You might think Stan bangs on an awful lot about folios. Take it from us, he knows a thing or two. And after sifting through the work of some of the industry’s best thinkers all weekend, we think he’s got enough reason to tell us what’s what when it comes to that pretty little book that might just get you a job.

Last weekend I judged the Direct Marketing section for the MADC Awards. I have judged direct work a couple of times before, but this time was very different.

Sure there were the usual selection of clever mail packs and three-dimensional pieces, but what was noticeably different was the sheer breadth of work entered into the category. Much of it already awarded at Cannes earlier in the year.
It’s as if direct has become the new place to be for creativity. Well this year anyway!
Yet hardly any of the kids who come to show me their folio have direct ideas in them. Mind you, they don’t have many digital ideas either.

What I can’t work out is why.

Agency slow-time. Hours, days, weeks get entered into timesheets as “Admin Time”.
So what do you do?
Get yourself known as the agency’s best ping pong player? Stare at The Age online?

Why not make yourself indispensible?
Talk to people. Nobody will hate you for looking eager.

Re-read an old brief. See if there was anything you missed that might spark off something for the next one.

That killed-off idea from last month? Fix it. Make it better. Mock it up.

Read industry blogs then move on.
What’s happening in art? Ever read that Fin Review in the kitchen? Nobody has. That’s what your clients are reading.

Make a topical ad.
Make anything (lots of award winning work was made during Admin time) but just stay away from the table tennis table.

You can’t polish a turd. And although you might be able to make it a good looking turd, it ain’t gonna fly with Stan.

Had a creative team show me some concepts this week for a project I’m working on. I asked which was their preferred idea and they pointed to the first concept.

When I asked them why, they rambled on for what seemed like an eternity. Yet when they finished talking I was none the wiser.

So I asked them to explain the idea in a sentence. They couldn’t.

This is because what they had wasn’t an idea. It was a look. A feel. A design treatment.

So I gave them another chance to explain their idea.

They couldn’t.

Now some people might like cool looking stuff. Some people might be happy with well designed things. But not me.

I want to see ideas. Most creative directors do. And if you don’t have an idea, no amount of design or polish is going to hide that fact.

Are you striving for mediocrity without knowing it? Stan wants to know.

Close enough is just not good enough.

Unless of course you’re striving for mediocrity.

In which case it is perfectly acceptable.

However cryptic, this week’s Whip is one of Stan‘s best. Give yourself some time to think–enlightenment will come.

Another weekend rolls around. Another Saturday morning where I sit and wonder what on earth I’m going to write for the Monday Whip.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a big pitch, which has proven an excellent source of Whip material.

But now the dust has settled on the pitch I found myself sitting staring at a blank piece of paper.

Much like I do every day it work.

And much like I do every day at work I scribble a few thoughts, toss around a couple of ideas, then get started.

Most times it’s a struggle. Sometimes it comes within minutes. But unless I overcome that piece of blank paper I will have nothing.

And nothing isn’t going to inspire you. Nor will it keep me in a job.

Dude, don’t think so much, you’re gonna give yourself a headache. Simplicity is the key. Sit down, make some stuff, and listen to Stan.

While working on a pitch recently I watched suits and strategists going around in circles arguing propositions.

Not just for an hour or so. But for days.

Without a proposition there is no brief. And without a brief work cannot commence.

Or can it?

My motto is to worry only about the things that you can control.

I can’t control the circular habits of suits and strategists. So I put pen to paper instead.

Rather than waiting, I start generating.

So by the time the brief is ready I already have a body of work.

Obviously much of it will not be right or even usable, but by exploring many different territories with complete creative freedom, I will almost certainly stumble across one or two ideas that fit the brief.

Which means that when work is supposed to commence, I am already halfway there.

Today is a public holiday and our man Stan is whipping from his office. So this advice couldn’t be more real.

If you’re looking for a job as a creative you’ve got it all wrong.

Why?

Because it’s not a job. It’s a lifestyle choice.

As I type this I’m sitting in the agency working. It’s Sunday morning.

I was here on Saturday too.

And suffice to say I am in the office right now. On the Queen’s Birthday.

My wife tells to make sure I take some time off in lieu.

I just grin and say it is what it is.

Because working as a creative isn’t about doing 9 to 5. It’s about rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in. Whenever and wherever it is required.

If you want a job where you go home every day at 5pm go work in a bank.

Are you planning a move to New Yawk to begin your advertising career fo’ realz? Why don’t you give Brisvegas a shot first. The opportunity to do great work is just as good, and Stan agrees.

Last week a campaign by an Australian agency picked up not one but two highly sought after Black Pencils at the D&AD Awards in London.

This was a first for an Australian agency.

They also picked up three yellow pencils for the same campaign. Giving creatives down under much to be proud of and plenty of cause for celebration.

I’m not going to name the campaign in question, because if you don’t already know what it is you shouldn’t even be considering a career as a creative.

What I am going to do is give you two reasons why it is such an important campaign. Especially for young people sitting at home working on ideas for their folio.

Firstly, the agency in question is in Brisbane.

Not Sydney, nor Melbourne or possibly even Perth, but goddamn Brisvegas. Proving that you don’t need to work at a fashionable hotshop in a so called international city to do great work.

Secondly, and most importantly, the campaign was centred around a classified ad.

Sure there were many other elements, including a bucketload of PR, but the campaign would have been nothing without that simple classified ad.

And who among you would ever have thought that you could build a career on a classified ad?

Do you work in advertising? Are you supposed to be working on a brief right now? Are you trying to make it funnie? Maybe a little wackee? Thinking about making it funkee? Stan thinks you should re-think…

As I’m sure you know, the iPad went on sale in Australia last Friday. We’ve had one in the office for a couple of weeks, so I fully understand why people were queuing up at the crack of dawn to get one.

What I’m going to talk about today though, isn’t the iPad, but the iPad advertising campaign.
This has consisted primarily of posters of people reclining on couches with the iPad on their knee. No headline to be seen. And that’s it!

So what would you do if you got hold of the iPad brief?

I’m sure you’d agree that a portable tablet computer that operates with nothing more than the swipe of a finger on the screen is typical of the kind of product that you see in a student brief.

So how come the creatives who worked on the launch resisted the opportunity to do something weird and wonderful? Why do you think they didn’t write a “clever” headline?
Because they’re not students. They’re smart and experienced enough to let the product speak for itself.
Now ask yourself what you would have done with the iPad brief.

If it involves an idea that demonstrates how clever you are, rather than why someone would want to buy the product, then maybe you might want to have a think about the type of work you have in your folio.

Opportunities for a job, internship, new love or random cool thing are around all the time. But, as Stan sees in you all, would you know what to do if you saw one?

Last Wednesday I joined a selection of Melbourne Creative Directors for Portfolio Night. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s like a cross between speed dating and showing your folio.

Without wanting to overstate it, the night is pretty much a chance in a lifetime for aspiring creatives, as it allows juniors to hawk their wares to around a dozen CDs over the course of a single night.

Notice how I said hawk their wares, not show their folio? Well sadly many of the kids that I saw came simply to show their folio.

I’d say I saw around a dozen kids on the night. And all of them had at least one interesting piece in their folios.

But very few of them came prepared to make the most of the opportunity.

I asked every person I saw if they had a business card. Two people gave me a card and one gave me a cd of their folio. But the others didn’t have anything for me to put on my pinboard or keep in my drawer.

Which is an opportunity missed.