Getting hired: a marathon or a sprint?

After pounding the streets for two years, a certain someone I know has now reached a fork in the road and doesn't know which direction to head down.

Down one street lurks a little known integrated agency that may be willing to hire after a few weeks of hard graft and cracking briefs.

Down the other street rows of big ass ATL agencies sit side-by-side with offers of placements galore, but with the same sign hung on the front door: WE'RE NOT HIRING.

Now here come the pro's and the con's:

Small agency.
Pro's: Opportunities to be hands on, including travelling to exotic locations (not that that should matter, although with an August like this I'd be tempted), a salary you can actually live on and buy clothes and stuff (like loan cheque day at uni), and pay the rent on time. People know your name.

Con's: The work. You'll never ever produce any work worthy of putting in the book - obscure, safe clients with no desire to push boundaries or do anything remotely interesting. Boss sits about five desks away and meddles in everything you do, buggers up the briefs, directs the creative (although not a creative director).

Big agencies.
Pro's: Working alongside some of the best people in advertising, learning from the best. Opportunities to work on great briefs (you may have to steal them though), with massive clients, and under the guidance of top CD's.

Con's: No one cares who you are, you can produce more work than runs than the entire creative department combined but you still wont get hired. You're poorer than when you're on the dole, and people think you're rude when you decline after work drinks - oblivious to the fact you need that £20 for food for the next two weeks.

So here's the dilemma: Do you take the first job offered, or hold out the the job you've been aiming for for the last two(+) years?

I can't remember who once said it, but they said: In advertising, first get a job; then get the job.

I'm not sure i agree with this. Do teams from tiny little agencies get hired by big bad agencies? If you don't get hired through a placement, can you get hired through a book/reel of spec work? Is taking a job in integrated detrimental to getting that dream ATL job? Should you keep on doing the placement rounds and wait for your lucky break?

Sorry this post raises more questions than answers, but I'd love to know what the few of you that read this blog think about this subject.

Formula One.

Just thought i'd share the process of how i come up with campaigns for the portfolio. I'm not big on formulas (they remind me of those massive marketing textbooks at uni) but this is definitely one i'm glad i came across once upon a time. I don't know where it came from or who devised it, but it's pretty simple and it works for me:

So firstly pick a product (sometimes the hardest part for some reason).

Then write down everything about it, good and bad. Try to avoid obvious selling points, find an insight.

Look for a human benefit that could occur due to one of these insights.

Turn this into your strategy - the sentence that your ideas and executions will adhere to.

From your strategy come up with a strapline.

Turn your strapline into a full-blown integrated campaign.

I know i'm not going into any depth here but i think it's a pretty good basis for idea generation for your book. Who ever said advertising isn't easy?

The sneakers maketh the creative?

I've just bought my third pair of Chuck Taylor Cons in a row, mainly because i like the way they look (not the best pumps for pounding the streets, are they?) and the bonus that they're fairly cheap (£4 from ebay this time round), so when they inevitably fall apart after a few months it's not too much of a big deal.

They also happen to be pink. Oh yes. Pink sneakers. And i think you'll agree they're pretty sexy:

Then i found this cool blog: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2008/08/which-shoe-company-represents-u.html that tells you what your footwear says about you. Here's my new sneakers judged in all their glory:

"Quirky coloured converse - You were probably in a ska band in high school and are attached to your image as 'the smart kid who was also artistic and also had a quirky side that his teachers absolutely loved!'"

So what relevance does this have to do with a blog about advertising? Well in an ideal world it wouldn't have any relevance, but we live in the real world; and in the real world people judge people and form opinions of them by what they look like and what they wear.

And i've got a sneaky (pardon the pun) suspicion that when you go for a crit, you are not only being judged by the standard of your work and how personable you come across, but for your choice of attire too. And the first thing 'critters' (as opposed to us, the 'critees') look at when they shake your hand? Your footwear.

Although i've heard some critters say it makes no difference what you dress like, i think it does. Especially at the 'cool' agencies. And maybe they're right to do so. I'm not saying you're going to walk into Wiedens and get a placement for wearing pink pumps (though that would be nice), but if you call yourself a creative, surely you naturally surround yourself in all things creative and expressive. Including what you wear. That's why creatives don't have to wear suits, right?

Anyway I may well be completely talking crap, but if you're still not convinced, go to your next crit in Reebok Classics (with your tracky bottoms tucked into your socks, of course) and see how well they go down...

Shopping bag philosophy.

Bought some literature in Waterstones yesterday, and got some free philosophy thrown in courtesy of W.H. Auden:

'Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered'.

Although Auden probs wasn't referring to creative portfolios, he pretty much sums up my last point, but in nine words. Damn.

Make your book outstanding.

Being read my last rites at my JWT placement, Mike McKenna had some great advice: Make your book stand out. Not the stuff inside it, the outside cover.

Mike mentioned that he sprayed his book red when he was doing the rounds, purely to make it stand out. Then when it was handed in for crits, shows, and competitions, everyone knew it was Mike's book. Didn't matter what was in it, Mike had a point of difference. His book stood out without even being opened.

I remembered this advice when handing in our book at The Talent Business for Cream 2008, as our black book was taken in by the lovely receptionist and added to the pile of black books.

Thanks Mike, if only i had bothered to listen...

How do you reach Andy Sandoz?

There's an interesting article in the 08/08 edition of Campaign written by Andy Sandoz of Work Club fame.

In the article Sandoz mentions a widget available on Firefox called Adblock Plus, which "installs at the click of a button and promptly turns off 99 per cent of all ads". He also mentions that through iPlayer, iTunes, Sky+, etc the consumer needs no great digital wizardry to view TV and online content without seeing any ads.

Sandoz goes on to say that it's "the shift in control from advertiser to consumer that has changed; fortunately, the insight and impact of a good idea hasn't. What's important is what you now do with that good idea to make it interesting, make it innovative and make it of value to me... so I seek it out and engage with it".

I think this is a great way of gauging the ideas that you have in your book. Say you are going to see Andy (and take it from me, this guy pulls no punches) or any other CD for the first time and you have no idea whether your book will be showered with praise or shot down in flames. You may have got the strategies for your campaigns nailed, but have you made these good ideas interesting? Have you been innovative? And are you giving the 'consumer' (or CD) value to the point where they would seek out your ideas to engage with them? Be honest with yourself and you will find your answer.

And as well as traditional book crits, it's also worth thinking about how you are going to be interesting and innovative to grab the attention of a CD who sees good ideas every hour of every working day.

As Sandoz says to conclude his article: "Advertising, come get me."

New kid on the blog.

See what i did there? Welcome one and all (just one for now probably - hi Mike) to my blog.

I am creating it with a view to providing a platform for those unemployed junior ad folk (being one myself) to debate, discuss, and express themselves in all matters ad related /unrelated.

I am hoping that you good people will use this blog to share your experiences, gossip, and junior wisdom.

I'm also incorporating a no Wal bashing policy. So there.

Hope you get something from this blog. Thanks for stopping by...