Page 85 - The EDIT | Q2 2017

Ideas
85
3. Don’t take the easy road, take the right one.
The true pleasure of an agency job is that you get the chance to do what you want. I really don’t see the point in copying the same work again and again. What I enjoy most at work is creating something new and getting the chance to see how it works. Although the implication of this can be “stressful” office hours, given that I need to personally
deal with many unexpected situations, the rewards always outweigh the costs.
When thinking back on the Yasmin campaign, I recall how difficult it was to produce sex- ed content in China – a task that is already difficult enough as it is, let alone going about distributing it on social channels – distributing the curriculum
APP was really a crazy call! I
still remember the day after our content was published, when the media owner called me in a panic, saying they would have to remove the content because some government authority said it “may be disturbing to our students”. Instead of giving in
to them, I shared comments on social media from netizens who were sharing their appreciation, and managed to make them believe in my vision, and that we were doing the right thing.
When asked about my strongest memory of the campaign, it wouldn’t be the difficulty we were up against. It also wasn’t the moment the campaign got shortlisted for awards. Instead,
it was the moment I heard back from media owner, saying “Lara, we are fine, you don’t need to worry anymore because the
Governmental authority agreed that displaying this content is the right thing to do, and we can keep displaying it”. At this moment, I almost cried, knowing the difference I had made to
the sex education landscape in China, as well as preventing unnecessary abortions.
So back to my point, I want to remind all the PHDers out there that if you goal is to touch the brightest star in the sky, be brave and take the journey that will get you there, no matter how tough.
Lara Yang PHD China
THE EDIT ISSUE 06 | Q2 2017