We're working. On the portfolio. Today it's Tropicana, Kingsmill and Tide. We don't like writing on hands. Sometimes it's fun though.
56 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Man!!! Work on some tougher stuff - not brands that have won Cannes - How about a financial institution or a pharmy client, just something boring and make the boring fucking interesting.
I think it's fine to work on bigger brands if you can look at them in a new way. It can be just as rewarding to make an established brand feel fresh and interesting again than take something really difficult and try to hack some sense into it.
Although a mixture of the two would probably make for an awesome book.
Chaps. I've been reading Creative in London for the past couple of months, and I have to admit I'm hooked. But perhaps you should consider winding it up pretty soon. You've succeeded in doing a difficult thing: producing a blog that is well read and commented upon by those within the industry as well as those seeking a way in. So well done for that. However, that is also part of the problem. You've been looking for a job for, what, one or two years now? I fear that if you keep this up, you'll be making it increasingly difficult for an agency to hire you. If I were a CD (which I'm not, I should point out), I'd have to think twice before hiring a couple of fellas who were best known not for producing great work, but for being unemployed. My comments have nothing to do with the quality of your work. I just think that, by keeping this up, you're making the hard task of getting into the industry even harder.
I should clarify. If an agency hires a couple of guys who are best known for being unemployed, they risk becoming a bit of a laughing stock. It's already a risk when an agency hires a new junior team. So why make it an even bigger risk for them?
I think it would actually help some juniors to see a team who haven't made it.
The problem with going to book crits is that everyone you meet managed to get the job. It gives creatives the impression that more (if not all) people eventually get a job. You never hear from the people who fail. Maybe this blog give people a differant persepective.
Of course, if Wal does get a job, then he should stop the blog.
Just being curious - why do you think when Wal gets a job he should stop the blog?
Could other aspiring creatives not still benefit from hearing Wal's progress in a job... How it differs to uni & placements... How to settle in, adjust... etc etc
Personally I wouldn't suggest stopping blogging, although it depends on what the real aim of creativeinlondon really was :)
It certainly has been benificial to see not all creatives make it.
Alot depends on yuor partner, timing and getting a good break as well as actually being talented of course.
I think Wal is very much a good AD, but he's had to team up with various writers along the way. Even with his talent, he's yet to get his first job. That just goes to show how competitive this industry is.
Agree with Anon 1:48 that a newspaper would be a great one to put in the book. Don't do the Guardian though, that'd be really predictable and you wouldn't get something better than in recent years.
Why do you spell disorganised with a 'z', you must have Microsoft Word autocorrect built into your hand?!?
Not too sure how valuable my opinion is on this but I just have to say now (after having followed this blog a year or so) that I agree with integral. It's been over two years for you and you are still unemployed. I think you will only keep loosing credibility if you don't stop writing. Something you should be aware of a CD might think.
I was told as well how important networking and self initiative is. But well you know better than me how many books Ben & Nadine are looking at a year. One a day at times aren't they? 200 a year? And that's only the ones that seem to have potential. In my opinion Bucks and all of you how-to-get-a-job-in-advertising-gurus are (not only but overall) misleading. Why would an agency that is only dealing with the best of who is out there make a decision based on personality? In your induction meeting at BBH you are told that you were hired for two reasons only: for being nice and for being brilliant (and that you will have to be fired as soon as someone discovers that you are not the one or the other). Think about that, to me this means that a creative needs a book that is brilliant, that is 100% of what it can be and that your personality is something that can only get in the way of being hired, it cannot give you any advantage - at least not in the agencies that you are aiming for. Your book is key. If anybody plans to write an award winning book on how to get a job in advertising take 'be brilliant' and fill three hundred pages with it.
Having said that do you think your book is brilliant? Does your book represent the very best of three years of work? 36 months. I wonder what you guys have been doing with all the freedom you had.
Nevertheless I think this blog is brilliant and you can be proud of its popularity as it grew on good will. But think about whether you should keep writing about how to get a job in advertising. Well don't close it, use it. Definitely start selling some space for advertising penis pumps in between the comments.
Wal (and Jai) think the chap above has some very valid points.
I like your blog and by all accounts you are nice fellas but it seems like you are going around in circles and not really getting anywhere.
I've seen your book, it's good but nowhere near as quite good as some I've seen (sorry, that's just my opinion). What leaves me puzzled is that you studied an advertising coarse and have spent a few years taking your book around and yet you still seem at square one with understand strategies.
Think you are wasting your time trying to get into a top agency to be honest, there are loads of teams out there with a lot more hunger and drive who get what a good book requires.
Talking about banks, can I take the opportunity to crit the bank entry in your book? I saw it posted a while ago and I don't think it has changed much. (Abby, is it? the one with the boxes?) I've worked for a major bank for the last couple of years, dozens of campaigns, mostly savings, a bit with credit cards and the odd job for internal communications.
At first I liked your input, it was different, the execution was stylish, but then I realized the strategy didn't fit right.
I'm not sure what the brief was, but boxing people is never the answer, it doesn't matter how many of them you have. People want to be treated as individuals, the only thing we have in common is the place where our currency is stashed. All your ad is telling me goes along the lines of: "hey we have bunch drawers for you, come to our bank." It doesn't make sense, you know what I mean?
Obviously behind closed doors, it is all about the boxes and drawers and numbers, but that bit doesn't interest anybody unless you are the manager of the bank. So we talk about other stuff. I'm not saying you should tag another picture of mum and daughter with a cute headline, but it should somehow be focused on the human experience and the understanding there is place for everyone... but is certainly not inside a box
Anyway, i'm not a CD, i'm not senior, and I don't work on a big agency in london, but we do rather well on this part of town and it seems rather straightforward.
At Cream there was a bank campaign in a book which said something along of the lines of 'because banks should be boring'. This was a great campaign thought as it was a bit more surprising and was based on a good insight that if someone is looking after your money you want to be able to trust them. Jai and Wal, if you want to do a bank campaign I would use this as your benchmark and try and beat it.
Too many readers come simply for the bitching and to try and prove who is best, who knows what, and who works at the best agency... as well as putting Jai & Wal down.
I'm not sure what they can really do about this, they are almost victims of their own success.
Best of luck to you guys, and keep on posting!!! In between all the crap are some good comments from people who genuinely wish you well.
what exactly is the readership of this blog gaining from your anonymous opinions on someone else's posting, albeit as enlightening and informative as "awful film!!!"?
56 comments:
Man!!! Work on some tougher stuff - not brands that have won Cannes - How about a financial institution or a pharmy client, just something boring and make the boring fucking interesting.
They tried a bank before - I think it's now in their book!
How about doing an estate agents?
doing = selling!
estate agent? great brief! cheers
You guys been posessed.
By the ghost of Dave Trott's.
Writing style?
Fun isn't it.
I can see why this hasn't ever.
Got.
Old.
Did you really just scribble all over your hands to put it on a post - appears so! Don't know whether that's a good or bad thing.
"I like writing on my hands. It makes me look disorganised and CREWATIVE"
All's going well with these briefs you're working on then...
Is that a big lump of sarcasm I hear there Wal?
I think it's fine to work on bigger brands if you can look at them in a new way. It can be just as rewarding to make an established brand feel fresh and interesting again than take something really difficult and try to hack some sense into it.
Although a mixture of the two would probably make for an awesome book.
Well if the scribbled on there hands - Wal you got damn good handwriting.
How about doing a a brief for the TFL, or a resturant...?
I really to admire your guys drive.
How about an airline. They're tough.
Chaps.
I've been reading Creative in London for the past couple of months, and I have to admit I'm hooked.
But perhaps you should consider winding it up pretty soon.
You've succeeded in doing a difficult thing: producing a blog that is well read and commented upon by those within the industry as well as those seeking a way in. So well done for that.
However, that is also part of the problem.
You've been looking for a job for, what, one or two years now? I fear that if you keep this up, you'll be making it increasingly difficult for an agency to hire you.
If I were a CD (which I'm not, I should point out), I'd have to think twice before hiring a couple of fellas who were best known not for producing great work, but for being unemployed.
My comments have nothing to do with the quality of your work. I just think that, by keeping this up, you're making the hard task of getting into the industry even harder.
I should clarify.
If an agency hires a couple of guys who are best known for being unemployed, they risk becoming a bit of a laughing stock.
It's already a risk when an agency hires a new junior team. So why make it an even bigger risk for them?
That's not the hand of a junior...
It's the hand of a hard working creative!
I think it would actually help some juniors to see a team who haven't made it.
The problem with going to book crits is that everyone you meet managed to get the job. It gives creatives the impression that more (if not all) people eventually get a job. You never hear from the people who fail. Maybe this blog give people a differant persepective.
Of course, if Wal does get a job, then he should stop the blog.
Just being curious - why do you think when Wal gets a job he should stop the blog?
Could other aspiring creatives not still benefit from hearing Wal's progress in a job... How it differs to uni & placements... How to settle in, adjust... etc etc
Personally I wouldn't suggest stopping blogging, although it depends on what the real aim of creativeinlondon really was :)
It certainly has been benificial to see not all creatives make it.
Alot depends on yuor partner, timing and getting a good break as well as actually being talented of course.
I think Wal is very much a good AD, but he's had to team up with various writers along the way. Even with his talent, he's yet to get his first job. That just goes to show how competitive this industry is.
Agree with Anon 1:48 that a newspaper would be a great one to put in the book. Don't do the Guardian though, that'd be really predictable and you wouldn't get something better than in recent years.
Why do you spell disorganised with a 'z', you must have Microsoft Word autocorrect built into your hand?!?
He learnt English in American, probably why, assuming Wal wrote it. If it was Jai, I've know idea why.
I like the idea of having Word autocorrect built into his hand though!!!
What's Tide?
Do Persil or Ariel dude, they all do the same thing. So do the market leader. And don't USPs, their too easy.
Is everyone misspelling things on purpose?
Not too sure how valuable my opinion is on this but I just have to say now (after having followed this blog a year or so) that I agree with integral. It's been over two years for you and you are still unemployed. I think you will only keep loosing credibility if you don't stop writing. Something you should be aware of a CD might think.
I was told as well how important networking and self initiative is. But well you know better than me how many books Ben & Nadine are looking at a year. One a day at times aren't they? 200 a year? And that's only the ones that seem to have potential. In my opinion Bucks and all of you how-to-get-a-job-in-advertising-gurus are (not only but overall) misleading. Why would an agency that is only dealing with the best of who is out there make a decision based on personality? In your induction meeting at BBH you are told that you were hired for two reasons only: for being nice and for being brilliant (and that you will have to be fired as soon as someone discovers that you are not the one or the other). Think about that, to me this means that a creative needs a book that is brilliant, that is 100% of what it can be and that your personality is something that can only get in the way of being hired, it cannot give you any advantage - at least not in the agencies that you are aiming for. Your book is key. If anybody plans to write an award winning book on how to get a job in advertising take 'be brilliant' and fill three hundred pages with it.
Having said that do you think your book is brilliant? Does your book represent the very best of three years of work? 36 months. I wonder what you guys have been doing with all the freedom you had.
Nevertheless I think this blog is brilliant and you can be proud of its popularity as it grew on good will. But think about whether you should keep writing about how to get a job in advertising. Well don't close it, use it. Definitely start selling some space for advertising penis pumps in between the comments.
Cheers & Keep my mistakes Tommies.
Wal (and Jai) think the chap above has some very valid points.
I like your blog and by all accounts you are nice fellas but it seems like you are going around in circles and not really getting anywhere.
I've seen your book, it's good but nowhere near as quite good as some I've seen (sorry, that's just my opinion). What leaves me puzzled is that you studied an advertising coarse and have spent a few years taking your book around and yet you still seem at square one with understand strategies.
Think you are wasting your time trying to get into a top agency to be honest, there are loads of teams out there with a lot more hunger and drive who get what a good book requires.
Talking about banks, can I take the opportunity to crit the bank entry in your book? I saw it posted a while ago and I don't think it has changed much. (Abby, is it? the one with the boxes?) I've worked for a major bank for the last couple of years, dozens of campaigns, mostly savings, a bit with credit cards and the odd job for internal communications.
At first I liked your input, it was different, the execution was stylish, but then I realized the strategy didn't fit right.
I'm not sure what the brief was, but boxing people is never the answer, it doesn't matter how many of them you have. People want to be treated as individuals, the only thing we have in common is the place where our currency is stashed. All your ad is telling me goes along the lines of: "hey we have bunch drawers for you, come to our bank." It doesn't make sense, you know what I mean?
Obviously behind closed doors, it is all about the boxes and drawers and numbers, but that bit doesn't interest anybody unless you are the manager of the bank. So we talk about other stuff. I'm not saying you should tag another picture of mum and daughter with a cute headline, but it should somehow be focused on the human experience and the understanding there is place for everyone... but is certainly not inside a box
Anyway, i'm not a CD, i'm not senior, and I don't work on a big agency in london, but we do rather well on this part of town and it seems rather straightforward.
Are you getting inside people's heads?
What?! ^^^^^
Yeah, I'm sure the really appreciate the crit from a DM 'creative' from KFC Manchester.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/D-AD-Award_W0QQitemZ150303263966QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150303263966&_trkparms=72%3A1298|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Be interesting to see how much that goes for, although it might fall into the Dave Trott school of naughty-naughty off-ripping.
I'll bid anonymously. If I win you won't know where to send it. Brilliant.
Nice one Wal, writing on your hands will get you a job in no time.
get a life 2:39, i dont know what else to say to that.
How are the d&ad workshops going?
Either not very well or nothing good to show from it, otherwise they'll have told us - instead we're drawing on hands :)
D&AD are shit anyway. Their courses are out of touch with the industry and they never pay up when it comes to prizes.
4:11
At Cream there was a bank campaign in a book which said something along of the lines of 'because banks should be boring'. This was a great campaign thought as it was a bit more surprising and was based on a good insight that if someone is looking after your money you want to be able to trust them. Jai and Wal, if you want to do a bank campaign I would use this as your benchmark and try and beat it.
How did they execute this? Sounds like a pretty good thought - because banks should be boring!
Banks are old news
you could fit a novel on them little fat hands!
Considering the current economic climate I don't think Banks are a very good option.
We (the general public) own much of the banking system now it seems!
I'd agree banks would be a very tricky brief in the current circumstances.
To beat the credit crunch - get balls eh! :)
wal could crunch plenty of balls at the same time with that massive chubby hand!
Above, you fail at life.
Does anyone come on this blog for the posts any more? Or just to bitch about stuff? Same with Scamps.
If all you want is a place to bitch I'm sure digital boy Happy Thought can make you lot a forum or something.
(From a reader that has lurked for 4 months but has finally got tired of all the comment crap.)
Too many readers come simply for the bitching and to try and prove who is best, who knows what, and who works at the best agency... as well as putting Jai & Wal down.
I'm not sure what they can really do about this, they are almost victims of their own success.
Best of luck to you guys, and keep on posting!!! In between all the crap are some good comments from people who genuinely wish you well.
@ Lurker
I could, but could you imagine trying to moderate it!
You're more than welcome though, forums aren't hard to set up.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BQyxGTjZi2I
shit video. not funny.
Anon 9:32 says "they are almost victims of their own success."
Success?
successful in terms of creating a blog with a readership that returns, and posts regularly!
Success not in terms of a job obviously...
great video, i have met wal in the flesh and i assure you his hands are enormous! bigger than that in the video!
Awful film!!!
How dare you philistines criticise Big Train.
anon 5:34 aka Barry Norman
what exactly is the readership of this blog gaining from your anonymous opinions on someone else's posting, albeit as enlightening and informative as "awful film!!!"?
Tool.
And what do we gain from yours Anon 8:59?
I'll quote something you said yourself:
"what exactly is the readership of this blog gaining from your anonymous opinions on someone else's posting,"
Pot... kettle... and black!
An enlightening and informative end remark also 'tool'
Tool are a fantastic band
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