The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

That doesn’t mean I haven’t stayed in touch with colleagues at other places I’ve worked – or at other places I will work – but that period of time produced more lasting relationships in my life than arguably all the others put together.

I think part of that was because back then, China – and, to a lesser extent, still is – a place of bonkers wonderfulness.

Anything was possible there. The good, the bad and things you never could imagine in a million years.

And because of the endless possibilities, you experienced things you would likely never experience in any other place or at any other time of your life.

Now it is fair to say, some people who moved there from another country didn’t like that and some did.

Without doubt, China can be extremely challenging, frustrating and demanding.

But for me, I didn’t just like it, I loved it. In fact, I’d go one step further – it’s the place I have loved [and love] the most of all the places I’ve loved.

Because while I faced all the hard, weird, makes-no-fucking-sense stuff that everyone who loves there experiences, it was always outweighed by the good, wonderful and incredible stuff that was waiting to be discovered. Or created.

And I got to do – and experience – a lot of that … helped by the fact I was at Wieden.

Some of it was because of the people who worked there.
Some of it was because of the clients we attracted there.
Some of it was because of the period of time I was there.

But the result was a period of my life where not only did I get to experience and do things I will never get to do again – good, bad, crazy and stupid – but it created a bond with the people I went through it with, that lasts to this day.

It’s kind of why I like pitches.

Not simply because you get to present a future that’s thrilling and exciting. Not simply because you get to see the possibilities of what creativity can really do. Not simply because I love trying to outsmart the competition – not just in what we create, but how we demonstrate it. But also because I love the bond that is born from trying to do something special within a limited timeframe.

Does that make me sick?

Maybe.

But pitches give all your emotions a workout …

Excitement.
Confusion.
Contemplation.
Inappropriateness.
Euphoria.
Stupidity.
Togetherness.
Isolation.
Anger.
Pressure.
Relief.
Pride.
Worry.
Happiness. Hopefully.

And when you add that in China, we were doing it in a nation that was evolving at an unprecedented rate, it meant every pitch was bursting with challenges and opportunities that filled the air with the most incredible and infectious excitement, pressure and hilarity.