party is just getting started."

Yup, things haven't changed much at all. The future of advertising is clear: awards, company-funded trips to exotic locales and lots and lots of alcohol.