Adland Doesn’t Need Alcohol to be Creative. Sobriety Equals Clarity, And “The Work Will Show It”

With the industry’s famously social culture, often fuelled by late nights and big events, sobriety is emerging as a reprieve for creative around the world.

In India, Toaster INSEA chief creative officer Ira G. has been sober for seven years. She believes the advertising and media industries don’t just accept but encourage a culture of drinking.

“Saying you need to drink to be creative is like saying you need long hair to be a rockstar,” Ira says.

“As a sober creative, I get more questions around why I’m not drinking than I would [about] my 45th shot.

“If I took a shot for every time I’ve been asked why I’m not drinking, I would be dying of liver failure.”

Initially, Ira believed drinking was fuelling her creativity, with late-night conversations afire with new ideas and perspectives. But ideas that seemed new and exciting while drinking would seem insipid in the morning.

Not drinking has brought her more clarity and a sharper focus; she says her memory, sleep, and mood have all improved.

“My sobriety has turned out to be the biggest favour I did myself.”

Harder For A “Light Drinker Than Someone Going Sober”

However, many in advertising feel alcohol is a part of the job. Drinking is central to networking, client dinners, long lunches, and pitch celebrations and commiserations. It’s a normalised part of people’s working lives.

​DDB Group Hong Kong chief strategy officer Adrian Tso links these customs to the industry's obsession with, and relative youthfulness.

“We have a lot of young execs who get to sustain their college lifestyle without being judged or told not to,” he explains.

“We are also an industry that champions having fun, and as such, older execs are more inclined to live ‘young at heart’.

“However, the younger generations nowadays seem to have moved away from heavy drinking, so I also get the sense that this part of our culture has been dialled down accordingly.

“Some cultures have stronger and more embedded drinking cultures than others, where drinking shot for shot with each other is a sign of respect. In Asia, it’s definitely part of ‘giving face.’”

Adrian quit drinking in preparation for a mixed martial arts competition before an injury took him out of the sport. Because drinking was never a big part of his life, he never picked it back up.

Already sober by the time he entered the industry, he says people don’t pressure him to drink after he makes this clear. But he also sees the industry as a potentially fraught place to become sober.

“I personally believe it is more difficult for a light drinker than someone going sober. Sobriety is binary -- drink or don’t drink, the boundaries are clear. For a light drinker, with boundaries that are less clear or universal, there will always be the peer pressure of ‘having one more,’ especially in Asia, where drinking is associated with respect.”

This is one of the reasons Adrian decided to remain “completely sober”, because“it leaves no room for interpretation or ambiguity”.

But for Melbourne-based ECD and founder of design company MEK, Mirella Arapian, being sober has meant feeling isolated at events, fewer networking opportunities in informal settings, and facing judgement from peers.

“[It means] needing to explain [yourself] repeatedly and having to deal with people’s horrified reactions, as though not drinking is an abomination,” Mirella says.

Mirella has been sober for 10 years, ever since she discovered she was allergic to alcohol. The resulting sobriety gives her an unusual perspective on an industry culture she neither can nor wants to participate in.

She recalls many instances in which she was pressured to drink at industry events, though notes this is more infrequent as awareness around wellbeing improves.

“It’s getting better, but there’s still a history of drinking being part of the culture that can influence people new to the industry.”

This culture, Mirella says, likely arises from the stressful nature of the work and deadlines, though she adds an unhealthy attitude links drinking with success and creativity.

“At my first agency Christmas party … everyone was wasted and being inappropriate. It was a shit show.”

Australian social strategist Daisy Conroy-Botica doesn’t necessarily see this as a cultural problem endemic to the industry, but notes the high number of “expected drinking” occasions. She recalls feeling pressure to drink earlier in her career.

“I’d [tell people] I was only having one or two and then ended up out all night,” Daisy says.

“But as I’ve become more senior and my relationship with alcohol has changed, it’s become easier to say no and stick to my guns. It was never a nasty 'pressure’ -- more just my colleagues and work friends twisting my rubber arm, and I was easily persuaded.”

Daisy stopped drinking earlier this year, but has been “sober-curious” since Dry July in 2018.

“I did it to raise money for charity, and actually found it way harder than I thought.

“From then on, every year I would do one sober month as a challenge to myself. I stopped drinking naturally in the other months, and … decided to give full sobriety a go.”

When she first quit, Daisy had just started at a new agency in a new country and worried the decision could impact her career. But ultimately, it didn’t make a big difference.

“I was still part of the conversations, although people made the odd comment here or there about me not drinking. Overall, it was pretty much unnoticed. A big part of it was in my head … that everyone would judge me or not want to invite me just because I wasn’t drinking, but it wasn’t the case at all.

“There’s an idea that, because it’s such an ingrained part of the culture, [drinking is] unavoidable, but it’s not always true. Even though it’s definitely an adjustment, once you’ve made the decision, it becomes easier and easier.”

A Long Lunch, Then Friday Afternoon Drinks

But making that first step isn’t easy when alcohol permeates agency life so deeply.

Sydney-based digital marketing strategist Leola Small remembers a celebratory lunch with three colleagues sharing a bottle of wine.

“It was a Friday afternoon, so we decided to stay out and keep drinking,” Leola says.

“We ended up drinking about a bottle of wine each. By this stage, I was well over my limit. We headed back to the office, and of course, it was Friday afternoon drinks. I walked back in and grabbed a beer.”

What sticks out most in Leola’s mind is the memory of alcohol being the “default setting”.

“No one suggested water, no one said I’d had enough. In adland, the line between ‘celebration’ and ‘write-off’ can be very thin: a long lunch, [rolling] into office drinks … then the unofficial wrap party.”

Leola had her last drink on June 11th 2020 -- the day she checked herself into an alcohol and drug rehab facility. She experienced a mild stroke in 2018, and her mental health had spiralled out of control.

“I found myself leaning into alcohol as a way to numb the pain,” she says.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Leola found herself finishing two or three bottles of wine a night.

“It was lockdown that really highlighted the problem I had, and my husband ended up giving me a choice -- the marriage or the drinking. Seems like an easy choice to choose my marriage, and even though I did, I still wasn’t convinced that rehab would actually work for me.”

In the years since, Leola has founded marketing consultancy, Small Mktg, and continues working in the industry. But her life has changed “immensely”.

“I’ve had to cut down on social gatherings as I feel out of place,” Leola says.

“In some ways, I feel boring or ordinary now that I don’t drink. I do remember how much fun drinking was, but I often took it too far, thus ending up where I am now. These days, my head is clearer, my energy is steady, and I actually show up better -- at work and at home.”

Non-Alc Beer Isn’t A Silver Bullet, Can Be “Triggering” in “Taste and Mouth Feel”

While the industry begins to reckon with its relationship with alcohol, initiatives like Dry July are growing in popularity, and participation steadily increasing. But campaigns like these, DDB’s Adrian says, won’t move the needle on their own.

“I am not sure that giving it a label or making it a special occasion helps normalise sobriety or alcohol-free events,” the CSO adds.

“If anything, it may create more distance and insulation.”

Mirella also thinks the industry could better accommodate non-drinkers with “more inclusive events” and, over time, shifting “the culture so that networking and creativity aren’t tied to alcohol.”

While the likes of Dry July “are great for raising awareness,” she continues, they “sadly rarely change long-term habits or workplace culture around drinking. Having said that, I’m glad they exist and I appreciate all the work that goes into them. Behaviour change is hard.”

Even the emergence of non-alcoholic options, which have become increasingly available at industry events in the last five years, can be problematic.

“For alcoholics and people who recently quit drinking, having a non-alcoholic beer or wine can be triggering because they’re very similar in taste and mouth feel,” Mirella notes.

“There needs to be more variety of non-alcoholic drinks that aren’t replicas of the real thing.

“Not just water and lemon lime bitters -- get creative.”

Ultimately, it comes down to ensuring people who aren’t drinking aren’t isolated.

“The most important thing is to be kind and patient with yourself. You’re not alone and are stronger than you think,” Mirella says. “Set clear boundaries around what you’re comfortable with in social and work settings.”

Leola agrees, noting practical boundaries are essential, "especially in adland”.

“Before you go out, buddy up with someone supportive, and order your alcohol-free drink early so you are not fielding questions all night.”