—In this week’s instalment of The Redmond Review, Craig Redmond is reminded of advertising’s ability to unite and inspire debate. “This is why we get up in the morning.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, I made a pledge to myself. I decided to post a story on LinkedIn every working day. 

I thought it could be a way to connect people in our industry, regardless of who we are, what we do, or where we do it. And I thought perhaps that small sense of connectivity, however tenuous, might alleviate just some of our collective dread in isolation—admittedly, mostly my own.

Some 300 consecutive posts later, I am still overcome with wonder at the fact that each morning, a few hundred ad peeps around the world are sipping their coffee and thinking about the one thing that binds us, collides us and drive us.

The work.

My little LinkedIn experiment has reunited me with old friends and introduced me to new ones, including my newfound family here at The Message. But most importantly, it’s rekindled a dialogue about the work that all too often got pushed aside by more pressing deadlines—and this past year got buried altogether beneath the oppression of Covid.

It marked a return of the banter, the debate and one-upmanship that made the visit to the agency water cooler a worthwhile journey. The “Yeah not bad, but have you seen this killer shit?”

That’s what transpired just recently. After I shared a particularly dry piece of toast from a particularly stale buffet of content to pick from last week, our agency’s strategic leader and chief brand sorcerer pinged me and asked if I’d seen this from the British agency Uncommon. To which I offered my heartfelt gratitude for providing me the fodder for this week’s share.

Breath-stealing cinematography. Jaw-clenching art direction. Cliff-dangling dramatic suspense. Heart-pounding orchestration. An adrenaline filled reveal. All accompanied by a haunting prophecy from the ghost of science fiction futurist Arthur C. Clarke.

This is why we get up in the morning. This is why we gather around the virtual water cooler. This is why we post, share, debate and reciprocate. And this kind of work is why I lean my pen into LinkedIn and The Message.

Craig Redmond is a creative leader with Palmer Stamnes and Co, an independent family of marketing communication companies.