Three reasons why advertising is important
to people: time, love and death.
"We long for love, we wish we had more time, we fear death,"
Howard said to his staff, three years before he lost his only daughter to brain
cancer.
Three of his partners and closest friends hired three actors
to personify time, love and death and to engage Howard upfront face-to-face. They
figured that if he opened up to these elements that were important to him, he would no longer need to write them off and cut himself off the
principles he had lived by.
We cannot regain any loss that we don’t allow ourselves to
feel, to grief and to acknowledge are still important to us. That is the beauty
of life – to recognize that what causes us hurt and disappointment may actually point us to what
really matters. To live without facing pain and our fears is to allow passion to atrophy. And passion is what makes us happy, fulfilled, laugh and what
can also truly hurt us, cause us to cry at night, and let us down. Passion is all
this collectively. To accept only the feel-good aspects of it is to deny ourselves of what living with passion is all about.
The three friends who were alienated hired three actors to orchestrate face-to-face encounters with hurting Howard because they knew that truth and grace could only be delivered in person - something their friend was running away from for three years.
The three friends who were alienated hired three actors to orchestrate face-to-face encounters with hurting Howard because they knew that truth and grace could only be delivered in person - something their friend was running away from for three years.