ADVERTISING – Junior - Celebrating life at the bottom

Apr 14, 11

The Interview Series // 44 agIdeas Special

What a head-shot! Pardon the pun! But seriously – get this – before Adam Hunt started his career in advertising, he had 80% of his brain removed. No shit! We only found out after we finished our interview, so you’ll have to see him speak at agIdeas (http://agideas NULL.com NULL.au) (seamless plug (http://www NULL.agideas NULL.net/agideas-2011/sponsors)) to find out the full story. Without giving too much away before he speaks as part of the International Design Forum (http://www NULL.agideas NULL.net/index NULL.php?nodeId=19), Adam has had quite the career. Working in various countries, winning awards, making t-shirts (http://www NULL.goatboy NULL.com NULL.au/), and pissing off the head-honchos at the ABC (http://www NULL.smh NULL.com NULL.au/national/discrimination-gruen-ad-ban-sparks-online-debate-20090514-b415 NULL.html). These days however, Adam is a creative gun for hire and runs Mamasan (http://www NULL.mamasan NULL.com NULL.au/), an asian themed bar in Sydney! In his agIdeas bio Adam is quoted as saying he “thinks that most advertising is ‘brainfuckingly boring’, so he’s currently taking a break.” We kind of agree – so we thought we’d ask Adam how we can do better.

Junior: Ok Adam, from the top, how did you get into advertising?

Adam Hunt: Pretty much by accident and greed. A mate told me I could triple my salary if I moved from being a Magazine Art Director to an Advertising Art Director.

Jr: Wow. We wish we could triple our salary! Was it a difficult transition?

A: No. It was liberating. In editorial, words rule. In advertising (I believe) pictures rule. You’ve got to grab peoples attention visually & then reward that attention immediately. Also in advertising you work in a creative team – which can be either bliss or a bastard – depending on your teammate. I was blessed to work for 5 years in 4 countries with Ben Nott (founding partner/CD of Droga5 (http://droga5 NULL.com)). We’re like best mates & brothers. They call creative partnerships marriages, so we even had a wedding photo taken. I was the bride, because back then I had bigger hair than Bon Jovi (http://www NULL.celebrityviplounge NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/jon_bon_jovi NULL.jpg).

Jr: At what point did you start writing ads and start calling yourself a Copywriter as well as an Art Director?

A: Ben used to say that he’d draw the words and I’d write the pictures. That’s pretty Zen, but accurate.

Jr: Obviously to have both skills is a real plus.

A: You can’t not have both skills – as they serve the delivery of ideas. (That’s if your ad has an idea in it, of course.)

Jr: You’ve worked all around the world, do you think overseas experience is a key ingredient to a successful career?

A: It’s essential. Working in advertising in Australia is like being a soccer player in Australia – you dream of running out onto Old Trafford & playing for Manchester United. I managed to score a gig at Saatchi & Saatchi in London, which was Mecca for creatives.

Jr: What has been the highlight of your career to date?

A: Travelling the world & meeting incredibly inspiring people – all because of the creative process when you say: “what if…” and then you scribble something on a piece of paper and see if it makes you laugh. By doing that I managed to meet people like Sir Edmund Hillary, Dennis Hopper, Salman Rushdie, Paul Arden, Cicciolina, Malcom McClaren, Damien Hirst, Bradley Trevor Grieve & Andrew Denton. These people are like an energy source that you can tap into and draw adrenaline from.

Jr: In your career, you’ve done a fair few things (http://www NULL.goatboy NULL.com NULL.au/) outside ad-land, and these days you own Mamasan (http://www NULL.mamasan NULL.com NULL.au/) – do you think it’s important to be creative outside of being a creative?

A: Of course – advertising creatives who live with their heads in D&AD Annuals may as well have their head up their arse. Inspiration comes from the world – and there’s a pretty big one happening out there beyond advertising.

Jr: Do you think your advertising background and skill-set have helped you run Mamasan?

A: I guess so – it’s all about managing an experience – what you see, hear, smell, eat, drink and feel. But by far the biggest help has been my beautiful Taiwanese/Japanese partner, who owned a restaurant that I hung out at between freelance gigs. Eventually we decided to sell it and open a bar together.

Jr: What made you decide to take a break from advertising?

A: Survival. I couldn’t get a job after the scandal of my ad (http://www NULL.smh NULL.com NULL.au/national/discrimination-gruen-ad-ban-sparks-online-debate-20090514-b415 NULL.html) on The Gruen Transfer. I soon realized that I’d have to tone my creative instincts down to land a corporate gig, as I was perceived as “too risky”. So I thought I’d try something else instead. In over 20 years in advertising I spent a lot of time in bars – I guess you could say that advertising has driven me to drink! Nobody takes risks any more – which is why advertising is so incredibly fucking boring. Pendulums always swing one way or another – at the moment the pendulum is well and truly in the court of the bland scientists who believe that people buy things for rational reasons, and that research can measure the effectiveness of an idea. They don’t and it can’t.

Jr: We think the work coming out of ad-land can be pretty uninspiring. And here we are either knocking on doors to get into an agency, or spending every waking moment in one. How can we all do better work do you think?

A: You can’t do great work without a great brief and a great client. The only time I’ve ever done anything regarded as any good is when these planets align. You need a brief that’s single minded and is based upon a simple insight about who you’re talking to. And you need a client who will take the risks required to go with something new and fresh. It’s a long time between drinks for those factors to occur – so you may as well come and have some at Mamasan’s bar. It’s made of 150 year old oak doors from China, and we have Asahi & Sapporo on tap. The food’s bloody amazing & there’s some cool shit on the walls. No ads though.

Jr: Nice. We love a good segway.

Adam is speaking at the agIdeas 2011 International Design Forum. 3 to 5 May. Tickets here. (http://www NULL.agideas NULL.net/purchase-tickets)

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: Adam Hunt, AGIDEAS

Apr 11, 11

Junior Event // 25

When we asked David Ponce De Leon, CD of BD Network (http://thisisbd NULL.com NULL.au/), if he would speak at our April event in Melbourne, we got an email back asking: “what makes you think I have anything interesting to say?” Now, if you’ve met ‘The Ponce’ you’d know he’s one of the most interesting dudes round town! Having previously been CD at Lifelounge (http://www NULL.lifeloungegroup NULL.com/ target=) as well as head of Award School, ‘The Ponce’ knew exactly what we needed to hear. He told us of a golden agency where “clients are completely devoted to the production of great advertising and often double their budgets to achieve this. A private chef and a masseuse take care exclusively of the genial creative department. The generous senior mentors devote their time entirely to the development of juniors and newcomers, who get the best briefs, more often than not, in the agency’s own turkish steam bath.” He then explained any job is better than no job and that such agencies don’t exist, and if we thought they did we were “fucking kidding ourselves”. He also told us not to drink or take drugs, among many other pearls of wisdom. Luckily for you, the Columbian thoughtfully left us his presentation for your perusal here!

Also posted in DRINKS | Tags: BD NETWORK, DAVID PONCE DE LEON, DRINKS

Feb 10, 11

The Interview Series // 42

In all our 41 interviews we have never, not once, ever, done a junior interview with someone in Planning. Our friends who want to get into planning kept complaining. And complaining. And not getting jobs in planning. We felt like bad friends so we found Mark Pollard (http://www NULL.markpollard NULL.net/), Director of Strategy at McCann Sydney. Mark’s earlier years spent building websites give him bucket-loads of that digital savvy-ness — all the kind stuff you need to get yourself strategising the shit out of digital. He also wrote for Inpress magazine, and published his own zine Stealth (http://www NULL.stealthmag NULL.com). So it’s no surprise when he shed light on what it takes to get into Planning doing different things outside ad-land was at the top of the list. Enjoy y’all.

Junior: Ok, let’s start at the beginning — what’s your background?

Mark Pollard: I was at Uni doing a couple of degrees, and when I was 19 I started making websites. While I was finishing off one of the degrees, I started working at a digital agency. I was about 20 at the time, working on Levi’s first big website in Australia. I was teaching myself how to make my own websites, and I wrote for a lot of street press like Inpress and 3D World for five years, and did a lot of radio. Then I published my own magazine, Stealth (http://www NULL.stealthmag NULL.com). I was always involved with, or working full time with an agency at the same time. Tribal DDB in Sydney gave me 20-30 hours a week, and then allowed me to work on my magazine at nights. I did that throughout my mid twenties, and then moved more into digital production, project management, account management, information architecture – 300 page scoping documents, for e-commerce sites and online training sites – and, finally, planning.

Jr: Wow.

M: Yeah, it’s ok. I think that now, more than ever, you have to have the experience of an all-rounder. But then I decided to specialise. I was always interested in strategy. I played chess from a young age. I went over to Leo Burnett, just freelancing as a producer because I didn’t want to go full time, and ended up working with Todd Sampson – who offered me a full time job to go into strategy. It was a bit of an experiment: give a job to a person whose adult life had grown out of the Internet, add some planning skills and see what happens.

Jr: Was the experiment a success? What did you learn there?

Well, it’s been an interesting journey – one that continues. At Leo Burnett, the things that have stuck with me most are workshop techniques (brainstorming, problem identification) and, then, in my last year, working with Scott Davis from BMF, made me get much tighter with my thinking.

Jr: Do you think many strategy planners around town have the skills you do, with digital as their background?

M: I don’t know of many. I also think that any role with the word ‘digital’ in it will disappear in the next three to five years. You’ll have a more generalist strategy role, and then you’ll have specialists in different fields. Architects, online content creators and project managers who have specialist skills. Producers – in the general sense I’ve seen the word used in Australia – will start disappearing.

Jr: So what you’re saying is digital will become the day-to-day?

M: Well, it has to. But then, what’s digital? We’re really talking screens here, right? And, as screens become ubiquitous, ‘digital’ in advertising will need to be. The problem for me is that people use ‘digital’ to talk channel when it’s actually a cultural difference – inside the agency itself, how the agency interacts with clients and so on.

Jr: Strategy seems like a hard area to break into as a junior. There’s not really an entry-level position…

M: No, there’s not. And most Planning Directors will recruit people who they think have done interesting stuff outside of advertising as the entry level. There are plenty of interesting stories about geographers, magazine publishers, schoolteachers and lawyers moving into that space because there’s a risk that if you grow up in strategy it could be a little bit tricky. You need those real life adult experiences.

Jr: If you had to give advice to young wannabe planners, what would you say?

M: I always try to convince people that planning should be simpler than some people might let on, and it’s about understanding what the real problem is. Really honing in on insights – we’re talking about insights as being an unspoken human truth. A lot of people put into briefs a lot of insights, which aren’t really insightful at all.

And then, trying to focus on lateral thought in two ways – one, in how you express words (it’s always the counter intuitive combination of words that makes things stand out); and, secondly, in non-advertising ideas. I think there will be an emerging pool of people who will focus on non-Award School type ideas, because I think our advertising industry is so based on words and pictures – and that’s a big part of creativity and people who are awesome at it are incredible – but there’s a whole world of thinking out there that you might solve a problem without doing any advertising. I think the planners that excite me are in that space as well.

Jr: How closely do you work with the creative teams through the creative process?

M: My preference is to work as close as possible, but a lot of creatives are great strategic thinkers as well. It always depends on who you are working with, and how much time is involved. Some people like playing by themselves. I try to stay as close as possible throughout but will dip in and out depending on the process and where it is.

Jr: Being a strategist you must have a few thoughts on where our business is heading – so what do you think the future will bring?

M: Our industry is competing with every other industry to get get smart people, and a lot of the other industries do a much better job at mentorship and training and bringing people through the ranks. Ad agencies are survival of the fittest.

For me I think the future creative mind will be a combination of Edward de Bono and Steven Spielberg, meets Facebook and Google. It’ll cover all sorts of areas: understanding content and information and how people access it, how people interact with each other and things online and offline.

Jr: Sounds like change is afoot — what do you think this means for juniors?

M: I wonder for how long the Art Director/Copywriter paradigm will exist. I’m interested in people that are journalists, setting up street press magazines, comedians or those who have just written something. Because everyone is going to need an additional skill. If you can write and film something, bingo!

For me it’s becoming less about advertising and more about content, utilities, communities. The business models need to adapt to allow for more of that – as do people new to the industry.

Advice: stay curious, invest personal time in researching and reading as much as possible and stay nice to deal with.

Mark has also supplied some recommended reading for those interested.
How to do account planning – a simple approach (http://www NULL.markpollard NULL.net/how-to-do-account-planning-a-simple-approach/), Why strategists should make stuff (http://www NULL.markpollard NULL.net/why-strategists-should-make-stuff/) and 10 strategies for a strategist’s career – right now (http://www NULL.markpollard NULL.net/10-strategies-for-a-strategists-career-right-now/)

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, MARK POLLARD, MCCANN

Jan 26, 11

The Interview Series // 41

Are you a Weights and Measures Inspector (http://wiki NULL.answers NULL.com/Q/What_do_Weights_and_Measures_inspectors_do) or something just as mundane? Do you dream of chucking it all (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=nZW8fzPujnc&feature=related) in and becoming a creative? Well, meet your new inspiration, Peter Cortez. Our boy Pete may have started his advertising career late, but he’s sure made up for lost time. Since going back to study at Miami Ad School at age thirty, he’s made some ads, worked with big brands, developed and launched two iPhone apps of his own and even started a New York lunch club (http://www NULL.tplc NULL.co/). Oh, did we mention he helped get the President of the US of A elected? We thought we’d pick Pete’s brain about his ever-changing career path.

Junior: Dude! How did you get into advertising, Pete?

Peter: Before I worked in advertising I was an Optician for many years. I always felt I was a creative person, but I felt my career as an Optician wasn’t very creative. One day I went into a Barnes & Nobles bookstore on my lunch break and in the magazine section I saw a close up shot of a woman in a bikini and a small man with a lawn mower going down the right side of her bikini. I said what the hell is that? It was a Luerzer’s Archive magazine. I was hooked at first site seeing that cover. I bought the magazine and remember thinking, people get paid to do that? I want to do that! So I ending up changing careers and started over at 30 and went back to school. I went to the Miami Ad School.

Jr: An Optician! Wow. It’s amazing how many people have come from vastly different careers to advertising. Do you think your life experience and time spent as an Optician aided you in your second career in anyway?

P: I’d like to think my life experience has helped me as a creative. I think the one thing I took with me as an Optician to advertising was being a good listener. Listening to patients and clients is very similar. Being a creative is about craft and voice, craft being the technical skills. Voice is having something to say and bring in real life experiences.

Jr: What was the ad that made you chuck it all in?

P: The Luerzer’s Archive mag cover was an ad for Kookai (http://www NULL.coloribus NULL.com/adsarchive/prints/kookai-pret-a-porter-the-lawn-mower-1133455/).

Jr: Coming into the industry late as an Art Director, how did you learn your craft, mac skills etc? Were you always a visual person?

P: I had never used Photoshop before and was a bad illustrator. I went to the Miami ad school and started to learn on the fly. It was tough, my first quarter most of the kids already new Photoshop and Quark. I just dated myself… wait, I said Quark – wow remember Quark?!

Jr: Totes. We learnt it in first semester uni and by the time we came back after semester break, they told us to forget everything we’d learnt and that we’d now be using some thing called InDesign. ‘Quark’ sounds cooler.

P: Ha. I think being a visual person helped me when I started, because I at least had a sense of what I wanted to do. The hard part was I didn’t know how to make it, and I had to learn how to use the tools and the design rules.

Jr: At SS+K (http://ssk NULL.com/) you worked on the Obama campaign – what was that like?

P: Amazing! I feel so fortunate to have been a part of that campaign. Not for the work, though I love the work we did, but for what the cause was about.

Jr: Getting a President elected seems like a big job. We wouldn’t know where to start. What was it like when you first got the brief?

P: I can’t speak for the rest of the creative department at SS+K, but for me I was excited and freakin’ scared! The opportunity felt like a one of those moments in life that don’t come around everyday. Lucky for for us we worked for an amazing Creative Director, Marty Cooke, who instead of starting us off with a brief, gave us both of Barack’s books – ‘Dreams from my father‘ and ‘The audacity of hope‘. After we read the books, we were briefed.

Jr: We’ve already chatted with your copywriter at the time, Daniel Bremmer as well as Scott Thomas who was responsible for the look of the campaign, so we won’t dwell too much on the subject. But, did ‘vote for change’ come from you and Daniel, or somewhere else?

P: The Obama campaign thought of the name, and the site. Daniel and I came up with the idea for reasons and the the line “Don’t get mad. Get registered.” Everything fell out of that.

Jr: You’ve had an amazing advertising career. At what point did you decide advertising wasn’t what you wanted to do anymore?

P: In June 2010 I realised I really wanted to make iPhone apps. It was kind of a perfect storm for me. I was in the middle of building a app called Recco (http://myrecco NULL.com/) with two partners, and brands started coming to me to build apps for them. At the time advertising was not doing it for me. I felt like it was still stuck in this mode of ‘we make things, the public views them and we all form opinions about those things’. I felt like the way the world is today you need to create tools that people use, and if they find those tools useful they will like the brand. Content is still king, it just lives in a mobile device and not a television box anymore. People still listen to radio, and people will still watch television. Everyone will still surf the net, but the way the world is today people are on the go and they expect their mobile device to keep up with them. And smart phones have everything. There’s apps for everything!

Jr: How did you get into the app business from there?

P: In early 2009 I started making my first iPhone app, B-BOT (http://myb-bot NULL.com/). I partnered with Tristan Eaton who I met while working on the Obama campaign. Tristan is the creator of the Dunny and Munny for Kid Robot (http://www NULL.kidrobot NULL.com/). They are the two biggest platforms for vinyl toys out there. We created B-BOT together. If you’ve ever wanted to make a vinyl toy in tribute to yourself (or another), this application lets you do just that. There are over 4 trillion different B-BOT’s you can make. Yes, trillion. After I made B-BOT I was hooked. It’s hard to beat being the client and the creative at the same time.

One of the many things I learned while making B-BOT was how much I enjoyed being a producer, and building a team who can make a project come to life. In advertising as creatives, we would give account service and clients our recommendations for directors, photographers, and illustrators. Sometimes they understood, and sometimes they would just flat disagree. When I started making apps, that changed. There is no difference from when I was a creative to a guy making apps — I always recommend who I think is best for the job. Unfortunately, the client often thinks they know more then you do. With apps, it’s so new that we are all learning as we go along, so clients have more trust.

Jr: Where do you start when working on an app? What kind of creative process do you go through?

The process is always the same for me.

Phase one: What am I being asked to do? Do I agree with it? Why do I agree with it it?
Phase two: How do I make it better?
Phase three: How do I make it better?
Phase four: How do I make it better?
Phase five: How do I make it better?

The idea is a great start, and not a place to finish. I think creatives hold too much weight in how good the idea is. To me it’s much more important to find out what are you going to do with an idea. And, what will it become?

Jr: So once the idea and its functionality is nailed – what next? Is the process similar to designing a website? i.e. Design it, then someone cuts it up, etc?

P: Exactly, just like a site. Designing, wire frames, and UX. If you are going to start coding you have to know what you want to do. I always say nothing matters until you hold an app on a device and can play with it. Before that it’s all theory, no matter how much thinking you have put into it. You have to be willing to beta test your app and be willing to change it to make it better, and not hold onto the exact idea you had in your mind.

Jr: We just downloaded Recco (http://itunes NULL.apple NULL.com/us/app/recco/id406020418?mt=8) – an app for recommending restaurants to friends. It seems like it’s got a lot of potential to be big. But then, there’s so many apps that are great but never really take off. How do you become the next Foursquare or Instagram?

P: I love talking about this question. I think the best way to try and become the next Foursquare or Instagram is to not try and be the next Foursquare or Instagram, and work hard at making a platform that people really enjoy using, and have a need for. One way of doing that is always working at making the product better. It should never end — your product is a living breathing thing that you need to pay attention to, and give attention to, all the time.

Foursquare didn’t take off with a bang to start with. They didn’t have a lot of users for the first 8 months, but they kept making the product better, and offering a great service. They were ahead of the curve and the users caught up at some point with all the great press they were getting. Instagram did hit the ground running, but they’re always constantly updating, and fixing, and adding.

J: What should someone do if we have an idea for an app, but they’re not sure how to get it off the ground. Should it be sold to a brand or a developer? Or should they just do it themselves and see where it leads?

P: So many people think the idea is everything. Its NOT. It’s just the start of something. Find a way to make your idea into a reality — it’s all about making things and finding out what they can become. Find developers who will make your idea in exchange for equity, if you don’t have money. You can always pay for it yourself, I am a big believer in this one – that’s what I did with B-BOT. We found a developer who liked our idea and wanted to work with us. As far as selling an idea, it’s really tough to sell just an idea with out a proof of concept. But always try to find a way — persevere, if it’s an idea that’s got legs it’s worth it.

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: Apps, PETER CORTEZ, SS+K

Dec 09, 10

The Interview Series // 40

Would you believe R/GA (http://rga NULL.com), digital agency of the decade, started in the late seventies as a production company? Founded by two brothers — they created the first integrated computer-assisted production process (oh Wikipedia, you make us sound so clever)! Translation: they revolutionised motion graphics and special effects. Heck! They did the opening titles for the original Superman (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=1qHDWdGPomw) and have Oscars on their wall. Flash-forward twenty-something years and they’ve shaken up the fundamentals of the digital agency — creating innovative digital solutions for clients, like the fandangled-ly cool Nike+ (http://nikerunning NULL.nike NULL.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_AU/) utility.

This baseball cap-clad Aussie expat is Associate Creative Director. Paul started his career in Sydney as Production Assistant, before becoming a suit, before working his way into copywriting – all at the one agency. Then he decided it was time to ditch traditional and go digital. And where better to do that than New York City! During our recent trip to NYC, our chat to Paul in R/GA’s sunny front yard opened our eyes to the future of advertising.

Junior: Where did it all start for you? You’re a Sydney boy?

Paul Dery: I was actually born in Melbourne. I moved to Sydney when I was about 15, and then I started at M&C Saatchi as a Production Assistant. From there I made the switch to account service. Which was an excellent learning experience. All creatives should probably have a stint there, even if it is just a week. To understand what it’s like on their side of the fence, but to also understand how to sell stuff. What the client needs to hear and what helps them buy an idea. I then did AWARD School and then obviously moved into the world of Copywriting. It was a great apprenticeship though, coming through Production and Account Service. I’m very grateful for it.

Jr: Did you move over at M&C? Was that a challenge?

P: I did, it was tricky. I remember the first fight I had with a suit, and the whole department was laughing, because they were like ‘welcome’ to being a creative.

The transition was made easier as the beauty of creative work is that the proof is always in the pudding. The harder you work, and as long as your stuff keeps improving I think people quickly forget that you were the Production kid or the Account guy.

Jr: How did you do it? Did you just hound the Creative Director?

P: It’s a pretty simple rule – I think 9-5 you’re an account person, and 5-9 you’re a creative. I was really lucky. The Creative Director, Michael Andrews set me a task that every Monday he would give me a brief, and every Monday he would look at the work from the week before. We did that for six months. He said, ‘by then we’ll know. You’re either rubbish, or you’re good’. Don’t know if I was good, but six months later I had a book that was probably just good enough to get me my first job in the agency as a writer.

Jr: So you stayed there for a little while?

P: I was there for seven years in total. I did a stint for about a year in the Melbourne office too. It’s always had a history of doing good work. It was nice to have a bit of time at a smaller agency. Big and small agencies each have pros and cons and are very different places to work in, and they’re very different places to get work made. It’s good to understand both spectrums.

Jr: What stage did you decide you wanted to get a gig in New York?

P: A funny story actually, I won a green card in the green card lottery.

Jr: No way!

P: I saw a web banner promoting it. I think it’s the only banner I’ve ever clicked on. I then got an email from the US Government saying that I’d won, and I thought it was a Nigerian scam. Even as I was stepping off the plane into JFK I thought something would go wrong.

Jr: What happened when you got to New York? How did you end up at RGA?

P: R/GA is an amazing place. It’s 1000 people, for one, and it’s grown crazy fast. For me, it felt like the first place that could lead the transition the industry is going through. Advertising is changing every day, the beauty of R/GA is that you can write the future. Nobody fully understands what’s going to happen with advertising but we have a pretty good idea of how people are consuming and how they want to consume. That’s why I thought R/GA would be a great place to be. I came from a traditional background of writing TV and print ads. At this place, you’ve got to start again in terms of media. Creatively you still need the traditional idea grounded in a good truth, but if you’re not using the technology that’s being developed and on offer, then it’s totally unutilized.

Writers in traditional agencies who are writing great ads could probably be much more effective if they worked with the technology a bit harder. That’s why I joined R/GA because I thought bugger it, I’ve got to understand how this works or I could be an old dinosaur at an early age. So I jumped on board and for ages I turned up to meetings and had no idea what these people were saying. I just kept nodding. I think my favorite phrase was ‘Yup I think I saw that on TED’. It was my only get out of jail card line I could use!

Jr: How did you go about getting in if you came from such a traditional background?

P: I got really lucky. R/GA, obviously from a pure digital background were starting to broaden their horizons. So they were looking for traditional ad guys I guess. A lot of their clients were asking for video content that required a lot of script writing. It was the middle of a horrible recession, the middle of a freezing cold winter. Ignorance was bliss — I walked in and got extremely lucky.

Jr: You would have had some pretty good work under your belt coming from M&C though?

P: It was ok. I hadn’t had that many years as a copywriter. It was prolific, I worked across a lot of brands and had a lot of stuff made. Now looking back, with the account service background, whether it should have been made is another question!

Jr: Do you think that a creative would get more concepts made in Melbourne or Sydney than you would in New York?

P: I’d say there’s more of a delay in coming up with an idea and implementing it. Here at R/GA you’ve got a broad range of clients like Nike, Walmart & Mastercard. We tend to implement a lot of business changing ideas, and that takes time. Whether it’s a new platform, or a new customer service stream using Twitter, whatever it is, to turn a big client around isn’t a fast process.

Jr: That would be really cool, not just thinking in terms of ads, but also in terms of business.

P: I think that’s the enjoyable part about thinking digitally. I’m used to getting a brief where media is bought, they want TV and print, and your brain is trained to execute. Here, the media is open ended. The client want to sell something, and you’ve got to come up with a solution. It could be anything. Is it an online scavenger hunt? A Twitter contest? A Facebook Connect Video? It’s whatever you think people can consume the idea best. That was the hardest thing for my brain to get around as a creative. It’s hard enough to start with that blank page to come up with a script. It’s super hard to come up with a blank media environment.

Jr: They sound like pretty awesome briefs!

P: They’re pretty open but the planners still manage to get a lot in! Advertising is definitely going through some kind of change, I don’t know if it’s a revolution or evolution but you’re given your freedom when working with a strategy.

Jr: For those of us who are used to and have trained at traditional agencies, how does R/GA work in terms of skill sets?

P: R/GA is quite unique in regards to the fact that everyone is on an equal playing field. It combines design, copywriting, ID (interaction design), and the tech guys. There’s a suite of people all under the umbrella of creatives. Everyone has a chance to pitch an idea. Normally as a copywriter you are used to having a firmer say on ideas. Where here a great idea might come from a techie nerd guy who had this thought, and sure it doesn’t have an umbrella campaign line, but it’s an awesome use of technology that you can latch onto with a campaign. In terms of skill sets, it’s a really interesting place. R/GA came from a production and design background. When it went into an advertising realm it built websites. I think that’s why design is a strong lead at R/GA and heavily relied upon.

Jr: So you obviously don’t work in traditional two person teams anymore?

P: I don’t. There are teams, but they aren’t as common. I don’t have a partner. I kind of enjoy the freedom to roam across different accounts. You could be working with a traditional art director one minute, and then an iPhone app developer who had a good idea. It’s cool. It seems to work.

Jr: In terms of the junior kids back home in Melbourne putting their folios together, they might have scam ideas that have never run and they’re doing stuff for online/digital – is it the idea that is the most important and not to worry about the technology?

P: Absolutely. My first advice is to get a website, which most people have these days. But idea is still king, it’s not how fancy your site is. In fact, some of the best sites are just straight blogs of peoples work.
A digital book should always be like any book, idea centric. It can take us a year to implement a good idea online, so I don’t think people expect for your book to be 100% real. Hopefully the technological ideas you present can be made, but that’s less of a concern.

Jr: Sometimes it feels in Oz that if you have an idea, especially in terms of the digital stuff that you see around, they’re all variations of things that have already been done. It’s never a breakthrough original use of technology

P: I think we’re going to see the rise of the nerd in advertising. They have always been prevalent in good creativity. And they are the ones with the finger on the pulse of what’s new.

Jr: They’ve got us by the balls.

P: These guys eat and breathe new technology, and it’s so hard to keep on top of it unless you eat and breathe it too. I certainly try to do as much as I can, but these guys are a special breed. It’s great to find those guys and talk to them, because they’re the guys that are finding the new uses of technology. Something might just spark and you could end up with something that no one has ever seen before. And that’s the trick.

Jr: Where do you find inspiration other than the techie guys? It must be easy just to get sucked into the internet, and disappear into it for hours.

P: Part of the reason why I moved to New York is that it’s full of inspiration. It’s hard not to meet creative people who have other interests other than just advertising.

Jr: You definitely look offline?

P: I think so. I think that’s where the traditional background comes into play. You have other places to look for ideas, not just online. And often if you see it online it’s been done. Some guy beat you to it.

Jr: What’s the work culture like? Is it different?

P: It’s very different. We’re lucky; Australia has a great outlook on life as a people. We can always have a good laugh at ourselves. American work life is a bit stifled. Even in an ad agency in the USA there’s not the same shenanigans that you get up to back home. Which is probably a good thing, you probably get more work done!

Jr: Do you work harder here than you do at home?

P: What I found is that in America you have your role. And I think that because of the sheer number of people that if you’re good at your role, you stick to your role and you stay doing that. I think because of Australia’s size we’re all good at a lot of things. And that’s probably why Australians do pretty well when they go to America, we’ve had to wear a lot of hats. Although stereotypically not, we do have a great work ethic. Americans work hard, but I think Australians work efficiently hard. It’s a different culture, and I miss the days back home of mucking around having a good creative environment.

Jr: It must be hard when you’ve got 350 or so creatives in your department.

P: Yeah, but here at R/GA it’s a great environment to learn. It’s almost like a university campus, I find, because things change daily, and you’re always trying to learn from everyone around you. That’s where the atmosphere is different. It’s more of a learning environment as opposed to a working environment.

Jr: Do you think your account service hat is helping you in NY to sell in digital ideas to a client that might not necessarily get it?

P: I think a big difference between Australia and America is that the American client is very digitally savvy. They know what’s what. In terms of even just technically speaking, they know their stuff.

Jr: So you’re not presenting to your mum?

P: I wish! I’d get a lot more sold. She’s a big fan. Coming from account service I always said that I was a better seller than creative! It definitely helps. I used to see a lot of great creatives struggle to get their idea up, even if it was awesome, they just couldn’t make it buyable for the client. You’ve got to understand where your client is coming from. If you can help their career, they’ll inadvertently help yours. Selling is a huge part of it. Clients are consumers too. They need to be sold.

Jr: What’s the deal in the US, do creatives present?

P: It depends where you are, but yes, we still present to clients. At R/GA the producer will do the day to do client liaison. It was very foreign for me to see producers on the phone all day with clients, but that’s what happens. A thousand people strong and probably the best digital agency in the world, it’s hard to argue with the formula.

Jr: if you had to write a dummies guide, a couple of tips to digital thinking, could you think of anything off the top of your head? Have you learnt from any of your mistakes?

P: I wish I knew. I think the key thing would be that it has to be fun and entertaining. The beauty of digital is that it’s no longer broadcasting, it’s asking you to participate. So make it rewarding, or make it useful, or make it both.

Nike+ is a great example. It’s an application that gives me data on my run. So all of a sudden I couldn’t go for a run without Nike. It gave runners something really useful, and we call these, utilities. Utilities end up being a fine line between advertising and product development.

If you’re in a traditional agency, don’t fear – your skills are still more than ever needed. Everything still needs to be wrapped in a nice idea. A great bit of technology that isn’t will fail because no one will find it, thus use it.

I think for anyone wanting to move to NY for a job — do your work would be my advice. Getting a full time job in NY, is a full time job.

For eight hours a day I’d be making calls to six people who would give me six more people to see, and so on. It takes time. Do your research and give yourself enough time to have weeks where you get no leads. It took me six weeks, which I thought would be my absolute best-case scenario. I was lucky. But there were times during those six weeks where I doubted myself. One thing I will say that as Australians we often go to America and think, is my work good enough? Is it up to a global standard? And it absolutely is. The work we do back home is bloody great. And Australians do well in the states. My Chief Creative Officer, Nick Law (http://www NULL.rga NULL.com/about/featured/platforms-and-campaigns), is an Aussie boy from Newport, NSW. And he’s a rockstar over here. Best of all he’s still incredibly Aussie, which is great. If your work is great back home, you can guarantee that it’s great here. Make the most of getting stuff made. Not that it was overly easy in Australia, but make the most of it.

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES | Tags: ADVERTISING, DIGITAL, NEW YORK, PAUL DERY, R/GA

Nov 24, 10

The Interview Series // 39

Juniors, meet Sarah. We met her on a recent jaunt to New York City where she is the Executive Creative Director of JWT. If you were born circa 1985 like us, you missed out on probably the best years of working in advertising. But you might just remember seeing the ad that launched this Aussie expat’s career — Antz Pantz. 21 years on, with 10 of those years based in New York, we wanted to know how she made it through the eighties and nineties and got from Antz to the Big Apple, as well as the low down on working States-side.

Junior: Ok! From the top. What’s your story? Where did you start out?

Sarah Barclay: I started at JWT. I grew up in Sydney and went to the Sydney College of the Arts, which is now the Sydney University of Technology. I won one of ten scholarships for the Australian Federation of Advertising, and back then it was all about academic prowess rather than your book. There was this motley crew of ten of us, and we were placed at various agencies for 9 months — and I got placed at JWT Sydney. So I’ve actually come full circle ending up at JWT in New York. I was there for a couple of years and then went to Garland, Stewart and Roach, and then that merged with The Ball Partnership. Then Mara Marich (my copywriter) and I got offered a job at The Campaign Palace in Melbourne, so we moved there.

Jr: Was that in The Campaign Palace hey-day?

S: Oh yeah. Saatchi Sydney and the Palace were the top at that time. I was there for 5 years before going to Clem’s.

Jr: The Campaign Palace… We’ve heard some crazy stories. But there was some great work coming out of the agency then. What was it there that made the work, and agency, so great?

S: Ah, the eighties and early nineties. Good times. There was such a great, inspiring group of people there, and the agency had such a clear and passionate creative philosophy, which helped push and support us to keep doing out-of-the-box work. People like Scott Whybin, John Turnbull, James Woollett, Terry Durack (http://blogs NULL.smh NULL.com NULL.au/entertainment/tabletalk/terrydurack/) and Graeme Smith to name a few. Creatives didn’t have much client contact back then, we just concentrated on the work, and the account people had to sell or not come back. And there was such a sense of fun. I remember getting pretty bloody good at table tennis.

Jr: What was a typical day like when the agency was at the top of its game?

S: We would spend the morning concepting, go to lunch, come back and play some table tennis, pop in to Terry’s office and see which restaurant he was reviewing, then back to do some more work. Then we might ring Scott at Lynch’s or the Bot and present over the phone and then pop down later for a drink if he liked the idea. Heaven on every level.

Jr: Tell us about Antz Pantz (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=GU59Vq-nxjg)! Was that your first TV ad?

S: I think that was 1989 [at the Campaign Palace]. Candy Shoes (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=qdWUbRW-M1c) was actually my first ad. It was with Ian McKenzie who was a great DOP and it was his first director job, and we worked with this model that had to pull a folded up shoe out of her mouth. She pulled it out perfectly on the 32^nd or 33^rd take. The line was, Candy Shoes – put them on your feet not in your mouth. It was 15 seconds long, and the lead singer from the Models, Sean Kelly, was the voice over. It was this really cool, out-there ad.

Jr: That’s a great start. Was Antz Pantz a hard thing to get off the ground at the time?

S: They were the halcyon days. That was with Scott Whybin as Creative Director. I remember Mara and I were in our office and had layouts all over the floor. A boy team had done some jingle like “the girls in France have ants in their pants, the girls in Spain have ants on their brain…” which got rejected by the client. We had this script and had a picture on the floor of a girl with ants crawling over her crotch with an anteater and Scott sort of stumbled in after lunch and looked down at the mess on the floor and we told him the idea and he said that’s it, and just walked out.

Jr: That’s amazing. You must be sick of people asking you about that campaign! We saw it recently on 20 to 1.

S: It won a lot of awards. It’s up there with the 20 best Australian ads of all time.

Jr: Did you feel at the time that that was your big break?

S: Yeah, it really was quite ground breaking on many levels, and it really did get so much PR. It sold lots of product so it worked in market as well as in the award shows. And then they tested it 20 years later and girls still loved it so much, that they made a sequel.

Jr: How soon after that did you move to New York?

S: I’ve been in NY ten years. After my seven years at Clem’s doing Yellow Pages and the milk stuff with Tony Greenwood, we won a trip to NY for some of the Yellow Pages posters that we did. The Australian Outdoor Poster Award. We had a bit of a look around while we were here, as you do, and BBDO NY were really interested and brought us over.

Jr: How did you find it when you first went to New York? What were the differences from coming from Australia?

S: It’s a different world. It’s like it’s own little country. I’d always wanted to live and work somewhere else, I had traveled a lot but I was ready to try somewhere else. New York is the mother of all cities, and the center of the advertising world some would say. I’m British, so I wanted to try NY. I guess the size of the place, the energy and the budgets are extraordinary. It’s a completely different ball game from Australia. It’s a different sort of discipline.
In Australia you are trained to be a bit scrappier because you don’t have the luxury of those budgets. I think that makes us strong, holistic thinkers that are always trying to find a cheap way to get the message across. You still have to do that in NY, but you do have more of the luxury of the big budgets to do that.

Jr: Do you think the style of advertising is different in New York?

S: Yeah, it’s much more conservative. It really is the mid-west that you need to measure everything against. Unless it’s more of a content online piece of work that has less of a mass audience, but anything that is in the bigger traditional veins it’s much more conservative. The USA is the country of litigation and political correctness. We have loads of instances where we present to a US client and they think it’s fantastic, but they could never run it. And then the UK and European client will take it instead. A few of my clients are global so that makes it a little bit more rewarding.

Jr: So you’re an Art Director by trade, right?

S: I went to Art College so I started as an Art Director. Funnily enough most of my partners have been art directors, so I do a bit of writing too. A bit of everything.

Jr: Do you have a less rigid working style here in New York?

S: Yeah, and one of my teams here at JWT are both Art Directors as well. It’s weird. They both dabble in a bit of writing. I think strong conceptual thinkers are important, and of course it’s great if you have some writing craft as well.

Jr: That’s really interesting. There’s always been the whole question of whether you have to be a traditional team or not. It feels like it is frowned upon in Melbourne.

S: Some of my teams are regimented into the Art Director/Copywriter role, and I like having that because if I’ve got something that I need written in a very comedic style, I want to be able to go to someone who has that ability to craft it out.

Jr: How did you learn your craft?

S: I looked at a lot of award annuals, design books, fashion mags, record covers (ah, remember them)… art stuff, type stuff, anything I could get my hands on really. At Clem’s there were people like Henry Winkler and Libby Austin and others that were around at the time who were fab at craft. In Australia it is much more of an intimate environment so you could bounce ideas off of other art directors, and more senior creatives. I worked with Lionel Hunt a few times and that was really cool. You just look to those people that you admired within your agency and then bugged them for advice. At the Palace back then we had everyone, which was great.

Jr: Do you think it’s true though that Australia is behind the rest of the world?

S: Not really. Look at what wins at Cannes. There are bucket loads of stuff in the promo, media and digital categories from Australian agencies. I think that the budgets are probably the difference. In the US a lot of my clients still do heavy television and print work, but they are also very aware that people are also using other forms of media to view things, and they want to be where they are. Because of the nature of how much money you have it feels like you have more money to spend in those areas. I always have felt that Australia and New Zealand have been really progressive in advertising, and certainly in the quality of it, and how they make things go further with limited amounts of funds. It’s the obvious thing to do a great piece of content that doesn’t need a huge amount of media weight and spend behind it to get a message across.

Jr: Did you have a strategy when you were starting out for the agencies you wanted to work?

S: I always knew that I’d love to work somewhere like The Campaign Palace or Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, and luckily I was given the opportunity to work at the Palace Melbourne in it’s hey-day. You don’t want to get sucked up into some faceless giant. There’s plenty of time for that. I think when you’re young and you’ve got buckets of energy, you need to have a vision and stay true to that. Even if you do get swallowed up in something bigger until you get that opportunity, I think you’ve always got to have a little side book of stuff that you keep on working on. Bigger clients always look favourably when you’re being proactive which is a great way to sneak things through. That’s what happened with a lot of the work that we’ve done here. It’s being scrappy, inventive and proactive.

Jr: We definitely don’t want to get sucked up into a faceless giant… so If you had your time over as a junior what would you look for in an agency? Would you look at the Creative Director?

S: Absolutely. It’s the Chief Creative Officer over here in New York. I’d look at the brands that they have, the work that they do and the philosophy of the place. I think you get a feel by talking to people, the culture of the place – not all places suit all types. I just read about someone who I knew who was let go from an agency that everyone would love to work at. And he’s great, and the agency is great, but for some reason it just didn’t work.

Jr: Do you think it’s very different over in New York for juniors starting out their career?

S: I think because of the size of the industry, and the size of the agencies, you can get swallowed up and forgotten about. You need to make sure that you have some goals and not fall prey to the golden handcuffs if you can avoid it, and still keep true to doing great work for as long as you can. The money will come eventually if you get those awards and recognition under your belt.

Jr: In terms of the way agencies work here it seems like there are a lot more roles that make things easier?

S: We have print producers here that go on the shoots, and project managers. There are lots of people to help out-to make the process more streamlined. But there are still a lot of account service people here, and meetings can sometimes have 20 people in them. As a creative you have to keep focused that the end product is this piece of communication that everyone will see, and you all have to keep striving to make it the best it possibly can be. And sometimes people forget that and you need to remind yourself and your team of that. Always look to your Creative Director for that guidance, and that’s where your loyalty should be. Art Directors are slaves to the Mac, but it is also liberating. The thing I miss is the attention to typography and craft that we had back in the day. You need to find Art Directors who are brilliant at all craft these days, which is hard. We have a great Head Of Art here, Aaron Padin, who I worked with at Saatchi NYC, so he keeps everyone on their toes.

Jr: Did you have any key mentors throughout your career?

S: Oh yeah. Scott Whybin. He was so incredibly brilliant at spotting an idea even from a scribble. And he always pushed us and encouraged us to be better. And then at Clem’s David Blackley and Ant Shannon were really supportive and inspiring. In New York, I worked with the wonderful Tony Granger at Saatchi for 4 years. He definitely encouraged me to push the envelope and was so particular with crafting work. I hear his voice as I review work now. Ty Montague, who hired me here at JWT but has since left, is an amazingly smart and talented guy.

Jr: Do people work like that in New York too?

S: Not as much. Because of the nature and the size of the place it’s harder to get that sort of intimate working environment happening. We try and create something like that, but there are so many meetings, so many deadlines, so many jobs going on that it is easy to lose sight of just taking that moment, and giving yourself some time to really craft that piece of work. You have to remind yourself that if it’s not as good as it can be, you’ve only got yourself to blame.

Jr: What are your clients that you are working on at the moment?

S: I run Wilkinson Sword Schick. We do a lot of work for the US and also we do some of the smaller content/digital projects for Europe. Up until recently I had a lot of the Kimberly-Clark business. We had a great time doing the Kotex work — that really reframed how that sort of stuff is advertised here. The US are still in the era of twirling white skirts and horses galloping along the beach and using blue liquid, so that was excellent to stick the finger up at the hideous stuff that has been perpetrated here for years. We are also launching a global hair brand, but I can’t say any more about that just yet!

Jr: If you had advice for young people from Australia wanting to hit up New York or London, do you have any thoughts of what they can do to try to get their feet in the door?

S: Try and find an in somehow – whether it’s another Australian, or doing something proactive. Obviously the Australian Mafia works well. Hang out at 8 Mile Creek (http://maps NULL.google NULL.com NULL.au/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org NULL.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=8+mile+creek+ny&fb=1&gl=au&hq=8+mile+creek&hnear=New+York,+NY,+USA&cid=11036833762921432919) and you’ll bump into someone who is working in advertising. There are quite a few of us sprinkled around the place and that’s always a great thing.

Jr: A lot of people have different opinions on when to go.

S: I’d say sooner, rather than later. I wish I’d done it earlier. That being said, it is a hard slog to get your foot in the door without a good solid base of stuff. Definitely try. I think world experience is just fantastic. And New York is an inspiring and motivating place on every level. When you walk out the door every day there is always something silly, bizarre or different happening. You’re constantly moved to experience stuff. I’ve been here ten years and feel like I’m still scratching the surface. You’re never bored. You’re always challenged.

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES, WRITING | Tags: ANTZ PANTZ, JWT, NEW YORK, SARAH BARCLAY, THE CAMPAIGN PALACE

Nov 12, 10

Junior Event // 22

We’re all digital kids. If you aren’t, you must be living in the depths of the ocean stuck under the shipwreck of the Titanic. Eaon Pritchard (http://eaonpritchard NULL.blogspot NULL.com), the Head of Digital Innovation at Clemenger BBDO (http://clemengerbbdo NULL.com NULL.au/) knows all about the whiz-bang-shebangabang’s, he even hashtagged his ten tips.

Also posted in DRINKS | Tags: CLEMENGER BBDO, DIGITAL, DRINKS, EAON PRITCHARD

Nov 05, 10

Juniorversity // 09

The awkwardly long intro music, red suspenders, and fact that this is filmed in a cinema make David Ogilvy sound like an expert everyone needs to listen to. His carefully considered words and humility of his work only make him more so. And by George, he is the original ad-whiz kid! One of the real Mad Men, one of the best, and his name is still on the buildings of agencies around the world today — Ogilvy gives a bit of insight on what he did to make him one of the greats.

Also posted in JUNIORVERSITY | Tags: DAVID OGILVY

Oct 27, 10

The Interview Series // 36

When the Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky famously exited (http://alexbogusky NULL.posterous NULL.com/filling-in-the-blanks) the industry in August, he made a special mention of a few copywriters that he regarded as some of the most super, extra talented that he’d ever worked with. Among them was Bill Wright – CP+B Vice-President, and Creative Director on the agency’s Burger King account. Just imagine thinking about all of those Whoppers and fries all day! Anyway, we hear that he’s responsible for some of the tightest work to come out of the agency. We managed to hold Bill hostage in his office and get the goods on how not to suck at writing.

Junior: Can you tell us a little about how you started off in advertising?

Bill Wright: I pretty much grew up in front of the TV and I was fascinated by the ads. They were probably my favorite part of television. And, I always enjoyed writing. I knew I was better at it than anybody else in my school when I was growing up. So, my dream was to someday be able to write, come up with ideas, be creative — and get paid for it.

Jr: How did being schooled at such a top notch Journalism school help you in the advertising industry?

B: I went to the Missouri School of Journalism (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Missouri_School_of_Journalism) with the intent of going through the news/editorial sequence and ultimately landing a job as a reporter. However, my advisor, Jim Albright steered me into the advertising sequence. He was an amazing mentor who did a lot of great work for Doritos, Exxon and Frito-Lay back in the 70’s — I owe him a tremendous amount of credit for any success I’ve had. Missouri J-School is incredibly hard and demanding and you can’t graduate from there without being a very disciplined writer, who understands the craft.

Jr: An awesome piece of advice that we’ve once heard from you was “Don’t write funny; write about things that are funny”. Can you talk about that a little more? What’s the separation between the two in your mind?

B: Hopefully this is self-explanatory. But it means to find a premise, a situation that is inherently humorous and write a script about it. And not to write a script that is just a bunch of jokes or one-liners you strung together. That piece of advice was handed to me by Alex Bogusky, and I try to pass it along whenever I can.

Jr: A bad print ad just gets ignored. A bad TV spot, however, is up there on the screen for thirty seconds or longer, embarrassing everyone. There are just so many more things you need to get right in a TVC. Dialog, character, product messaging, establishing and resolving a story arc within 25 seconds. Would you say TV is one of the toughest mediums to write for?

B: I always thought radio was harder than TV, because in TV you at least have the visual part to do the half the lifting for you. A 60 second radio is hard; a 30 second radio ad is sort of impossible.

Jr: You showed us earlier a great memo (http://www NULL.movieline NULL.com/2010/03/david-mamets-memo-to-the-writers-of-the-unit NULL.php) that playwright David Mamet gave to his TV writing team. He discusses the need for drama in every scene (What do the characters want? What’s the conflict?); the fact that a flat script can’t be saved by great directing; and he has a great quote “If you pretend the characters can’t speak, and write a silent movie, you will be writing great drama”. All these principles seemed to be summed up perfectly in this great scene from The Wire (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=nAZZdL1qhk8). McNulty wants info on the perp, Pearlman wants to save her future shot at joining The Bar Association, and Levy wants to keep his shit on the down low. Can you break it down for us?

B: 1. “Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of shit”. – David Mamet

2. Drama is the quest of our hero to overcome those things that prevent him from achieving his goal.

3. Setup. Conflict. Resolution. That’s your story arc. Always follow it.

Jr: What’s next for advertising writing? Where do you see the next big opportunities are for creativity?

B: I wish I had the answer for this. But people will always hunger for great storytelling. Learn to tell great stories.

Jr: Do you get to work on any writing or creative projects outside of your day job?

B: Not at the moment. Someday I want to write a book about the Crispin experience.

Jr: Are there any other tips you can think of that would be useful for juniors to steal?

B: Think of an idea. Then do the exact opposite idea. Incredibly, this really works.

For example, here’s an idea for Burger King: Let’s give a free Whopper to every man, woman and child in America. Here’s a better idea: Let’s stop selling the Whopper.

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

Also posted in THE INTERVIEW SERIES, WRITING | Tags: BILL WRIGHT, CP+B

Oct 26, 10

Junior Event // 21

Woo, Sydney! We hit that joint like there was no tomorrow, with John Kane from Happy Soldiers (http://www NULL.happysoldiers NULL.com NULL.au/) in tow. He made a pretty good impression on all that attended. Look at all those rad people hanging out! Look at all those plants! We like plants! As an aside, we can’t believe we even had a hand drawn chalk sign. We think that’s freakin’ cool. See you again soon, Sid-knee!