Unless you’re balls deep in the world of advertising, there’s a fat chance you’ve ever heard of the adman Tom McElligott.

He was a midwestern boy. He was the son of a preacher man (it’s hard not to read that in the voice of Aretha Franklin). He was tack-sharp, despicably shy and as nervous as those hideous-looking bug-eyed dogs that shake uncontrollably if you raise your voice above the volume of a whisper.

While McElligott could sell a creative vision with the prowess of David Ogilvy––and had the creative chops to back it up––it’s rumored he’d fill a waste-bin with a sea of vomit before stepping into client presentations.

Far from fashionable, McElligott was everything an adman should be.

Unlike others of his time who were motivated by corner offices, six-figure salaries, meaningless awards, grab-assing with the good old boys and the occasional afternoon shag, McElligott cared strictly about churning out really good work over a long and storied career.

This dedication to craftsmanship is ultimately what led him to create some of the greatest advertising the world has ever seen (you can peruse my favorite pieces from his portfolio here).

After McElligott eventually retired, he did an interview with an ad student, sharing a piece of advice I think any and every creative should read…

“

Don’t be distracted by anything. The work is what counts. There are a lot of things that can get in your way, that take up your time and your emotional and intellectual energy; none of them account for anything. They mean nothing. The only thing, in the final analysis, at this stage of the game, that really counts, is the work. The work is everything. The years that I spent in advertising I saw an awful lot of people who had the potential to be good lose a lot of their ability to distraction, to politics, to fear, and to who has the bigger office. You’ll get the bigger office; you’ll make the money. Anything you want will happen, but sometimes it’s hard for people to see that when they’re in the middle of it. It looks like it’s incredibly complicated. Well, it’s not complicated at all. In fact, it’s so uncomplicated it’s amazing. All it is about is the work. Finally, if you do the work people will notice and you will get what you want. That’s it. It’s as simple as that.

”

When your hands are in the dirt and you’re doing good creative work that’s receiving little to no attention, you’d be forgiven for shrugging off McElligott’s advice as nothing more than a hot crock of shit.

But, it’s worth keeping in mind that these words are coming from the mouth of a horse who wasn’t nearly as celebrated as his contemporaries: David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Bill Bernbach.

Yet despite his lack of notoriety, McElligott was able to make a handsome living doing work he loved for a handful of clients that believed in him.

So, in closing…

Do the work.

Do the work.

Do the work.

If you do the work, you might not get famous but you will be known well enough by the right people that, eventually, you will get by.

By Cole Schafer.

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