So crunch time is here. With one deadline coming up on 14th April and another mid May, time is beginning to feel like it is slipping away. This year seems to have flown over, and the prospect of graduating in July is exciting yet scary. Its now going to be my time to shine, to step into the big, bad world and make a name for myself within advertising.
Although I am a little anxious of what the future will hold for me, I do know one thing, that I have learned a great deal over the course of the year, and I feel ready for industry. From learning how to film a TV advert, to planing out a project, and even how to use the Adobe suite confidently. I know I have the right tools, its just about how well I use them and the effort I put in.
Recently my partner and myself had the great fortune of securing an interview with David Aylesbury for placement at Robson Brown, one of the top Advertising Agencies in Newcastle, and I am hoping we get it. We will be pulling together some of our strongest work to form a short portfolio to help us gain placement. If we work hard enough here, hopefully this would lead to our first job. With the work almost over for the course and an interview coming up, I can honestly say I don't think the year could have gone any better.
So to finish off my (temporary) farewell, as I turn all my time to course work and deadlines, another ad of the week for Heineken, named The Entrance, enjoy!
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Friday, 8 April 2011
My ad of the week. 'Yes' for Lucozade Sport
So it has been a while since I have shared my favourite ad of the week, I saw this while reading Campaign. The new ad for Lucozade features Rap star Tinie Tempah, Irish World Champion boxer Katie Taylor and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker. The first by Grey since picking up the business last year. The ad uses the slogan ‘yes’ for the first time.
It was shot in LA, in a dark underground tunnel where Tinie Tempah performs a remixed version of his ‘Simply Unstoppable’ track whilst Barker drums and Taylor boxes. I think it works so well, using the different activities such as singing, drumming and boxing where you would need an energetic boost, but through putting the cool, underground twist, and celebrity face to each activity, Lucozade has a great campaign on its hands.
Here's the ad, enjoy!
It was shot in LA, in a dark underground tunnel where Tinie Tempah performs a remixed version of his ‘Simply Unstoppable’ track whilst Barker drums and Taylor boxes. I think it works so well, using the different activities such as singing, drumming and boxing where you would need an energetic boost, but through putting the cool, underground twist, and celebrity face to each activity, Lucozade has a great campaign on its hands.
Here's the ad, enjoy!
Sunday, 3 April 2011
My return since London.
To sum London up in a word. Inspirational. The trip with my FdA Creative advertising college class opened my eyes. Although I have visited agencies in London in the past I felt this time something was different. Maybe it is because my age, experience and understanding of the industry have all evolved over the past year so I now fully appreciate the stature of the agency visits. London is a place I have now set my sights on, a place where I feel it necessary to live in order to make the most out of my passion and my career, advertising.
The first visit we had on Monday 28th March was to Mother London. A.k.a. my dream agency. We had been asked prior to this visit to produce a campaign for MoneySuperMarket.com, to creative team, Tim McNaughton and Freddy Mandy.
Tim McNaughton
Freddy Mandy
On arrival I was very nervous but as the creative entered the room, I relaxed immediately, they were not fire breathing, life threatening scary creatives, they were just normal guys who happened to have a creative mind. We all separately presented our work, and fortunately with my own and Amy's I did feel it went rather well. They gave back constructive criticism so we were able to come away and work on it again with a better sense of direction. They felt the core idea was 'really nice' and very campaignable, but that the use of Shrek was not advisable as the brand would want their own characters. This is something myself and Amy had feared, so Tim and Freddy's points confirmed this fear was a truth. So what we can now do with the idea is to go back to the core idea we had, and just make the characters ourselves. As neither of us are illustrators, nor would we illustrate ourselves if creating an actual campaign, so using a student from one of the Illustrating courses may be a tool we could use. As they would get the credit for the illustration but our idea would be demonstrated well for others to understand. Hopefully the team at Mother will appreciate these changes, as we hope to follow up our visit with an email, which will allow us contact with them, for how to improve our book, and their thoughts on it. If we can get to the top level which they look for in a creative, then hopefully a placement could come out of this, impossible, maybe, am I going to try, definitely! I will just make sure myself and Amy stand by the tips they gave us on how to create a good portfolio, be original, have a wide range of brands, put in ideas that aren't even related to a campaign if it shows you think creatively, and stick at it.
Below is the initial work myself and Amy came up with,which we will now apply the changes to and produce professionally. Along with one of the TV ads Tim and Freddy worked on:
Print Adverts
TV
One of TIm Mcnaughton & Freddy Mandys TV adverts.
The next agency we visited was RKCR/ Y&R on Tuesday 29th March. This was quite a different atmosphere, not in a bad way at all, but just a different atmosphere, here we sat down for lunch first to chat before presenting, which I must add was a very nice lunch! Almost comical, with us all being so tight with money as students, we were scoffing down any food we could get our hands on for free! We then began with the criticism on our work for an Interflora brief, which creative team Andy Forrest and Nicola Hawes set us. They were a really nice team, you could instantly see the understanding they have of each other, which is really nice to see, as I feel it is what me and Amy have got the benefit of, through knowing one another for several years. It was funny to see our personalities almost mirrored, Andy being the more thoughtful, not quiet, but yet considered speaker (me), whereas Nicola had the more open personality who was more outspoken (Amy). Neither with bad qualities, but those personalities matched well. They then went onto give a little advice on our work. While they didn't think our campaign was bad, they thought we could do much better. They felt the use of info graphics could look pretty, but it was non-emotional, and as the product was flowers, that it should have an emotional answer. One suggestion I made was if we should go back to a previous idea which we had disregarded. After an explanation they said yes. So we will work on that to go into our our portfolios.
One comment that stuck in my mind from Y&R is that the creative team said that in my portfolio I should never have just one strategy for an advertising campaign, even if the other ideas are just scribbled down, if the person I am getting a crit from does not like it, I can quickly explain other thoughts incase they really like those and those one off ideas are the ones which get me in the agency. I shall never disregard an idea again! They also gave a great example for how to put creative thoughts into a portfolio even if they are non-advertising related. They had someone come in with an idea to prevent drink spiking through having a round bottomed bottle so you were not able to put your drink down on a night out. Now I am not quite sure what creation myself and Amy can come up with, but theres our competition, lets hope we beat it. The last point from RKCR/ Y&R that I will remember is when Nicola Hawes stated 'You have to learn to kill your babies'. This is a very valuable quote which is in reference to those creatives who get too precious with their own creations, sometimes if enough people tell you your idea doesn't work, it doesn't and you must learn to let it go.
On the same day we went to visit Amy Ward at Ogilvy. Unfortunately she was off due to illness but we had two lovely guys who gave us a tour of the agency. I was shocked to find how large the agency was. But also I was shocked to find how call-centre like the place was. Although I do not mean this in a mean way, I do mean that the main offices that were for creatives, did not seem creative at all. It seemed like the sort of place where a creative is just a small cog in the big machine, which does not appeal to me at all. One part I did find very interesting though was the Ogilvy Digital Lab, this had innovative technologies which can and will be used in advertising or marketing in the future. It had 3d tv, interactive gaming, 360 degree advertising so you can see the advert from any view, and LED advertising so in the future advertising can even be illuminous within magazines. They also had a newly invented 'Sticky Bits' app which I shall definitely be looking at when considering medias for a campaign. It allows a barcode to be scanned and then photos or videos to be uploaded or 'stuck to that barcode' so other users who scan the same barcode can view that content.
Then on Wednesday 30th March we visited Debra Quantrill at ASA, Advertising Standards Authority. Now I did judge before going there, and assume as it would be based around rules, that it would maybe drag. But I was very wrong. I truly enjoyed it! They showed some great examples to when adverts are at risk of being banned, should be, or should not be due to a complaint. I have two examples below.
Burger King. I Am Man.
Now if you look at this advert, there were several points which people complained about. Women felt it derogatory due to the reference to 'chick food' and the general public complained about the false size of the burger. It was these comments that entailed an investigation and resulted in the ad being banned. As it would have cost Burger King more money than it would have been worth to re-shoot the entire TV commercial to make these changes. All in all, I will be a careful creative when it comes to checking what is or isn't allowed.
Next is a positive example of an alcohol advert which does work. Due to the strict regulations on alcohol, now you must not insinuate that alcohol is needed to have a good time. This advert ticks all the boxes and although old, makes me laugh!
Lastly on Wednesday 30th March was our visit to Saatchi and Saatchi to visit Suzanne Hails, an independent creative. Although it was a very quick visit as she had a lot of work on, she did put as much constructive information into the visit as possible. Being from Newcastle also it was nice to see a regional girl had made the leap of faith, and that this had worked. The brief we worked on for Suzanne was for San Miguel. I was very pleased with the outcome, she felt it was a nice idea but just the the purely copy based ads we had done should focus on the surroundings rather than the drink which would give it more range and longevity. I completely agreed with this as soon as she brought the point to life. So to work upon this myself and Amy shall build upon it to ammend it for our portfolio.
All in all, I loved London. I have returned with a clear idea of what I want, where I want to go, what I want to see and how to do it.
The first visit we had on Monday 28th March was to Mother London. A.k.a. my dream agency. We had been asked prior to this visit to produce a campaign for MoneySuperMarket.com, to creative team, Tim McNaughton and Freddy Mandy.
Tim McNaughton
Freddy Mandy
On arrival I was very nervous but as the creative entered the room, I relaxed immediately, they were not fire breathing, life threatening scary creatives, they were just normal guys who happened to have a creative mind. We all separately presented our work, and fortunately with my own and Amy's I did feel it went rather well. They gave back constructive criticism so we were able to come away and work on it again with a better sense of direction. They felt the core idea was 'really nice' and very campaignable, but that the use of Shrek was not advisable as the brand would want their own characters. This is something myself and Amy had feared, so Tim and Freddy's points confirmed this fear was a truth. So what we can now do with the idea is to go back to the core idea we had, and just make the characters ourselves. As neither of us are illustrators, nor would we illustrate ourselves if creating an actual campaign, so using a student from one of the Illustrating courses may be a tool we could use. As they would get the credit for the illustration but our idea would be demonstrated well for others to understand. Hopefully the team at Mother will appreciate these changes, as we hope to follow up our visit with an email, which will allow us contact with them, for how to improve our book, and their thoughts on it. If we can get to the top level which they look for in a creative, then hopefully a placement could come out of this, impossible, maybe, am I going to try, definitely! I will just make sure myself and Amy stand by the tips they gave us on how to create a good portfolio, be original, have a wide range of brands, put in ideas that aren't even related to a campaign if it shows you think creatively, and stick at it.
Below is the initial work myself and Amy came up with,which we will now apply the changes to and produce professionally. Along with one of the TV ads Tim and Freddy worked on:
Print Adverts
TV
One of TIm Mcnaughton & Freddy Mandys TV adverts.
The next agency we visited was RKCR/ Y&R on Tuesday 29th March. This was quite a different atmosphere, not in a bad way at all, but just a different atmosphere, here we sat down for lunch first to chat before presenting, which I must add was a very nice lunch! Almost comical, with us all being so tight with money as students, we were scoffing down any food we could get our hands on for free! We then began with the criticism on our work for an Interflora brief, which creative team Andy Forrest and Nicola Hawes set us. They were a really nice team, you could instantly see the understanding they have of each other, which is really nice to see, as I feel it is what me and Amy have got the benefit of, through knowing one another for several years. It was funny to see our personalities almost mirrored, Andy being the more thoughtful, not quiet, but yet considered speaker (me), whereas Nicola had the more open personality who was more outspoken (Amy). Neither with bad qualities, but those personalities matched well. They then went onto give a little advice on our work. While they didn't think our campaign was bad, they thought we could do much better. They felt the use of info graphics could look pretty, but it was non-emotional, and as the product was flowers, that it should have an emotional answer. One suggestion I made was if we should go back to a previous idea which we had disregarded. After an explanation they said yes. So we will work on that to go into our our portfolios.
One comment that stuck in my mind from Y&R is that the creative team said that in my portfolio I should never have just one strategy for an advertising campaign, even if the other ideas are just scribbled down, if the person I am getting a crit from does not like it, I can quickly explain other thoughts incase they really like those and those one off ideas are the ones which get me in the agency. I shall never disregard an idea again! They also gave a great example for how to put creative thoughts into a portfolio even if they are non-advertising related. They had someone come in with an idea to prevent drink spiking through having a round bottomed bottle so you were not able to put your drink down on a night out. Now I am not quite sure what creation myself and Amy can come up with, but theres our competition, lets hope we beat it. The last point from RKCR/ Y&R that I will remember is when Nicola Hawes stated 'You have to learn to kill your babies'. This is a very valuable quote which is in reference to those creatives who get too precious with their own creations, sometimes if enough people tell you your idea doesn't work, it doesn't and you must learn to let it go.
On the same day we went to visit Amy Ward at Ogilvy. Unfortunately she was off due to illness but we had two lovely guys who gave us a tour of the agency. I was shocked to find how large the agency was. But also I was shocked to find how call-centre like the place was. Although I do not mean this in a mean way, I do mean that the main offices that were for creatives, did not seem creative at all. It seemed like the sort of place where a creative is just a small cog in the big machine, which does not appeal to me at all. One part I did find very interesting though was the Ogilvy Digital Lab, this had innovative technologies which can and will be used in advertising or marketing in the future. It had 3d tv, interactive gaming, 360 degree advertising so you can see the advert from any view, and LED advertising so in the future advertising can even be illuminous within magazines. They also had a newly invented 'Sticky Bits' app which I shall definitely be looking at when considering medias for a campaign. It allows a barcode to be scanned and then photos or videos to be uploaded or 'stuck to that barcode' so other users who scan the same barcode can view that content.
Then on Wednesday 30th March we visited Debra Quantrill at ASA, Advertising Standards Authority. Now I did judge before going there, and assume as it would be based around rules, that it would maybe drag. But I was very wrong. I truly enjoyed it! They showed some great examples to when adverts are at risk of being banned, should be, or should not be due to a complaint. I have two examples below.
Burger King. I Am Man.
Now if you look at this advert, there were several points which people complained about. Women felt it derogatory due to the reference to 'chick food' and the general public complained about the false size of the burger. It was these comments that entailed an investigation and resulted in the ad being banned. As it would have cost Burger King more money than it would have been worth to re-shoot the entire TV commercial to make these changes. All in all, I will be a careful creative when it comes to checking what is or isn't allowed.
Next is a positive example of an alcohol advert which does work. Due to the strict regulations on alcohol, now you must not insinuate that alcohol is needed to have a good time. This advert ticks all the boxes and although old, makes me laugh!
Lastly on Wednesday 30th March was our visit to Saatchi and Saatchi to visit Suzanne Hails, an independent creative. Although it was a very quick visit as she had a lot of work on, she did put as much constructive information into the visit as possible. Being from Newcastle also it was nice to see a regional girl had made the leap of faith, and that this had worked. The brief we worked on for Suzanne was for San Miguel. I was very pleased with the outcome, she felt it was a nice idea but just the the purely copy based ads we had done should focus on the surroundings rather than the drink which would give it more range and longevity. I completely agreed with this as soon as she brought the point to life. So to work upon this myself and Amy shall build upon it to ammend it for our portfolio.
All in all, I loved London. I have returned with a clear idea of what I want, where I want to go, what I want to see and how to do it.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
The role of a writer.
On the 24th of March my class had a very interesting visit from Chris Rickaby, Copywriter. To name drop a few, he has worked at DDB London, Robson Brown in Newcastle and then in 1999 Different, where he worked for quite some time. One of his favourite recognitions as part of a team at Different was from Campaign 'proof that creativity exists outside the capital'. This just shows the level to which he is working to, and how important it was for myself to learn from him. Although I am predominantly an Art Director and my partner the Copywriter, we do change roles often so it is important to have the knowledge of how to write well.
He began by giving a presentation on 'The role of a writer'. He felt that traditionally the role of a Copywriter was to create ideas, be a strong team player, craft headlines, craft script/copy/web copy, and to copy check. But he now believed that the role of a writer these days is to still have knowledge of the traditional aspects but to also be able to understand cross-platform and transmedia story telling with the evolution of technology. This is something which I found quite interesting, and I will be looking at the range of different medias which can now be used in copywriting, at least I can say I am currently using a main new media for writing, this blog!
Chris then went onto to talk about one of the most famous Copywriters of our era, named John Caples, a.k.a. 'The Sizzle King'. He told us that in an advert 'Your not selling the sausage...what your selling is the sizzle'. Now this line I thought was perfect, it sums up advertising exactly. It means that you are not selling a product, your selling the thing that is either going to benefit you or someone else. An example of this is one of John Caples greatest adverts, as you will see below:
John Caples himself:
For its time it was truly inspirational, he was able to tap into how to sell something as boring as piano lessons. The piano lesson was the sausage, and the social poise from being able to play the piano was the sizzle. John Caples retired at the age of 82, a true sign of his dedication to his work, and an inspiration.
Chris Rickaby then when on to explain another of his tips, 'write with the reader', you must get a grasp of who your selling to. An example he gave to us about this was his experience as a junior copywriter working for DDB, his creative director Tony Cox, would come around to take a look at how he would be getting on with the briefs he had been given. More than often his response to their work would be 'its a bit cup and saucer', what he meant by this was that the visual and the copy were telling exactly the same thing. He was trying to tell them that they must compliment one another but not say the same thing. An example of this where Chris got this very right was a campaign he worked on to stop Mothers in Sunderland from smoking while pregnant, as you will see below.
The visual (saucer) hooks you but then the copy (cup) connects the visual with the information. Which gives it the emotional power. What I learned from this is to not use information which the audience can work out for themselves and I shall this apply this to future work through analysing critically what I create.
Lastly Chris advised us in how to have a practical approach to working in a team. A great example, as to how two people are better one, he gave was to look at IQ's:
Stephen Hawking IQ 157
Ant and Dec IQ 240
Although separately Ant and Dec would have very low IQ's, together they beat Stephen Hawkins hands down! This is why in Advertising it is a considerably big advantage to have two heads work on a brief. Thankfully I do have a partner so we are able to work this way!
When working in a team he advised a way of working on each brief no matter what the time scale.
Step 1: Free uncritical brainstorm. Write everything down.
Step 2: Critical review. Sort out the wheat and the chaff. Refer back to brief and pick winners.
Step 3: Develop winners. Eject what's not working and think about other media.
Step 4: Perfect development. Craft headlines etc. Agree your internal pitch to your Creative Director.
Overall I found the entire talk very helpful. Chris Rickaby was a lovely guy who gave some useful tips and insights into the industry I had not heard before. I will most definitely be considering them in future campaigns I create, if it means I can get the same kind of success he and his role models have had.
He began by giving a presentation on 'The role of a writer'. He felt that traditionally the role of a Copywriter was to create ideas, be a strong team player, craft headlines, craft script/copy/web copy, and to copy check. But he now believed that the role of a writer these days is to still have knowledge of the traditional aspects but to also be able to understand cross-platform and transmedia story telling with the evolution of technology. This is something which I found quite interesting, and I will be looking at the range of different medias which can now be used in copywriting, at least I can say I am currently using a main new media for writing, this blog!
Chris then went onto to talk about one of the most famous Copywriters of our era, named John Caples, a.k.a. 'The Sizzle King'. He told us that in an advert 'Your not selling the sausage...what your selling is the sizzle'. Now this line I thought was perfect, it sums up advertising exactly. It means that you are not selling a product, your selling the thing that is either going to benefit you or someone else. An example of this is one of John Caples greatest adverts, as you will see below:
John Caples himself:
For its time it was truly inspirational, he was able to tap into how to sell something as boring as piano lessons. The piano lesson was the sausage, and the social poise from being able to play the piano was the sizzle. John Caples retired at the age of 82, a true sign of his dedication to his work, and an inspiration.
Chris Rickaby then when on to explain another of his tips, 'write with the reader', you must get a grasp of who your selling to. An example he gave to us about this was his experience as a junior copywriter working for DDB, his creative director Tony Cox, would come around to take a look at how he would be getting on with the briefs he had been given. More than often his response to their work would be 'its a bit cup and saucer', what he meant by this was that the visual and the copy were telling exactly the same thing. He was trying to tell them that they must compliment one another but not say the same thing. An example of this where Chris got this very right was a campaign he worked on to stop Mothers in Sunderland from smoking while pregnant, as you will see below.
The visual (saucer) hooks you but then the copy (cup) connects the visual with the information. Which gives it the emotional power. What I learned from this is to not use information which the audience can work out for themselves and I shall this apply this to future work through analysing critically what I create.
Lastly Chris advised us in how to have a practical approach to working in a team. A great example, as to how two people are better one, he gave was to look at IQ's:
Stephen Hawking IQ 157
Ant and Dec IQ 240
Although separately Ant and Dec would have very low IQ's, together they beat Stephen Hawkins hands down! This is why in Advertising it is a considerably big advantage to have two heads work on a brief. Thankfully I do have a partner so we are able to work this way!
When working in a team he advised a way of working on each brief no matter what the time scale.
Step 1: Free uncritical brainstorm. Write everything down.
Step 2: Critical review. Sort out the wheat and the chaff. Refer back to brief and pick winners.
Step 3: Develop winners. Eject what's not working and think about other media.
Step 4: Perfect development. Craft headlines etc. Agree your internal pitch to your Creative Director.
Overall I found the entire talk very helpful. Chris Rickaby was a lovely guy who gave some useful tips and insights into the industry I had not heard before. I will most definitely be considering them in future campaigns I create, if it means I can get the same kind of success he and his role models have had.
Acceptance.
So a couple of weeks ago now I had an interview for BA (Hons) Creative Practice (Top-up). If accepted, this would mean I would be completing a full degree whilst also gaining skills in how to get a job in my chosen creative sector, Advertising. I prepared several things for this interview, a full presentation of my work to demonstrate my skills in Advertising, a short statement which answered two questions given to me from the course which would show my academic skills, my creative CV and a statement was given about me from my current tutor.
In all honesty, from some reason it was the most nervous I have ever been for an interview, and I don't know why. Applying for the BA (Hons) Creative Practice (Top-up) is something I would like to have had the option of doing, but was not something I was relying on. A full degree I have been told is not necessary to get a job in Creative Advertising and as a job is what I ultimately hope to gain, if I am to gain a job first that is what I shall take. But as I may not gain a job before September I would rather a year with purpose or plan, than waste a year searching for a job. So I entered the interview fully prepared with the physical work I had been asked to bring, so it was just about mentally preparing myself, and I hoped that would be enough.
When I sat down for interview I noticed the course leader's lack of emotion to anything I had to say. Which made me increasingly nervous. It may sound egotistic, but I have never had an interview which I have failed, and therefore never really an interview where I haven't been able to say that it didn't go really well. I came away from it very confused as to what the interview result would be. I'm aware that this will have been due to the fact that she will not have been able to show any kind of emotion due to the volume of students coming in to apply, but this was most definitely a learning curve for me. Not every interview goes the same.
Especially as Advertising agencies will see students day in, day out, I am sure they will have this same approach to interviews, which I experienced. So in future I will prepare not to be shocked and therefore nervous by any unexpected emotion displayed by the interviewer. Fortunately an email last week informed me that I was successful in the interview which I am very pleased about but it still means I must work on my interviewing skills. While I have accepted, my partner and me will be looking for jobs over the summer incase an offer became available. As a full-time job would be my preferred route now so I can begin making my mark in the industry!
In all honesty, from some reason it was the most nervous I have ever been for an interview, and I don't know why. Applying for the BA (Hons) Creative Practice (Top-up) is something I would like to have had the option of doing, but was not something I was relying on. A full degree I have been told is not necessary to get a job in Creative Advertising and as a job is what I ultimately hope to gain, if I am to gain a job first that is what I shall take. But as I may not gain a job before September I would rather a year with purpose or plan, than waste a year searching for a job. So I entered the interview fully prepared with the physical work I had been asked to bring, so it was just about mentally preparing myself, and I hoped that would be enough.
When I sat down for interview I noticed the course leader's lack of emotion to anything I had to say. Which made me increasingly nervous. It may sound egotistic, but I have never had an interview which I have failed, and therefore never really an interview where I haven't been able to say that it didn't go really well. I came away from it very confused as to what the interview result would be. I'm aware that this will have been due to the fact that she will not have been able to show any kind of emotion due to the volume of students coming in to apply, but this was most definitely a learning curve for me. Not every interview goes the same.
Especially as Advertising agencies will see students day in, day out, I am sure they will have this same approach to interviews, which I experienced. So in future I will prepare not to be shocked and therefore nervous by any unexpected emotion displayed by the interviewer. Fortunately an email last week informed me that I was successful in the interview which I am very pleased about but it still means I must work on my interviewing skills. While I have accepted, my partner and me will be looking for jobs over the summer incase an offer became available. As a full-time job would be my preferred route now so I can begin making my mark in the industry!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)