Roots and Wings. (Heavy for a Sunday.)

My younger daughter flies the coop today.

She's starting her adult life in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Her first solo apartment. First car. First set of dishes. First router. First electric bill. First gas and water bills. A lot of firsts.

A friend asked me how I feel.

I told him that as a parent, I've done the job that I think needed to be done. (Not that you're ever finished.)

I've given my kids "roots and wings."

They know where they come from. They have brains. Morals. A work ethic. Spirit and drive.

Those are roots.

And they know they can try whatever they like. They know the success that comes from failure. They know how to challenge themselves.

Those are wings.

It seems to me good advertising should have roots and wings, too.

Your work should have dedication to actually selling. To making a promise to the viewer. To being motivating, intelligent, moving. Those are the roots of good advertising.

Your work should also be daring. Bold. Unexpected and new. Those are advertising wings.

It seems to me much of the industry is in the thrall of the "Wing-ites."

We try to do things for effect, to no effect.

We don't have the basics down before we attempt the extraordinary.

I suppose Dave Trott's triangle speaks also to this point.

Intrusion. (Those are wings.) Communication and Persuasion. (Those are roots.)

Roots and Wings.

In life.

In advertising.