The End is the Beginning is the End

How do you recollect all that you’ve learned over the period of seven months, and then how do you transfer that knowledge into a two-page paper or a blog post? Beats me. I opt for bulleting.

• Always be ready to defend your ideas to the death, but only defend them if they’re truly worthy.
• Be on. As much as you can.
• Never present an idea you’re not crazy about. The client will usually pick it. They have a sixth-sense for that kind of thing.
• Creativity is a philosophy, not a department.
• I’m probably going to need glasses at some point in my life.
• Ideas will never get easier.
• “Scat” is not just a jazz term anymore. Choose your words carefully. 
• You don’t throw away half-ideas. You nurture them until you can tell if they’ll turn into something extraordinary.
• Never visit Detroit. People will chase you down and wave guns at you.
• If you can’t remember someone’s name, don’t immediately resort to “Thor.”
• You can learn something new every day in this industry. Do it. Take note of ads you like and try to figure out what makes them work. Then it’s monkey see, monkey do.
• Good agencies don’t give in to a client’s every demand. They fight for what they think is right for the client, even when the client doesn’t agree.
• Don’t be ashamed of what you still have to learn. Acknowledge it and grow from it.
• Constructive criticism is a great way to learn.
• No matter your role, get involved in a strategy right from the beginning. If you’re missing information, your idea will have holes too.

This doesn’t begin to cover all that I’ve learned, but these are some good highlights.

A very, very big thank you to Tony, Heidi, Dale, and Veronique. If I ever have success in my life, I’ll attribute it to working with you. And if I live up ending on the curb outside your office, I’ll probably blame that on you too.

Almost Gone.

It’s hard to believe this is the last week before my final week at my internship. It’s time to start reflecting about what I’ve really learned over the past seven(?) months. I’m so glad I have notebooks full of things I’ve learned, memorable moments, copy practice, etc. This has been an invaluable experience. At this point in the semester, I realize that I need to spend the next few months trying to find a job, and without this internship, I can only imagine how unprepared I would be for the real job world/interview & application process.

I think one of the most beneficial things I’ve gotten from my internship is learning how to treat a job assignment differently than a school assignment. And I think this has actually helped me a lot in school. I’ve always been motivated to try in school, but now I feel like I’m even more motivated to not just succeed (get an A), but produce something I’m proud of. I’m motivated for a new reason, and it’s not an external source or incentive. It comes from within.  I wish I could say the same for people I know haven’t had a great internship experience.

I’m going to call this post quits before I get emotional. Ad Gods give me the strength not to cry on my last day.

My Name is Heidi: I Will Steal Your Pens and Eat Your Heart.

I know I go on and on about how much I hate discrimination against account people. But I just need to get this out there. They steal pens. Really. And lots of them! Put a new pen out and they’ll snatch it up as soon as you turn your back. I guess it means they’re working hard . . .

just a head’s up.

It’s my only complaint about them. Account People/Creatives are totally dependent on one another. One couldn’t function without the other.

Since the holidays are right around the corner (21 days, actually. I know this thanks to Wal-Mart’s countdown. And the fact that I can subtract 4 from 25. Woo!), I have a new suggestion for all the other students to add to their lists: One Show books. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t need more shit to clutter my already small living space. I don’t need more clothes to wash. I need inspiration. I need to study to get where I want to be. BE LIKE ME.

**Disclaimer: I’m writing this after practicing three different ten-minute presentations, all of which I’m presenting within the next three days. I don’t really know what I’m typing. In my head I’m just reciting things about Multicultural Millenials, Ozarks Literacy Council, and Guy de Maupassant.

So, this week I experienced for myself something that I see the other Vores experience all the time. I had an idea that I had spent a lot of time and energy nurturing and put a lot of love into . . . ripped to shreds. By another Vore, no less. Alright, Heidi didn’t rip it to shreds, but she raised some serious doubts about the Nissan campaign I’m working on. “Half-formed idea,” “Inauthentic,” and “Insulting” were a few of the nice terms thrown my way. This was the first time I’d really experienced someone else criticizing my work from the outside. They’ve told me over and over again how hard it is, and now I understand. If you think it looks hard from the outside, you have no idea.

All this being said, I’m grateful it happened. And hopefully I’ll be a better strategic thinker because of it. So I say this in all seriousness:

If you think you have a good idea, always, always, ask someone else.  

They may be right, they may be wrong, but they’ll at least get you to think about it differently. 

Career Conundrums

What’s the best way to go when looking for a first job? Do you market yourself as someone who can do everything well, or do you market yourself like an expert at one thing? Personally, I think it’s good to have a clear idea of what exactly you want to do. However, it doesn’t hurt to dabble in other areas once you have a job. Veronique gave me some good advice about concepting. If you’re a writer, don’t be afraid to sketch out ideas (even if your drawings get laughed at). And if you’re a designer, don’t be afraid to come up with some “punny” headlines. And don’t ever exclude an account person from the concepting process! They’re the person who knows the client best, and even if they don’t have “creative” in their title, remember that everyone in this business is creative.

If you’re applying for an account job in hopes that you can get your foot in the door on the creative side, do not tell the employer this. Market yourself as an account person, and then try to convince them to let you write/design. You can also reach out to alumni (if you have connections in the company) and ask if they’d ever consider you for a creative position if you were hired on the account side. Some companies won’t.

With this semester coming to an end, I’ve contemplated my options more and more. I’ve realized I have to sacrifice my dream of moving to Chicago/New York/San Francisco/(insert big city here) right after graduation. I’ve realized I might have to sacrifice my dream of working at an agency immediately after I graduate. While I’m not convinced I fit in with corporate life, I won’t say no to a job that still fulfills my goal to work in advertising. If there’s one thing I’ve learned you shouldn’t sacrifice, it’s the type of people you work with.

I’m wondering if there’s some way to bring Tony, Heidi, Dale, and Veronique with me wherever I go . . .

other than the obvious solution of cutting them up into tiny pieces. We’ll save that for a later post.

Freaks Welcome Here

I’m preparing for an AAF career day tomorrow and, as usual, I got some freakishly relevant advice this week at my internship. It goes something like this:

Remember your point of difference.

Ad people spend all day figuring out how to differentiate the brands they represent. Every brand has a unique story to sell, even if you have to search deep to find it. So doesn’t it make sense that when seeking a job in the ad world, you should present yourself with a unique selling proposition? “I’m passionate,” doesn’t count. Being passionate is expected of you. That might win over corporate America, but it won’t win the sensitive hearts of advertisers.

I love school, but I’m going to be brutally honest here. Our education teaches us to fit inside a box. A nice, well-dressed, eloquent, harmless box. But advertising is not a traditional career path. If you’re told you should have the same qualifications and experiences as everyone else in school, it might be hard to realize your own point of difference. I say it’s time to do some soul searching. This is a business full of “different” people. People who call themselves “Big Nuts,” demonology enthusiasts, closet kleptomaniacs, overly competitive bowlers, and skateboarding wannabes.

. . .

So if you’re “different,” I suggest you own it. This is one of the only businesses where you can. 

Writing Fiction & Writing Copy

In the advertising world, the stereotype about copywriters is that they’re failed writers. I don’t know if this is true. The copywriters I’ve met are certainly not failures by any means, and I personally never wanted to write novels. Obviously, you have to have an interest and a passion for writing if you want to be a copywriter, but there are some big differences between the techniques for copywriting and writing fiction.

When you write creatively you usually do it for yourself. You might think about your audience to make sure your writing is clear, but you don’t worry about your word choice as much. When you’re writing copy for an ad, you represent a client, a product. And you can’t write for yourself if you want to be successful. You can write for your client if you want to please them, but in the end, it’s more important to write for your audience. I’ve started noticing when something could have a different meaning to another person. We all associate words with different images. Images from our memories, books we’ve read, movies we’ve seen, things we’ve written ourselves, so word choice is much more critical when you’re writing for an ad than when you’re writing a poem. For instance, “scat” definitely does not conjure up the same things for me as it does for say . . . Dale and Tony.

This week brought about some helpful lessons in (cheesy as it sounds) believing in yourself. Excuse me while I vomit. First of all, when you give something to someone, you should always be prepared to say something about it, even if it’s basically repeating what’s in front of them. Otherwise it’s like letting a PowerPoint speak for itself. Awkward. I’m months into this internship, and I still struggle with putting myself out there. The people at this agency are probably some of the most accepting, supporting people in the business, and yet it’s still hard to put my ideas out there for them to judge. Heidi and Veronique gave me a great pep talk on taking risks. The people that take risks and put both bad and good ideas on the table are the ones who are respected in this industry. Everyone has been in my place. The place where everyone you work with has more experience than you, but the more experience you get putting yourself out there, the easier it will get.

Puppies and 5ks

Much like I believe you shouldn’t work for a company who looks down on you for taking Yoga your senior year, I also believe you absolutely have to work for a company if they allow pets in the building. Seriously.

I spent this week copying text from PDFs into word documents. These PDFs just happened to include recipes . . . so a word of advice for anyone in a situation similar to mine: You might as well steal some recipes while you’re copying them over. This task also helped me realize that I’ll need glasses sooner than anticipated.

Fun Tony story of the week:

When he gets feedback or input from a client that isn’t exactly what he wants to hear, he sighs like he’s just finished running a 5k. In all fairness, a three-mile run is probably just as exhausting as hearing frustrating input.