It is with regret that we have graduated, officially finished education, and the comfort that it provides! Yet we are very very ready to get stuck into the hard junior placement/work slog that awaits us.
We forcast a tough but fufilling year ahead. It won't be easy but we shall finally be persuing our careers and hopefully start earning a bit of money.
I have recently noticed some really nice copy on the side of Vitamin Water bottles. The little paragraph, kind of in a "innocent" way, describes the benefits of drink water but more wholesome and gritty. They keep me amused at the gym and makes me warm to the drink's brand. Take a look:
We received a phone call yesterday from our tutors telling us we had indeed been nominated in two catagories for the 2009 Student D&AD awards!We had a great night of celebrating and sat here typing this Iam still buzzing. We certainly weren't expecting to get nominated, possibly "in book" at best and only in one catagory, so we are really chuffed. Roll on the awards ceremony. New this year there will be a winners site with judges' comments, online in two weeks. Its a shame they have also got rid of the print annuals though, but all work will be up soon!
Heres what the chairman, Greg Quinton, had to say about this years entries:
I challenge anyone not to be simply blown away by the incredible display of entries at Olympia, board upon board of talent standing to attention, ready for inspection by the creative industry’s finest.
It all began last September when over 15,000 people accessed the creative briefs from 1,000 colleges all around the world. In March 3,000 entries arrived at our doors. Over the last two weeks (firstly at London’s Kensington Olympia) 170 leading creatives and sponsors of the briefs gathered together to judge. Walking up and down the aisles where the Student work was in with the Professionals’ it was difficult to tell the two apart. This is testament to the quality of the work submitted.
Now only 2 months of nail bitting to wait for the results.
Meanwhile.. If anyone would like to travel afar:
University of Gloucestershire, Pitville Studios,Cheltenham, End of Year degree show is Friday May 22nd from 6.30. Official invitation up soon!
We spent a few lovely sunny days in London on Wednesday and Thursday. First on the visit list, Farm. Absolutely loved the place. Really nice people, really nice size agency, really nice advice.
We went to present our responses to the National Book Token Brief. At first glance, was a nasty brief. But we soon got into it. However, I don't think our approach was fully executed well, and its not a piece we are proud enough to put in our portfolio. I don't think any team got it totally 100% spot on either. Its hard to advertise tokens and not just advertise books. I guess it comes with experience but Kevin and Gregor just spot flaws instantly, and you go oh sh*t, why didn't i notice that. We hope to return to see them and have a better natter soon.
In the afternoon, we went to Covent garden and saw Dan, from Major Players. Again, what an oracle of knowledge. He pretty much knows everyone in the Industry and exactly whats going on. He gave us again great tips for successfully launching our careers. Best advice, no matter where; agencies must pay placements at least minimum wage. So no excuses. He did openly admit that at this moment in time he can't offer us much of his help, just advice. He also did a mystic meg moment, and believes that people will start hiring placements soon within the next 6 months. I'll hold you to that dan!
One month to go and I then reach the start line, for the advertising junior graduate race. I've been having a chat with fellow class mates, discussing the next step. Ideally, Aaron and myself will move to london. Money wise, this will be hard. Probably book critting and placements in the week followed by solid weekend work just to pay the rent. Other classmates are talking about setting up their own business. With advice and encouragement from industry contacts, they have been advised that, now more than any other time, it's a great opportunity to start up a small advertising business with a focus on more local, smaller budget work.
This may be a great chance to undercut agencies and pitch for work, it builds up your portfolio and gives you some money! Take kate Moross' workhttp://www.katemoross.com/. She went to companies, does her own business agreements and has got her own client list at a very young age. It's inspirtational and could indeed be a stepping stone to an agency after the credit crunch.
Kate Moross- Cadburys Billboard, Comissioned By Fallon.
On the other hand,this does mean putting the big agency london dream on hold, and getting work for a start would probably be a mission.
We shall see. Meanwhile, 7 briefs to finish in a month.
Please can someone, anyone, please host this years portfolio night. It seems that London (height of Advertising fame) is letting the side down. The event for ihaveanidea.org portfolionight still remains unhosted, and will not go ahead. I know the current economic climate may be putting agencies off hosting such an event. But there are eager, keen, enthusiastic creative grads that would like some constructive feedback on their portfolios and possible placements and seems like a opportunity not to be missed. So if you are from an agency that reads this please tell the big people about it and contact Stephanie Pellicer ihaveanidea Portfolio Night Event Director on stephanie@ihaveanidea.org
Yet another brief set. This time by FARM. The brief it to promote/ raise awareness for National Book Tokens. MMMM. Bit boring but we are thinking a good challenge. It's going to be hard to persuade someone to get a book token over any other gift. I mean in the brief it says a stat like 65% of adualts read, potentially that's a big market to tap into. But who cares when, WHS, John Lewis, Waterstones all do their own tokens and personally i only remeber book tokens as a naff prize the school library would give you if u entered one of their competitions. So stigma, image, and other book shop competions to shred. See below for some of FARM's work for National Book Tokens:
Off that track, I might be moving to london soon, does anyone have any suggestions of good areas to live in?
Also DANAD, extended the deadline for a few briefs for another week. Apparently because of lack of entries... mmm like 4,000 entries wasn't enough to judge. Dammit. I did fancy entering again, but i have had enough of competition briefs, for now. We have started our website. At the moment, its pretty simple and lacks a brand identity/ concept. But do we need to actually brand ourselves? Or is that all a bit tack and try hard? Shouldn't the work speak the loudest?
Extra busy at the moment.. But here's a a bit about what we have been getting up to.
Firstly. AMV visit. Really swanky building, but was surprised when we ended up in a front living room. AMV have transformed their meeting room into a sort of soap tv set. Complete with authentic features like wellies left by the door on some news paper, family photos, nic naks, dvds, family games and so on. This setting instantly made everyone feel at ease! Tim Riley was a really nice guy. Totally honest about his thoughts on our work and to the point. He said we had a strong copy line but maybe had two ideas merged into one. I got a good feeling from AMV but we didn't see (as Tim says, the ever diminishing offices with movable walls) real situation of the working environment. Nether less, it wouldn't matter if we did, they don't actually take on placements, which is a bugger.
Moving on, WK. We met Sophie and Ben. After an early 4:00 am wake on Monday, we made it nice and early to WK for our meeting at 9:30. They were again insightful and honest. They have asked us to come back to see them once we have graduated in 3 months. Which is promising.
Yesterday, the "two Lauras", ex students, now middle weights working on accounts for companies such as Virgin Atlantic and Sony in GYRO (an Integrated agency), set us a brief for Sony VAIO all in one pc/tv. Bit of a boring brief and being so busy we only had 2 hours to do it in,but i think we managed to crack it pretty well. They gave us some good tips and mentioned GYRO "open day" where you just pop along get your work seen by three creative directors and they pick two teams for a 3 month placement. They also mentioned that most placement teams they have picked have since gone on and hired. See pic below.
And finally, DANDAD is sign, sealed and delivered!
I've been suffering from a nasty cold today and to keep me entertained i have started knitting. I'm finding it's a good way of keeping busy but also makes time for creative thinking. Although not much has popped into my head regarding the AMV brief (See below) but i have found an article in today's Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/06/credit-crunch-lunch
Apart from knitting and generally feeling sorry for myself and fooling my daffodils on my desk by shining my desk lamp on them to think its spring, I have been doing final edits on DandAD before its sent next week. EEPS!
The brief has been set. A week today we have the presentation at AMV in Marleybone with Tim Riley.
The brief: The Restaurant Association
Back ground: Restaurants are being hit hard by the credit crunch. Instead of eating out people are either cooking for themselves or ordering takeaways. So whereas Dominos, KFC and McDonalds are all taking on more staff, restaurants are laying off people, and in some cases closing down all together.
The Restaurant Association represents the interests of Britain's restaurateurs and they think it's time to act. They want to run a campaign to encourage people to eat out.
Strategy: Up to you.
Media: Any
I think the brief is a really interesting topical route and certainly challenging. After the presentation we have an appointment with MajorPlayers, recruitment specialists. I'm so far a bit wary of recruitment consultancies but they may change my mind. I would like to know other peoples thoughts on them and past experiences. Is it really a route to go down considering we graduate in three months and the road looks rocky.
After much controversy, the dissertation has been handed in! There has been many talks at my university with external examiners and course leaders over the necessity of the 10,000 word dissertation that forms a double module for our creative course.
Within my university there are two sides arguing for and against a dissertation element. One side believe that a degree is only a degree if it has a long piece of written theory. Whilst others believe that this idea is old fashioned and excludes a lot of creative students that excel in creativity and not academic writing. If you think of it in another way, it would be odd to give say a student studying maths a double award creative project. Myself, well, I felt proud to hand in a chunky bit of work and it means i will get that "Hons" on the end of my degree, oh yeah! It took me over half a year to research and I got really involved in my investigation. However, I think it may have distracted from my practical work, but i made just one day a week solely for research and writing. I think that perhaps, that one day a week i could have been making much better use of my time like visiting agencies, doing more briefs etc. After all, agencies never ask to see your dissertation. I would like to know what creatives outside of university think of creatives having to write academic projects. Does it help or distract a creative?
Since the University has analyzed the arguments, a "critical journal" has been introduced, to link research with portfolios. Any how, the deed has been done and good riddance.
Back to the practical. We have an A.M.V week long brief being set this Thursday and a W.K visit the week after. Bring on the long nights.
So the new Cadbury's eyebrows ad has pretty much circulated every home and school. My own view is that it's a bit try-hard and I feel a bit underwhelmed by it. Mainly because its so similar to a Youtube video where a guy attaches electrodes to his face and syncs the movement to some music.
But my view doesn't correlate to the general public's. Even when out bowling, and it comes on a large screen, all the kids stopped their game and watched the duo twitch those eyebrows, and they mimicked the movements and comments such as "that ad is gangsta" got yelled out. This led me to question, how stuck in the world of advertising you can become, that it affects your judgments on the success of an ad. I mean, it can win or not win any of awards, but who are creatives to judge, when we are never really the audience? I think I've learned that once in a while you may need to step back from your work and be less critical. Taking the Cadbury's ad, although it maybe influenced by the YouTube video, that doesn't stop it being a hit with kids, i mean why would they care where it came from?
The lesson learned form all this... Take a step back away from the advert! I think my partner and myself need to show other people not in the industry or our tutors,or it can become complicated, over-thought and overdone.
...your ad, beautifully art directed, hours of slogging, genius concept, tons of money, all got razored away and copy and pasted about. Or would you see it as a form of flattery if you knew it was done by Poster Boy?
Poster Boy, compared to the likes of Banksy, takes ads on the NY Subways, cuts them apart and reforms them using just a razor and the stickiness of the Vinyl. His reformed images are often comical and sometimes have a political front. Take a look...
Im guessing a book will soon follow. check more of his stuff on http://www.flickr.com/photos/26296445@N05
I have had a good few days, been very productive... nice to get an idea artworked up instead of scamps. I do love the rawness of scamps and a few crits i have been to love to just see the idea as it is. After all as one of my lecturers commonly quotes, "you cant polish a turd." (nicer version for blog) What do we all think? Shall we present to agencies a book full of scamps, a mixture of scamps and artworked pieces or the final things? Or does it blummin matter?
Here's me in the studio working on an entry for d&ad, partner in crime behind camera:
What an inspiring day Tuesday has proven to be. I feel I've been suffering a bit from post christmas syndrome and the January blues, but today after attending a talk by Sir John Hegarty, I'm feeling rather more optimistic! With a great, packed out studio, with thumping music and spotlights, sir john made a great entrance!
I'm three months from graduating and the scary reality of finding my first job in the industry will soon smack me right in face. Its a bit worrying. The first year out of Uni will be a hard enough slog as it is, but, and it seems an overly used excuse now, but the credit crunch might make the journey harder. But with johns wise words Im feeling a little more enthusiastic.
Here's a few bits i particularly liked:
THE POWER OF ADVERTISING- the power of advertising comes from getting a complex problem and reducing it down. Find that core message. Simplicity is often obvious to others but the hardest thing to achieve.
THE POWER OF IDEAS- advertisers with have the power to "change the world"- a pretty power job! He gave a nice quote " the most valuable real estate in the world is a corner is someone's mind". In that case i reckon advertising is probably the richest career ever!
THE POWER OF STRATEGY- Inspire them to come to the right place.
THE POWER OF FAME- Its about not who buys the product but targeting everyone that knows about the product. You can never really define a "target audience"
THE POWER OF TRUTH- " this is the most powerful strategic tool you can use"
THE POWER OF IRREVERENCE- a great ad can challenge peoples views and the status Quo
THE POWER OF PRODUCT DEMONSRATION- "make the product the hero"
After his presentation a few questions were fired at him. One in particular sparked this response, which i thought was a fantastic interpretation of the advertising process. This in particular applies to men. Sir John compared the industry as the closest thing men can get to child birth. He continued to back this claim up by saying that firstly it is a struggle to produce an idea, then when it is born you have to neuter the idea and watch it develop and grow to how you envisioned! However many women who have actually given birth, at this point in the presentation, may in fact of thrown 5000 dagger eyes at him.
He also talked of how he thinks many creative careers have a life span of about 10 years- *gulp* His view on this was that he believed that many creative do not keep an open and enquiring mind, which leads to them fizzling away. Much like any artist or musician have the same career span if they don't develop or change with the times. Only those that do keep this state of mind succeed to further years in the industry. I wonder how true this is!?
Well on with the portfolio and DANAD. We have a few placement interviews lined up in London in February.
I will leave you with Sir John himself talking about digital advertising in his famous suit! Of which i can claim to have seen now!
With one week left until we break up for christmas, all has been go go go.
Firstly, WK london. Lovely day out, met Lucy Collier a senior creative. Unfortunately her partner Darren was out on a shoot. Pretty much the whole class came, on one fat school trip. The agency as a whole has a real nice feeling. Not just because it looks oh so trendy and south east london, but everyones friendly and seems really passionate about working in the ad business.
Lucy liked our campaign. Think we were the only pair to have a solid thought and executions... 12 executions a PB! But i have to agree with her, maybe a bit safe with using stains but we did a really fresh approach with them. Again the copy wasn't the strong point but as you would have it, a great line has since popped into my head a week later.
Iris- hmmm still no feedback. Has anyone else heard from them? Iv'e emailed twice. So unfortunately cant tell you the outcome of that one.
Meanwhile , in the Uni bubble...
10 portfolio campaigns worked on, 3 comps and 6 d&ad briefs examined.
I attended Iris Potential on Wednesday and after a 4.30 start and getting home at 12,I have just about recovered.
The day started off with the usual introductions around the boardroom table, lots of names and faces quickly sweeping by but with copious amounts of coffee and muffins I soon felt settled and comfy.
After a nice PowerPoint we moved up into there creative area, and had about 5 hours to come up with an integrated campaign for a moisturising brand for men. Some people came in their teams; unfortunately Aaron wasn't allowed to come with me as we hadn’t entered it together. Which was a shame, because we have been producing some nice work lately. So I was put into a three. Not the ideal situation, when you want to shine! But luckily Vanesh was a great personality and I already knew Laura from my course.
We came up with some, what I felt was safeish ideas, nothing that was an instant click on the good feeling button. But from the feedback we received from Conrad and the guys they seemed to like it. I can’t say much though yet as the brief is live.
Apart from that the day went quickly, had a mini interview with a lovely lady, with some interesting questions. I think this went well, but we mainly just kept talking about cider. The common interest we had from our Somerset roots!
Overall, great experience, met some nice people, would have preferred a smaller team or with my own partner, but hey you can’t win them all. I do have a mini regret though, didn’t get much chance to speak to Mike and Phil, but I have to say you two were for me, the team that produced the best work of the day.
We should be getting feedback from the day in two weeks!
At the same time, Aaron was at Uni presenting to Nick Holmes our Amnesty ideas. From his feedback we got chosen as one of the top four teams and are off to Weiden and Kennedy to meet Lucy and Darren and present our work. They have set us Persil.
The reason they have set us Persil is that they believe that in every student book there should be a soap powder, car, beer, bank or airline. So we have Persil, which they want us to produce something fresh, original and with a new perspective.
i was trying to explain a newish technology where a series of digital panels that are inside tube tunnel plays when a tube goes past. And so then the ad looks like its playing in your window for a few sconds. I cant find the website, but i know there was a site by the compnay that made them. Any help? ive tried google and cannie find a thing.
