ADVERTISING – Junior - Celebrating life at the bottom

Feb 15, 10

The Monday Morning WHIP // 63

So you’ve started adding digital work to your folio, but dammit, there’s only so many iPhone apps and ‘find the product’ maze games you can come up with. Don’t worry, we’re all still figuring out this thing too. Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) suggests you start thinking about the possibilities beyond the obvious.

Got any digital work in your folio? Of course you do, it’s 2010. But before you take a moment to pat yourself on the back for having a banner or two in your book, consider this:

Digital work dates fast. Really fast. So make sure you keep up to speed with the possibilities.

Think video not animation. Think engagement not clicks. Think sharing not watching.

Anything is possible with digital. And if it isn’t it soon will be.

You also need to think digital not computer. Because before we know it almost everyone with be using mobile internet.

To get a glimpse of what I’m talking about take a look at this video and then put aside some time to think about the possibilities it offers you as a creative.

Also posted in WHIP | Tags: DIGITAL, FOLIO, WHIP

Feb 08, 10

The Monday Morning WHIP // 62

If you wanna be a success in this game, sometimes you need to do things you might not want to. But, as Stan will tell you, it’ll make you better than anyone else hawking their folio about. And it’ll be impossible not to get a job.

Ever shown your folio to someone and they’ve made comment about having seen one of your ideas before?

No? Lucky you!

For most of us though (including me) having an idea that has been done before is an occupational hazard.

So if someone tells you they’ve seen one of your ideas before, ditch it.

Yes ditch it.

Don’t sit there fretting about how long it took you or the fact that it’s one of your favourite pieces of work.

Just ditch it.

And as you crumple it up and toss it into the bin take a moment to sit back and smile.

Why?

Because you’ve come up with an idea that was considered good enough to run. Possibly even good enough to have won an award.

The only problem being that somebody else had the idea before you.

Now all you need to do is sit down with your pad and pen and come up with a new idea that’s just as good, that nobody has seen before.

Also posted in DESIGN, WHIP | Tags: FOLIO, WHIP

Jan 27, 10

Dear Junior Series // 05

Dear Junior: an attempt to ask industry leaders the pressing questions that us, the quarrelous and unfriendly youth of today, are interested to find answers to. In our fifth installment, we’re talking Women in Advertising. Rather than write an intro ourselves full of the male bravado you’ve come to know and love, we hired an intern to do the job for us. Here’s Crystal with her very best intro.

Chaka Khan once sang, “I’m a woman in a man’s world”. She was chanting about the wonderful world of showbiz but it’s fair to say the wonderful world of advertising is only the far less glamorous sister. It’s a sausage-fest no matter where you go! And being part of that can be fairly difficult when you’re sausageless. As if the industry’s not tough enough. That’s why we asked our good ol’ female buddy, Mel Peters, digital creative director at Lowe Sydney (http://lowesydney NULL.com), to give us her best advice on being a lady in a man’s world.

And girls, or boys for that matter, if you want to pick her brain some more, reach her at mel.peters@loweworldwide.com (mel NULL.peters null@null loweworldwide NULL.com). No spammy spam please.

Junior: Do you personally find it tough to be a woman in this industry?

Mel: No I love it! It’s all about standing out with great ideas and that’s something I’m passionate about. A lot of people have been comfortable with male creatives because that’s what they’re used too. However, good ideas will always cut through no matter who you are.

Jr: Has there been a particular incident where you know your gender has worked against you? What about for you?

M: It’s how you look at things. For example, working on car accounts, I was the only female creative on the team. In this situation I always added a valuable and different perspective to briefs. I was able to approach the brand with really powerful insights that led to award winning creative. Taking the car ‘beyond the metal’ was a big part of creating innovative campaigns that engaged and empowered their audience. Female creatives can do amazing work on even the most ‘blokiest’ of briefs. There really is no boundary to what you can work on.

Jr: Why do you think it’s more difficult for women?

M: I think there has been a limited number of role-models and Senior Female Creatives in the industry and for young female creatives on the rise, this can be daunting. I’ve worked with strong female Creatives like Fiona Davidson and Paula Keamy who are both fantastic role-models. It is important to find these role models and seek advice along the way. Women have a great opportunity to lead in senior creative roles today and I see more and more talented young women choosing ‘creative’ as a positive career path.

Jr: Is there any other advice you have for women in or wanting to get into the industry?

M: Understanding your audience is key, and women are the primary purchase decision-maker for many brands in Australia. Female buying power hasn’t fully been tapped into in Australia, and there is a great opportunity for female creatives to lead this. Women are also powerful communicators, and as we continue to move into the digital world with influence marketing and social networking changing our traditional communication habits, women in the industry will bring great insight and creative ideas to the table. Ultimately though, it’s all about great thinking and powerful ideas.

And just cause she can, here’s Mel’s tips to success:

01- Believe in your ideas. Gain confidence in your thinking by exploring your ideas thoroughly before you talk to others around you.

02- Present, present, present your work. This is so important. Grab as many opportunities as you can to showcase your ideas yourself and get in front of clients, as often as you can.

03- Look for female mentors, if not in your agency, outside it. Some may have blogs or twitter feeds that will give you insight and spur you on. You can follow me here (http://twitter NULL.com/its_mel).

04- Hit the streets and do your own market research. Get to know your audience inside and out and become an expert in the briefs you get. If your agency celebrates big ideas based on powerful insights, you will shine.

05- Don’t be afraid to think of yourself as a brand and sell yourself. Getting your voice and point of view out there is a great place to start. I see many juniors who have put their folio online and started a blog. It’s a great way to make sure you are heard and noticed.

06- Have fun and enjoy what you do. If you love it, everyone will know.

Also posted in DEAR JUNIOR | Tags: ADVERTISING, DEAR JUNIOR, SUCCESS

Jan 22, 10

Juniorversity // 02

George Lois (http://georgelois NULL.com/) was probably the most powerful adman in late 20th-Century New York. His idea of advertising was big, simple, to the point, and always made you do something. He created Lean Cuisine out of nothing, made MTV into a global behemoth, turned Tommy Hilfiger into a household name overnight, and made the most famous Esquire magazine covers of all time (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/2008/04/27/arts/design/27mcgr NULL.html?_r=1). But the very best thing about George Lois was his way of seeing the world–a trait evident in the video below, which can be credited to a childhood spent in the Bronx during the 1930s. Every communicator who wants to affect change has a lot to learn from George Lois (http://nymag NULL.com/nymetro/news/media/features/n_8399/), whether or not his motivations were slightly askew. Do not let your education stop here.

Also posted in JUNIORVERSITY | Tags: GEORGE LOIS, JUNIORVERSITY

Jan 20, 10

The Interview Series // 28

Alright, alright. We know what you’re thinking, “Another ad-guy? When you kids gonna get over this ad-schmer-tising thing, huh?” Well you’re right. Evan Fry (http://evanfry NULL.com) is an ad-guy. But he ain’t just any ad-guy–he’s a true-blue award-winning ex-Creative Director of Crispin Porter & Bogusky (http://cpbgroup NULL.com/) style ad-guy, and he has some good shit to say, so chill out, bro. That sort of heritage makes him better than most ad-guys, who on the whole are a dime-a-dozen, and definitely don’t look this good with a head wrapped in ostrich feathers. He just left CP+B to start up the world’s first ad agency utilising the power of crowd-sourcing, named Victors & Spoils (http://victorsandspoils NULL.com/). That’s pretty cool-magool if you ask us. You know what else makes Evan cooler than most? He’s an old-school copywriter. Which tends to be rare these days. So if you’re one of the few who want to take up the lost art of copywriting, listen to what Evan has to say. You can actually use his advice–which is darn considerate of him, seeing as most of these so-called ‘ad-guys’ have a lot to say about nothing. In summation: Evan Fry ain’t just your average ad-guy, he’s a super-talented old-school copywriting mega-machine, and wants you to Be Fucking Awesome (http://befuckingawesome NULL.com/).

Junior: We heard somewhere that you’ve got a crazy story about getting a job at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (http://cpbgroup NULL.com/). Apparently it’s a ‘doozy’. May as well tell us the whole thing!

Evan Fry: Sure. But it’s a long one. It basically began with me having been fired from the job I had and sending my book to Crispin. At that point, this was the spring of 2002, I had been a writer/ACD for 8 years already, and I wanted to work for CP+B more than anywhere else–so I sent my book. About a month after I sent it in they returned it to me with a form letter, “signed” by Alex Bogusky (http://alexbogusky NULL.posterous NULL.com/) himself. It was encouraging, but standard. Very professional of them to be that on top of their shit, I thought. And then I forgot about it. About two months later, after becoming a bit bored of not getting much play from the shops I truly wanted to work for, I had an idea: what if I acted as though that letter really was a sincere letter from Alex to me, and started sending him weird notes from the stance of ‘jilted-lover-gone-psycho-at-not-getting-any-more-letters-from-Alex’?

So I got some really precious stationery like a grandma might use, a super nice calligraphy pen, and went to it. My thought was keep them short, keep them anonymous, and keep them weird. And not think for a minute that Alex himself would ever even get them. I think the first one said, in really weird cursive, “It’s been two months since you last wrote me, Alex. Don’t you love me anymore, Alex?” Nothing else. A few days later I sent another one. And then another, after a few more days. For the fourth one, I reduced a photocopy of the original form letter he’d sent me, but used black permanent marker and inked out my name on it. I accompanied it with a psycho note on the psycho stationery that this time said, “Perhaps by now, Alex, you’re wondering who the hell I am? Well maybe I’m a lot like you, Alex.”

Four days later as I was thinking about how to take it up a notch, I got a FedEx delivery. It was from Miami. When I opened it, it was clear something was weird. There was another envelope inside. And then inside that envelope was a Ziploc bag. It had the vibe of an evidence bag like in lawyer movies. I opened the Ziploc and there was a Photostat-camera blowup of the part of the form letter I’d sent where I’d inked out my name. But by blowing it up 10 times, its size had revealed the name under the ink. ‘Evan’, just huge. Stapled to it was a copy of my letter, and in red ink someone had circled “… who the hell I am.” And that was it. It was all just one big fucking “touché, motherfucker. We got you.”

I was psyched beyond belief. Because all of a sudden I had concrete proof that not only had my letters been getting to him, but they’d been actually getting to him, you know? And he took some time and effort to play the game. So I immediately loved Alex. And the day after I got the envelope, Veronica Padilla, his assistant at the time, called for my book again. I thought I had a job in the bag, or at least a flight out. But it didn’t work like that. I didn’t hear anything for weeks.

By then I’d started a whole other self promotion idea where I was mailing a weekly photo of myself to the top 30 or 40 creative directors around the world who I wanted to work with. Each one was literally just a 4×6 photo – showing how much time I had on my hands. Like, in one I was having a tea party with stuffed animals. In another I was drinking tallboys with bums on the street. On the back of each, every week, I wrote in pen something that went with it, like, “God I need some work,” and I’d include my phone number.

So I had these going on, and was also sending them to Alex. But I still didn’t hear from him. However the photos were working, and I was getting a lot of great freelance so I didn’t care as much, although CP+B was still where I really wanted to be.

About six weeks later Alex himself finally called and said, “I’ve been meaning to call you, why don’t you fly out.” I did, and had a great interview. Thought I had it in the bag for sure, and… didn’t. He didn’t have a slot for me. So I kept the weekly photos going, kept freelancing, and then four months later I was freelancing at Mad Dogs & Englishmen (http://www NULL.maddogsandenglishmen NULL.com/door NULL.html) in San Francisco and got a message on my answering machine. “Hey Evan, it’s Alex, call Veronica back and tell her the code word is pineapple.” I called her back and she said Alex wanted to offer me a job. It was literally one of the best days of my life. P-e-r-s-e-v-e-r-a-n-c-e.

Jr: Wow. Ok. That definitely is a doozy. It’s nice to see someone with experience and good work struggle like the best of us. In fact, your website mentions that at twenty-six you “weren’t exactly setting the advertising world on fire”. How did you push through that? Did you ever want to give it up and go mountain biking for good?

E: Oh man, you got that right. Actually, a few times. I got out of school from the University of Oregon and unlike my partner in school, Glenn Cole, I didn’t take a good job out of school. My book was shit and I spent a year working on it but the only job I could land was at the ‘third biggest place in Portland’ – which basically means nowhere you’ve ever heard of. And even though I only stayed there a year, it seemed my destiny was sort of set. I couldn’t get play in the Weidens (http://www NULL.wk NULL.com/) or the Goodbys (http://www NULL.goodbysilverstein NULL.com/) of the day, so I was just floating around at the mediocre places, like 95% of us.

I moved to San Francisco in 1996 and experienced more of the same. But I moved to be in a bigger market with more chances. I kept at it, kept trying, and just didn’t give up. I guess that’s why I ended that last question by saying perseverance. That’s really the only answer when you feel like you’ve got what it takes, when you know that in your heart. If you know you’re good and you know you’re smart but can’t seem to get a break, you’ve got to prove how smart you are and make your own break. I’m 100% convinced of that.

Jr: You’ve written your entire career. But a lot of young people aren’t taught hardcore writing anymore. From our experience, advertising education tends to be more ideas-focused. What advice would you give to young writers?

E: I think this is true. I went to a School of Journalism program, and was lucky enough to be a decent writer just inherently, I dare say. And then in school at University of Oregon, I was also lucky to have two great ad professors who were classically trained. So the mix was pure writing and grammar, mixed with classic concepting classes, and barebones, fucking copywriting courses. It didn’t hurt to have Dan Weiden (http://danwiedensuperdad NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) himself teaching a couple of intensive seminars. But today, you’re right–ad programs stress concepts first, at best. Copywriters today, I swear to God, most of them shouldn’t call themselves “writers” at all. But it’s not really the game now, nor is it anyone’s fault really.

The advice I would give is to read a lot. And to pick up the book Grammar for Journalists (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/Grammar-Journalists-E-L-Callihan/dp/0801968232) and study it like there’s going to be a quiz on it every day. I’d also say to use self-discipline. And read The Book of Gossage (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/Book-Gossage-Howard-Luck/dp/0962141534). Teach yourself. If you’re a copywriter who can actually write, you’re set for life. Love the headline, love long copy, do it all the time, get better at it, write hundreds of options for each headline idea. Treat it like a craft. That’s what it is. I still love to write ads.

Jr: Do you get the urge/time to do any writing or other creative stuff outside of advertising?

E: Nope. I really don’t, not writing. I get the urge to do other things besides advertising though. And I do those things. It’s why I started sharklove.com (http://sharklove NULL.com/) and also befuckingawesome.com (http://befuckingawesome NULL.com/). Be Fucking Awesome, especially, is just a labour of love. I kept having this idea where I would write a book that would be a sort of “guide for living.” I had this idea for a title and it was “How to Be Fucking Awesome.” This was while I was really cranking at CP+B, on the road producing all the time. So I didn’t really have the energy to do it, but I bought the URL befuckingawesome.com (http://befuckingawesome NULL.com/) and felt good enough about doing that. Then I just sat on it for a couple years.

Finally I had John Parker, my partner at the time and now a CD at W+K New York, do up a branding identity for BFA. He rocked it. And it sat there again. Then I had the idea to tweak it into a social network of sorts where you could post your Fucking Awesome deeds, let the world vote on each one, and those votes would contribute to your Awesome Quotient. So then I fucking had to do it. And that’s what I did. I found another amazing designer to help with the design, a fantastically talented developer, and sunk a lot of my own money into paying him to develop it. It’s been live now since the end of September. It isn’t really taking off the way I’d hoped, but I am learning a whole lot from it and know what to try to make it take off more. It’s really satisfying, in some ways. But mostly, it’s just a massive learning experience.

Jr: So, now that you’ve left CP+B to start your own agency, what can the world expect from Victors and Spoils (http://victorsandspoils NULL.com/)?

E: Good question. I think the world can expect to see a viable new way of coming up with ideas for the advertising industry. A way where the clients feel like they get the service and attention that traditional agencies give, but ideas and work that is devised from a much broader base of amateurs and/or the users of their products and services–then directed and shaped to be on brand and on brief. So it’ll feel like an ad agency to the client, but engage the world to help solve their business problems. What we’re trying to do is show that there is a new way of doing things. A way that works and can let more people into the process. We’re all savvy critics of ads and marketing communications nowadays – because we’re exposed to it from birth. There are a lot of people out there who could be really good at it, and we want to give them a way of working on things just like those of us who went to school to become experts. There’s a shitload more to it than that, obviously. But the world can expect some really interesting briefs to work on for some really interesting clients. At least.

Jr: The business model you guys described on launch, was anything but ‘more of the same’, but there’s going to be the inevitable detraction from folks not into the whole model. Are crowd-sourcing naysayers the new ‘30-seconds-of-TV-is-the-only-media-we-need’ dinosaurs?

E: I don’t know; that’s a good question. There are naysayers out there. Basically what the internet gives people is a voice, and they love to use it to say how dumb everything is that isn’t their own idea. I learned pretty fast after we launched that I just had to turn it off, it was exhausting trying to answer or consider everyone’s points. Which we still care a lot about, but so many people were just being so aggressively mean and negative, so full of hate, that we realized very fast that no answer would satisfy the vocal minority. It’s one of the most loaded issues out there right now and because we consciously launched with as much hoopla as we could create, we became the brightest bull’s-eye. It’s cool though; we intend to just continue doing our thing and trying to get some good clients and craft briefs that let people play with brands if they want to. If they don’t want to, that’s cool too.

Jr: How does a junior (or anyone for that matter) get a shot at working for a hot shop like CP+B or Victors & Spoils? Can you give us five awesome tips?

E: What if I give you one tip and explain the shit out of it?

Jr: Evan, you do what you feel…

E: Good.

1. Get really good at the craft of being a creative.

- Write down everything. Take notes as you learn. Take notes as you concept.

- Doodle as you think. Keep the pen moving.

- Do lots of options for everything. Only through looking at it can you know if something is better or worse than what you already have. Look at it.

- Take it seriously; don’t expect it to come easy. Focus on the brief. Do “concepting intervals” where you focus and write every idea down. Then have a break. Then get back to it.

- Sketch everything. Go analog. Don’t fucking concept on your fucking laptop. Pad of paper. Pen or pencil. You alone, or you and your partner. Find somewhere to get in sync and focus and riff. When writing headlines, that’s when I think writing on your computer is good. But try using all caps, or two spaces between each headline. Treat it like art, and have some pride for how the words look. Do a bunch. Edit them a little. Do a bunch more. Edit a little. Repeat. If you’re building your book, keep the presentation simple. But don’t ignore the presentation.

Jr: Is there life after advertising? Should advertising be a means to an end?

E: For me, I think there has to be. For anyone, for sure there can be. Depends on how much a boner it gives you, I guess.

Interview by: Pete Majarich (http://petermajarich NULL.com NULL.au/)

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, COMMITMENT, COPYWRITING, CP+B, CREATIVITY, FOLIO, JOB HUNTING, SUCCESS, THE INTERVIEW SERIES, WRITING

Jan 18, 10

The Monday Morning WHIP // 59

What’s your excuse for not visiting every Creative Director, Senior Creative, Group Publisher, Studio Manager, Design Director and Big Wig With Advice to Give that you can guess the email of? It better be good, because if it’s not, you’ll meet someone like Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) in the real world–and they might not be this helpful.

Once upon a time a kid rang me to ask if I’d take a look at his folio. When I asked him what sort of folio it was he ummed and awed before replying that he wasn’t sure.

When I asked him why, he said that his was just a black plastic one that he’d bought at Officeworks.

As you can imagine, I pissed myself laughing.

I then explained to him that what I actually wanted to know was whether he was a writer, an art director or a photographer.

“I’m a writer,” he said.

So I told him that whenever he rang people up to look at his folio he should always say up front that he was a writer.

“But what if they’re not looking for a writer,” he said.

My answer was the same piece of advice I have given many times over the years;

Don’t show a folio with the expectation of getting a job. Show it with the aim of asking for advice on how to make it better. Because the better your folio gets, the better your chances of getting a job.

Also posted in WHIP | Tags: ADVERTISING, FOLIO, HUNGER, JOB HUNTING, JOBS, WHIP

Dec 08, 09

The Interview Series // 23 (Part Two)

daniel2

“Work on your shit. Ride your bicycle. Don’t have sex. Work hard. Be nice. Pay attention. What else? That’s kinda it. Oh, and don’t buy dumb shit.” And that, our clever and taste-ridden friends, is where Part One of Daniel Bremmer’s interview finished. If you haven’t read it yet, read it now. We got really drunk in a Brooklyn bar and solved the problems of the universe, pretty much. This second half however, is even better–we really hit our stride. It seems the more alcohol we consumed, the more articulate, erudite, considered and clever we became. If you want to figure out if advertising is a vain waste of time and resources on the rich white people of the world, or if it can be used to save the world’s environmental and economic problems, gosh, are you in for a treat…

Daniel: Don’t buy dumb shit.

Junior: Don’t buy dumb shit? Like what?

D: Anything that has an expensive logo on it. I’m going to think your dad has money and that you probably suck.

Jr: So what should you wear to an interview?

D: Stuff that doesn’t have expensive logos on it.

Jr: Like this?

D: That’s fine. Grey t-shirt and short shorts. I might skip the short shorts.

Jr: Oh really? Why? They make me look cool!

D: They’re a little short. Definitely not that cool. Anyway, you know what? I’ve had had an epiphany.

Jr: What’s that?

D: I don’t give a fuck about making ads that make a dude richer. I don’t care anymore.

Jr: Which dude? Who’s the dude?

D: Well, it’s not a dude — it’s corporations. So it’s really like a bunch of people.

Jr: Ah, I see. Tell me more.

D: I wanna make things better in the world. And I think everybody does — well most people. There are bad people, people who don’t give a shit; but most conscientious people, most creative people, want to make things better. That’s what I wanna do from now on. I got on this high, where I got to see the good results of something I did (Editors note: Daniel worked on the Obama campaign), that I was a part of. You know, changing things for the better, in a good way, and that’s what I want to do from now on.

Jr: Wow. I think that’s a wonderful epiphany.

D: So do I. I have a little philosophy. It’s called, ‘Do good well.’ Because there’s a lot of agencies entirely built around doing good work for non-profits, and a lot of the time they get involved in doing philanthropic work for big companies, to make the big companies who do evil shit look good cause they threw a few million out of their x billion dollars in annual profits towards something nice. And there’s a lot of non-profits that hire agencies to do their fund-raising who need the money, to do good work, but that’s not as rewarding as doing cool stuff. This is a movement that’s happening slowly. A very good friend of mine, an early mentor named Don McKinney, who is interactive ECD at Grey, he calls it the purpose driven economy. Which is based off The Purpose Driven Life (http://www NULL.purposedrivenlife NULL.com), a book by pastor Rick Warren. It’s bullshit, but it helped a lot of people.

To me, it’s about making ‘good’ and ‘right’ both desirable and popular. Especially when you’re dealing with stuff like the environment, solving issues to do with global warming, dealing with respecting our natural resources, not polluting our environment, treating our environment as a living organism that we need to survive, not as a tree you should hug and respect because it’s beautiful, but because that tree keeps you the fuck alive and you better stop being a dickhole to it. These are the basic principles if you have a long view of the world.

Jr: This is how I feel about my health.

D: Your health is exactly the same.

Jr: It’s no longer, “I need to eat better just because I should be healthy, but because I don’t want to wake up every morning feeling like shit. And I don’t want to be exhausted at the end of the day.” You know what I mean? It’s cause and effect.

D: Exactly! Our body and our planet are the same shit. It’s the exact same shit. And our economy is really the same shit. And what we’ve seen with this giant economic collapse is a whole lot of high-fructose, partially hydrogenated, high-risk, bullshit get-rich-quick nonsense that is sinking our economy, our planet, our health and our souls. It’s retarded. And there’s a better way to do all that shit. There’s a better way to do everything. Let’s all tell the fucking truth, let’s all do the right thing, let’s all come up with systems and products and services that help everybody do better.

Jr: But can you do that as a junior?

D: You can, I think. You have the energy, you have the soul, you don’t have children. Right? That’s the great thing. Older people can say, “I have kids. I love my kids more than I love an abstract notion of life in twenty years, therefore I’m going to sell Snickers.” Snickers is going to give people diabetes. Snickers is going to destroy the fucking world. Right? Snickers is a bad product.

Jr: But it’ll pay my children’s school fees!

D: In the short term it’ll bump me this much up in life if I do a big Snickers campaign. Pepsi, right? Peter Arnell (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=WJ4yF4F74vc) is a piece of shit. He was the guy that redesigned their look. I wouldn’t trust that guy to fold my goddamn napkin, much less design my brand. The guy is a fucking catastrophe. I looked through his website (http://arnell NULL.com/) today. It’s atrocious. They have an ad that has CG lizards dancing with football players. It makes no sense. Pepsico has given the keys to the castle to this guy. Why? Because he has round glasses that used to be cool? Round glasses and a beard can get you anywhere these days. Maybe you shouldn’t hire the guy with round glasses anymore. Maybe that worked in the 90’s.

Jr: Yes! Let’s bring back square glasses! But we digress.

D: Yeah, fuck that guy. Ha, we got on a weird Peter Arnell tangent there, and how bad Pepsi was. Oh yeah! Pepsi.

Jr: Yeah, because people want to pay their bills.

D: Pepsi makes the world worse. It makes us all fat. It encourages reckless consumption. It’s not good. Nobody should be selling SUVs. As a junior, I turned down a job. I had graduated Art Center College of Design. I thought I had a job waiting for me at Karmarama (http://www NULL.karmarama NULL.com/) in London. They came back with an offer that in Britain was very generous. But in America it was so low. I was looking at a six-figure student loan. So I flipped out. I said, “I cannot afford to make that little money. I need to pay this loan off now.” So I turned Karmarama down. Worst decision I ever made.

Jr: Oh wow.

D: An ethical, smart, brilliant, creative agency that cared about doing good work and cared about making the world better, in an awesome country with a visa waiting for me. And like a stupid idiot I said no. I had to move back in with my parents in Orange County and freelance in L.A. I would drive two hours to get to these freelance gigs. It was horrible.

Jr: Why was it so horrible?

D: Because it was a two-hour drive to get there and an hour drive to get home!

Jr: That sucks balls.

D: Yes! That sucks balls! And while doing that I wouldn’t take jobs working on things like Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs). I wouldn’t take a job at Chiat because I wouldn’t work on SUVs. Did you know that the Nissan Pathfinder Armada has thirteen cup-holders and seven seats?

Jr: Thirteen cup-holders!

D: And seven seats. No one should buy that. That is bad for the world.

Jr: Thirteen cup-holders and seven seats? That doesn’t even make sense!

D: It is bad for the world and I wouldn’t go take a job working on it.

Jr: So were you briefed on it? How do you go about turning down a job?

D: No, no, no, I wasn’t briefed on it yet. I just didn’t take the job. I had been in one situation where I was briefed on something though. It was explained to me that the brief was aimed at human resource directors at Fortune 100 companies. The idea behind the campaign was how this very large American health insurance company reduces costs and that’s how they’re solving the health care crisis.

Jr: Because they reduce costs?

D: Because they’re reducing costs for employers. Which makes it more affordable. Which means that more employers will be able to continue to provide insurance for their employees. Which is a good thing. In the absence of a modern, sane health system, you need that. So I did the campaign. Half way through the campaign, I find out the media buy is for Congressional Quarterly and The Hill. You know, newspapers that Senatorial and Congressional staffers read, telling policy makers, “Don’t worry, we’ve got it under control.” So I realized this half way through, and the creative was basically done. I told my Creative Director, “I’ll finish this because I started it. But I can’t work on this client anymore. And if it means my job, that’s a conversation we can have.”

Jr: Wow! You said that? So big!

D: I had no savings and I was in debt, but I just couldn’t do it. The bottom-line was: I do not have the discipline to do work I disagree with. The worst obligation I have is a stupid loan that my parents co-signed for. I don’t have a house, I don’t have any children, the worst I can do is fuck over my parent’s credit a little bit. That’s the worst-case scenario. Actually, I have a life insurance policy to cover my student loan. So if I get hit by a bus on my way home tonight, they’ll foot the bill. But I don’t want to be run over.

Jr: Cheers! To saving the world!

D: To saving the world!.

Drinks: *Clink*

Jr: Love the world. *Hiccup*

D: But no, I mean, I don’t know any young smart creative person that wants to make the world worse. The only ones I know want to make the world better. The world is fucked because of our parent’s generation, it’s not their… Well, it is their fault… But you can’t really blame them. It’s not like your mum and my mom decided to fuck the world. But the world is fucked and we need to fix it. And there’s a lot of money to be made in fixing it. Capitalism can solve this problem. Advertising is the lubricant of capitalism. Lubricate it for good, don’t lubricate it for bad.

Jr: Absolutely.

D: Don’t compromise yourself. You don’t have to.

Jr: So as a young creative, what should you be doing to make sure that happens? Should you be trying to work for the companies that have the good and moral clients? Should you be calling up the clients who are doing good things and saying I need to be working on your business?

D: You can’t call the client! Who are you going to call? Who are you going to call at Proctor and Gamble? There’s a shitload of people. But! Proctor and Gamble is doing things bit by bit that are good. Unilever is doing things bit by bit. Pepsi, which in it’s current state, is causing obesity and diabetes and short attention spans and hampering education efforts, is a terrible thing. Pepsi is horrible. No one should have Pepsi in their life or their home. It is a bad influence. It is probably worse than drugs. Because it is so widely acceptable to do. No one’s going to give you shit for drinking Pepsi at the Christmas table, but if you bring out the cocaine at Grandma’s house, someone’s going to have a little talk with you. You know, “We’re going to get you some help with that cocaine problem.” No one’s going to intervene and give you help with your Pepsi problem. Who’s going to say, “You know Bob, that shit’s going to give you diabetes and you’re going to fuck up our health care system.” You just don’t have to work for them. Although with Sun Chips, Pepsi is moving to biodegradable bags and using Solar energy, so that’s good. Hopefully they’ll bail on the high fructose corn syrup.

Jr: So I guess you just pick the right places to work for or when a job comes on you decide to try and change the company culture.

D: I think if enough people would simply be honest and straight up about everything — shit’s going to change. If you’re stuck in a situation where you’re the person building a coupon for the agency that’s not the decision maker, you’re fucked. But if you’re the decision maker and you’re in a room with your client and you’re smart and you’ve thought through what you’re going to say and it makes sense, they should be OK with everything. Look at G.E. Big fucking company. They own NBC. They make jet engines.

Jr: Jet engines? Wow.

D: Yes. Somebody had the balls to present ‘Ecomagination’ as a platform for the company. And it’s fucking brilliant. It’s a mainstream company that has banked their success on making things cleaner and more efficient. And making that into a business that is sustainable. Right? You look at Snapple. They’ve dropped high fructose corn syrup and are switching to sugar.

Jr: Really?

D: Yes. Walmart. Fucking Walmart. Adam Werbach of Saatchi and Saatchi S (http://saatchis NULL.com/), his company used to be called Act Now (http://www NULL.actnowproductions NULL.com/). He was the youngest president of the Sierra Club, gave a speech saying, “Environmentalism is dead. We’re not going to hug trees anymore. We’re going to hug the people. We’re going to make everything fucking better at the same time.” Then he started working with Walmart. He looked at the company, inside the company, and said, “How do we make this shit better?” They have language for this, I don’t remember exactly what their internal terms are, but basically they’ve worked with the employees, you know, the people wearing the smocks in the stores, and said, “Make a pledge. Do something to improve your health or your planet.”

Jr: Wow.

D: And the brilliant thing behind starting with that is that somebody can come into Walmart, a CEO or whatever, down the road, and say, “Fuck that guy. Fire Saatchi S.” Guess what? Nothing changes. Because your entire culture is built on making things better. So what they did, they started making their shit totally eco — the easy stuff was switching off the lighting, making things more energy efficient. Then they started working with their suppliers, said they wanted to reduce their packaging, said they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint — they’re doing a lot of stuff. Say what you will, they’ve done some evil shit with employee relations and health care, but they do some really smart shit with supply chain management. And they’re doing that to help the environment. And the new thing they’re doing, they’ve banned recombinant bovine growth hormone in their dairy products. That’s a chemical that Monsanto makes that is in American dairy that is illegal everywhere else in the world. American milk is not legal to sell in Canada.

Jr: No… Really?

D: Yes. Because it’s filled with this fucked up chemical that makes cows produce a shit ton of milk really fast. And we feed that to American girls. And we wonder why they have giant boobs and get their periods really early.

Jr: Shit! Is this true?

D: It totally is! So Walmart said no. Walmart — which many people would say is the worst company in the world.

Jr: But they only said no recently.

D: Very recently. I mean, today capitalism isn’t a force for good or bad. Capitalism is just a force for ‘is’. It’s an efficient way of getting shit done. The ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on what people demand of it. And our role as advertisers is to create consumer demand. It’s our choice.

Jr: So I guess what you’re saying is, as a junior, even though you probably can’t influence change until you’re in a room with a decision-maker, you can be educated on what is happening and who the companies are that are implementing these ‘good’ forces of capitalism.

D: Yes. But really, I would just say have standards — with everything. Because every company has the potential to be good. Every person has the potential to be good. You look around this bar, some of these people are really nice people, some of these people are not nice people. They all have the potential to be either. And we as communicators, we as cultural artists, we as people that create feelings and emotions with our work, when we’re doing advertising, we’re creating desire. We’re creating emotion for our clients. We can steer that for good. Even in subtle ways.

There was a project I did for Intel, with Venables, Bell & Partners (http://www NULL.venablesbell NULL.com/). When I got there, they had already sold the strategy of ‘Sponsors of Tomorrow’. That was done. The TV and print had sold, they were already working on pre-production, that was done. They needed me to work on the interactive and launch. The idea was, we asked people what they want from the future. “What do you hope for in the future.” So you could go to the website, and you could say, “In the future I want…” You could answer that. You’d type that in. In Times Square, on crazy LED billboards, you could go and see a little guy dance, and see, “In the future I want blah blah blah. What do you want? Text it to this number.” You could text what you wanted out of the future. What do you think people texted?

Jr: World peace?

D: Ha, there was a lot of that stuff. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was like, “I want a girlfriend,” or, “I want a computer that’s super fast.” There was stuff like that. But a very large percentage was humanitarian. People have a hope deep down inside, people want shit to be better. If people didn’t have that we wouldn’t have gotten to this civilisation where you and I can go into this bar and talk to some dude, he’ll bring us a bunch of alcohol, while assuming that we’re going to be good enough to pay and not run out. Girls can come in and we can talk to them, and they’re not going to think we’re going to club them over the head and drag them back to our cave, right? I don’t believe that people are inherently good or bad, but I think we want good.

Jr: Everybody wants good. Even the bums. *Hiccup*

D: Even the bums. And if we tie this back to the Obama campaign, what that guy did was appeal to the best of us. He appealed to the best of our nature and it fucking worked.

Jr: Absolutely. I completely agree with that.

D: And it bums me out that we’re in this weird hangover right now as a world.

Jr: What do you mean?

D: Don’t you feel like we’re all in a giant hangover where we all had this big high and hope and now everybody is like, “Oh, shit’s still kinda fucked up.”

Jr: Yeah but we’re all just seeing what happens. Maybe the first year is recognizing the problems, the second year is fixing the problems, and the third year is changing the world.

D: I don’t think it’s like that. I think it’s much faster and more delayed. We did a lot of stuff really fast. We’re starting to see the early indicators of economic recovery. But it hasn’t hit the average person yet. The haemorrhaging is stopping. We haven’t started to heal yet. But the haemorrhaging is stopping. I’m freelancing at a lot of agencies in midtown now, and there’s a lot of empty offices. Empty offices everywhere.

Jr: Wow. You know, Australia is technically not in recession.

D: Really?

Jr: One of the only countries in the world.

D: Why is that?

Jr: Well it’s seen a downturn, but not into negative national GDP. That’s not the reason but that’s the evidence.

D: That’s good.

Jr: Yeah, I mean, doesn’t mean that a lot of people haven’t lost their jobs.

D: Well you still drive those stupid cars — the GM ones…

Jr: What stupid cars? You mean Holdens?

D: Yeah Holdens! You still drive those big stupid Holden SS Utes. You gotta change that shit.

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, COMMITMENT, CONSUMERISM, ENVIRONMENT, JOB HUNTING, NEW YORK, PEPSI, PETER ARNELL, PROCTOR & GAMBLE, SAN FRANCISCO, SNICKERS, STANDARDS, SUCCESS, WALMART

Dec 07, 09

The Monday Morning WHIP // 55

whip55

Why do you keep trying? What’s the point of it all? We ask ourselves this all the time — so don’t worry, you’re not alone. Even Charles Saatchi, the famed advertising genius, was once asked, “What keeps you going?” But being the genius that he is, in his infinite wisdom he replied, “Well, what’s the alternative?” Need more answers? Don’t worry, Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) has another…

I went to the Melbourne Design Market yesterday. Made me feel genuinely proud, with so many young Melburnians following their dreams by getting out there and creating stuff.

As I’ve said many times before, anyone can have an idea. But it requires real creativity to make that idea actually happen.

I spoke to a few of the stallholders about their ideas, whether or not they required any kind of funding and, most importantly, any obstacles they had had to overcome.

All of them told me stories about self-doubt and stress, of feeling insecure and wanting to give up.

But they didn’t.

They pushed on even though they felt they were on the verge of failing.

Why?

Because that’s what creative people do.

Also posted in WRITING | Tags: ADVERTISING, CHARLES SAATCHI, COMMITMENT, HUNGER, MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE DESIGN MARKET

Nov 30, 09

The Monday Morning WHIP // 54

whip54

Most advice we juniors receive these days is so predictable. It’s always the same old cliches spoken by the same old people who have nothing better to tell us than, ‘Be your best’, ‘Believe in yourself’, ‘Think big’, or, ‘Never give up’ — Goodness me! That guff helps no one. Lucky for you Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) doesn’t think that way. His advice is always practical. ‘Make phonecalls‘, ‘Have realistic expectations‘, ‘Don’t expect lots of money‘, and now some advice you’ll likely need — ‘Take the job’.

A young art director came to see me for some advice last week. After many months of job hunting and folio showings, she had been offered a position at a small agency.

Thing is, she wasn’t completely sure that she should take the job.

I asked her the name of the creative director and, as I expected, it was someone I had never heard of.

Next I asked her whether or not she had hit it off with the creative director and she said she had. She then went on to say how he had been very encouraging of her and her work.

So I asked her why she had come to see me. Turns out she wanted my advice on whether or not she should take the job.

This is quite common amongst aspiring creatives. As you can imagine, most kids want to work at big name agencies and hot shops. Can’t blame them for that.

But the reality is that creative opportunities are few and far between. So if you get offered a job at a shitty little agency no one has ever heard of, my advice is to take it.

Just don’t stay there too long.

Treat it as an apprenticeship. Use it to build your craft skills. And make good use of studio equipment to build a folio good enough to get you a job at a better agency.

Because you’ll learn a lot more actually working than you ever will sitting at home fine tuning your folio.

Also posted in WHIP | Tags: JOB HUNTING, JOB INTERVIEW, WHIP, WORK

Nov 23, 09

The Monday Morning WHIP // 53

whip53

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt about Stan (http://branddna NULL.blogspot NULL.com) in over a year worth of WHIPS, it’s that he loves a football metaphor. See exhibit A, B, C and D. So when we saw that Frenchman playing european handball (http://www NULL.guardian NULL.co NULL.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/21/thierry-henry-handball-france-ireland) with a soccerball last week, we just knew Stan would find a way to write it into this week’s WHIP. So here you are kiddies. Learn a thing or two.

Much fuss in the sporting media this week about French footballer Thierry Henry committing a professional foul to help get his team through to the World Cup in South Africa next year.

For those of you who are not familiar with him, Henry is an exceptional talent. A creative genius on the football field. Yet he chose to cheat (http://i NULL.dailymail NULL.co NULL.uk/i/pix/2009/11/19/article-0-0746AED1000005DC-99_306x423 NULL.jpg) in order to help his team win.

Now I do not wish to condone his behaviour, because he is a dirty cheating Frenchman, but in order to achieve the ultimate prize you need to follow the mantra of Malcolm X – By any means necessary.

If you want a job, you need to be prepared to do what it takes.

And if what it takes is a little bending of the rules, bend them. If what it takes is a bit of brown nosing, then go get brown. And if what it takes is to lie, then be prepared to be a little loose with the truth.

Because if you don’t, somebody else surely will.

Also posted in WHIP | Tags: ADVERTISING, FOLIO, FOOTBALL METAPHOR, JOB HUNTING

home //
wtf? //

drinks //
interviews // whips // dear-junior //