11.11 10:34

Brit Madmen vs. American Madmen – Eight differences

As an English Alien of Extraordinary Ability who’s worked in a couple of San Francisco agencies over the last few months, I thought it was a timely moment to record my observations on some of the cultural differences.

So here are the eight most noticeable ones:

1) DRINKING

There’s hardly any of it over here (despite the fact that we’ve got a keg on tap at Godfrey Q). When I mentioned to some of my U.S. colleagues that it’s quite the done thing in Blighty to go out for three or four pints on a Friday lunchtime, they were horrified and wondered how Brit admen could possibly function.

How little they know! If excess alcohol consumption had been an impediment to success, many, many more U.K. agencies would have gone to the wall over the years.

2) MEETINGS

They start on time over here. In the UK, a 2.00pm meeting can be read as “sometime in the afternoon”.

3) AUSTRALIANS

The ratio of Aussies to Brits in U.K. agencies has risen exponentially over the last 10 years (they’re even getting headhunted for key roles). In contrast, the lack of Aussies over here could account for certain other cultural differences (see Point No. 1).

4) STATIONERY

Walk into an English agency and you’re immediately ushered to a stationery cupboard, where a mountain of pristine layout pads of all shapes and sizes and an arsenal of magic markers will greet your eyes.

Over here–nada! You have to bribe a Production Manager to get a half-dead sharpie and go foraging for photocopier paper.

5) PAY

Having freelanced on both sides of the Pond, the attitude to remuneration couldn’t be more marked. In the U.K., you count yourself lucky if you’re paid around the 35-day mark. Quite often you have to resort follow-up phone calls, reminder emails and (in dire cases) emotional blackmail. Here, there’s none of that “check’s in the post” nonsense–you get paid every two weeks, regularly, on the nose.

6) PACE

People moving around at warp speed and talking a mile a minute isn’t uncommon in American agencies. Adopt anything other than a laconic, laidback, seen-it-all attitude in Blighty and you’re viewed as being out of control and in need of a holiday.

7) AWESOME

In the U.K., you only ever hear the word “awesome” in travel documentaries. Here, you’ll get used to hearing it every other sentence. In fact, almost as much as a certain well-known Anglo-Saxon four-letter expletive that is used in English advertising circles…

8) INSTANT COFFEE

They’re all rabid coffee snobs over here, so unless it’s been ground, percolated and lovingly caressed by Brazilian artisans, they won’t give it house room. Sorry, Nescafe!

So much for the differences…

All in all, I’ve been shocked at how familiar agency life is over here–the same silliness, the same in-jokes, japes and gossip, the same gentle mockery and good-natured joshing. But I suppose if you failed to have those elements in place, you wouldn’t be in an advertising agency–you’d be in an accountancy firm.

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