Pick Me E-Book

Nancy Vonk

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 410

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Advertising is a fantastic industry, but actually getting a job (oreven your foot in the door) can seem next to impossible. Whetheryou're a student or a young professional loaded with questions,this one-of-a-kind guide shows you how to land a job and how tothrive once you're in and the pressure is on. Authors Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin are seasoned creativedirectors and longtime creative partners. In Pick Me, theseindustry leaders answer your toughest ad career questions,like: * Is advertising right for me? * How do I build a killer portfolio? * How do I get an interview with the elusive creativedirector? * Should I accept an unpaid internship? * How do I find the right partner? * How do I beat creative block? * How do I avoid burnout? Plus, fourteen industry superstars share their insights andexplain how they broke into the business. You'll hear from BobBarrie, Rick Boyko, David Droga, Mark Fenske, Neil French, SallyHogshead, Mike Hughes, Shane Hutton, Brian Millar, Tom Monahan,Chuck Porter, Bob Scarpelli, Chris Staples, and Lorraine Tao. Forget the clichés this is advertising as it really is. Ifyou're hell-bent on making it, this informative guide will put youon track for a career in one of the most exciting businesses on theplanet.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Who Wrote This Book?

Introduction

Ignacio Oreamuno: The View from Down Here

PART I - Breaking into Advertising

Chapter 1 - Was I Really Put on This Earth to Do Ads?

Chapter 2 - School Daze

Chapter 3 - What’s a Good Ad, Anyway?

Brian Millar: How to do great creative work without being clever or talented.

Chapter 4 - Portfolio Preparation: Like Giving Birth, Only More Painful

Sally Hogshead: Don’t send a fake foot to “get your foot in the door,” and ...

Chapter 5 - Getting a Job in This Lifetime: It Can Be Done

How I Got My First Job

Chapter 6 - Internships: Purgatory, Rip-Off, or Free Education?

Shane Hutton: How can I exploit thee? Let me count the ways.

Chapter 7 - What Place Is Right for Me?

David Droga: My two Australian/Singaporean/English/ American cents/pence

PART II - You’re the Chosen One. Now What?

Chapter 8 - Money—Not That You Care about That

Chuck Porter: Money. How much? How soon?

Chapter 9 - Fear and Self-Loathing: Snap Out of It

Chapter 10 - Brainstorming Techniques (You’re Going to Need Them)

Tom Monahan: Brainstorming. Or, making ideas happen, as opposed to waiting for them.

Chapter 11 - Awards. Yes, They Matter. How the Judges Decide.

Bob Barrie: Orson Welles never won an Oscar, but you can win a Telly.

Chapter 12 - Boss Problems: Try Not to Kill Him. Or Sleep with Him.

Chapter 13 - Partner Problems: Do You Need Counseling, a Divorce, or a Gun?

Lorraine Tao: This is my partner, Elspeth. No, not that kind of partner, my ...

Chapter 14 - Copywriting

Mike Hughes: Don’t you dare read this: You’ll spoil the research.

Bob Scarpelli: Radio, can you see it?

Chapter 15 - Art Direction

Chapter 16 - Account Executives: They’re People, Too

Chapter 17 - Identity Crisis

Neil French: You know how to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.

Chapter 18 - Am I in the Wrong Place?

Chapter 19 - Ethics in Advertising: Not Necessarily an Oxymoron

Chapter 20 - CD Life (Be Careful What You Wish For)

Chapter 21 - Women: The Vanishing Act

Chapter 22 - Age(ism): Is 39 the New 65?

Rick Boyko: Avoiding future shock.

Chapter 23 - Staying Sane in an Insane Business

Chris Staples: I blame it all on Darren Stevens.

Chapter 24 - Miscellaneous: The Best Chapter of Any Book

Chapter 25 - Strangest Questions. Maybe Even Better Than Miscellaneous.

PART III - But Wait, There’s More! The Gurus Share Years of Collective Wisdom, ...

Chapter 26 - What I Know Now That I Wish I’d Known Then

Brian Millar

Bob Barrie

Chris Staples

Chuck Porter

Janet Kestin

Lorraine Tao

Mike Hughes

Nancy Vonk

Tom Monahan

Rick Boyko

Shane Hutton

Neil French

Chapter 27 - What I Look for in a Junior

Bob Barrie

Bob Scarpelli

Brian Millar

Chris Staples

Chuck Porter

Janet Kestin

Lorraine Tao

Mike Hughes

Nancy Vonk

Neil French

Rick Boyko

Sally Hogshead

Shane Hutton

Tom Monahan

Chapter 28 - A Century Ago, We Were Juniors, Too

Appendix - The Inspiration Grab Bag

VCU ADCENTER

I HAVE AN IDEA ADVERTISING’S INTELLECTUAL ARCHIVE

Index

Adweek and Brandweek Books are designed to present interesting, insightful books for the general business reader and for professionals in the worlds of media, marketing, and advertising.

These are innovative, creative books that address the challenges and opportunities of these industries, written by leaders in the business. Some of our writers head their own companies, others have worked their way up to the top of their field in large multinationals. But they share a knowledge of their craft and a desire to enlighten others.

We hope readers will find these books as helpful and inspiring as Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek magazines.

Published

Disruption: Overturning Conventions and Shaking Up the Marketplace, by Jean-Marie Dru

Under the Radar: Talking to Today’s Cynical Consumer, by Jonathan Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum

Truth, Lies and Advertising: The Art of Account Planning, by Jon Steel

Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads, by Luke Sullivan

Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, by Adam Morgan

Warp-Speed Branding: The Impact of Technology on Marketing, by Agnieszka Winkler

Creative Company: How St. Luke’s Became “the Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies,” by Andy Law

Another One Bites the Grass: Making Sense of International Advertising, by Simon Anholt

Attention! How to Interrupt, Yell, Whisper and Touch Consumers, by Ken Sacharin

The Peaceable Kingdom: Building a Company without Factionalism, Fiefdoms, Fear, and Other Staples of Modern Business by Stan Richards and David Culp

Getting the Bugs Out: The Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Volkswagen in America, by David Kiley

The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy: Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking, by Tom Monahan

Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace by Jean-Marie Dru

And Now a Few Laughs From Our Sponsor: The Best of Fifty Years of Radio Commercials, by Larry Oakner

Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes, by Sam Hill

Leap: A Revolution in Creative Business Strategy, by Bob Schmetterer

Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand, by Marian Salzman, Ira Matathia, and Ann O’Reilly

Casting For Big Ideas: A New Manifesto for Agency Managers, by Andrew Jaffe

Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With Bold Alternatives to Traditional Advertising, by Joseph Jaffe

Copyright © 2005 by Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 13-978-0-471-71557-3 ISBN 10-0-471-71557-3

To Lily and Devin, who keep it all in perspective

Foreword

Over the past eight years I have spoken at colleges throughout this country and in Canada. Interestingly, while the schools were all varied and in different states or provinces, I always found the questions very much the same.

There were a few like “What was it like being the creative head of Ogilvy North America?” “How did you do what you did?” or “How did Ogilvy come up with that ad?” But, once these were out of the way, they always got down to the real questions. The ones that every student, universally, wants the answers to. “How do I get a job?” “What do you look for in a book?” “What are the best schools for advertising?” “Do award shows matter?” “How many ads should be in a book?” “How do I get an interview?” “Where is the best place for me to go?”

Now, when I was entering the business, I had these same questions, so I looked around for books that might help me find the answers. At the time, there were just a few about advertising: David Ogilvy’s Confessions of an Advertising Man, Jerry Della Femina’s From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, and George Lois’s George, Be Careful. While these all made the business sound interesting and fun, they did little to help answer the question “How the hell do you get into it?

Then, lucky for you, along came the Internet, a medium designed to disseminate information. On it, you can find any agency and research it thoroughly so that you can form your own opinion to the question, “Which is the best place for me?”

One question down.

But what about those other questions? They’re not as easy to find on the Internet. At least not until two years ago, when up popped ihaveanidea. On it, you can find the Ask Jancy column, an online Q&A, semi-chat room where Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, cocreative directors of Ogilvy & Mather Toronto, answer young, aspiring advertising people’s questions. You know, the ones that matter.

While at Ogilvy, I had the pleasure of working with and getting to know Nancy and Janet. Both are great creatives, who, when placed in charge of Ogilvy Toronto, became even better creative directors. They’re terrific mentors who get the best out of the people who work for them, including an entrepreneurial, young art director by the name of Ignacio Oreamuno.

I had the opportunity to meet Ignacio on my final visit to the Toronto office. He quickly absconded with me to show me his site and asked if he could interview me for it. Needless to say, I didn’t have a choice, and was instantly answering questions like, “How did you get into the business?”

Fast-forward one year: Ask Jancy and ihaveanidea had grown past the borders of Canada and were fast becoming international. I was now the managing director of the VCU Adcenter, where every day, students asked me the same questions, so I suggested they check out ihaveanidea.org. Shortly thereafter, the VCU Adcenter began to sponsor the “creative interviews” on ihaveanidea.

Nancy, Janet, and Ignacio have kept in touch. One day they called me with the great idea of taking the rich content from the Ask Jancy column and creating a book aimed at young people trying to get into this business. A primer, if you will, filled with many of the most-often-asked questions from the column, answered not only by Nancy and Janet, but by people who have made it into, and in many cases to the top of, the business: people like Neil French, David Droga, Bob Barrie, Bob Scarpelli, Mike Hughes, Tom Monahan, Chris Staples, Lorraine Tao, Shane Hutton, Brian Millar, Sally Hogshead, Chuck Porter, and Mark Fenske. I offered my help and the Adcenter’s. And here we are just a few months later.

What a terrific idea for a book. Wish it had been around when I entered the business.

Maybe now the students will stop asking me, “How do I get picked?”

Rick Boyko Managing Director VCU Adcenter

Preface

We (this book could only start with “we”) have had quite the go at advertising. Our careers began in different countries at about the same time—the early 1980s, era of excess. We enjoyed working in many different environments, with a number of wonderful partners, but it wasn’t until our paths crossed in 1990 that it really became fun, thanks to that rare and magical click of a truly synergistic art director-writer partnership. Now we’re the codependent, cocreative directors of Ogilvy Toronto, having risen in the ranks more or less against our will. We just wanted to do the work; as we observed all the creative directors around us reduced to mental cases, we couldn’t see the wisdom or appeal of aspiring to that slot. Ours is a truly unusual story: two women virtually pushed through the glass ceiling by our male champions. Happily we’re still sane, though some days, barely.

We reached the top of the creative ladder in part because early in our partnership we realized we really loved raising “the kids”—the more junior creatives who, in too many agencies, don’t get a lot of attention or opportunity. It was gratifying to see so many grow up, move on, do exceptionally well, and best of all, tell us later that we’d made a real difference in their lives. Our interest in the development of others is a good quality to have as a creative director; the ability to spot great young talent is another. We’ve hired many great seniors and loved them, too. But it’s the kids right out of school who have given us our biggest buzz.

In the summer of 2002 we met one of the most dynamic aspiring art directors in our experience. Ignacio Oreamuno was pointed out to us by one of our senior teams who had interviewed him. Costa Rican, married to a Canadian, he was interested in our summer internship. Immigration had other ideas, however. No va. Fate smiled on us all a bit later, and we were able to hire him in early 2003.

That Ignacio became a thriving junior art director at a renowned international ad agency is the least of his achievements: More than a year before he was employed by anyone as an advertising art director, he founded ihaveanidea. With a staff of a dozen junior, mostly unemployed ad wannabes, Ignacio created a vibrant place for ad enthusiasts to log on to for everything from interviews with ad giants like Jeff Goodby and Neil French to a showcase of the latest advertising to an advice column for juniors—our place in it all. Ask Jancy launched in January 2003. Today the site gets around 100,000 hits a month.

Ask Jancy (yes, our two names smashed together—we’ve been shorthanded to that by many over the years) fulfills our desire to act out our inner Ann Landers. It’s a natural extension of what we do every day: give guidance and advice to juniors. It’s the inside scoop we wish we’d heard as young creatives. It’s loaded with secrets about getting a job, tackling partnership problems, boss problems, creative block, and lots more.

We really appreciate the interest so many people have taken in this unique forum. And now we’re taking the meatiest of Jancy out into the world in this book, with some interesting guest commentary woven throughout. We asked many of the best and most famous minds in the business to share their wisdom, including what they wish they’d known in the beginning. Oh to look back and think, “If only I’d known—the time and heartache I could have skipped.”

So for juniors and not-so-juniors, here’s a bunch of encouragement, deflation, a big reality check, and a lot of information that can help you navigate the treacherous advertising waters a bit better equipped. You’ll probably find a lot of people are going through the same crap you are; there’s something comforting about discovering you’re not the only neurotic, clueless person on the planet after all.

Nancy Vonk Janet Kestin

Acknowledgments

We wouldn’t have put finger to keyboard without the great luck of meeting Ignacio Oreamuno. Thank you for starting ihaveanidea, giving Ask Jancy a home, and working for us for a little while. Don’t spend your book check in one place.

Thanks to Ami Brophy for stopping by our shop to ask about promoting the Clios in Canada, which led to our discovery: You loved Ask Jancy, and happened to be the publisher of Adweek Books. Now that’s timing.

Rick Boyko agreed to contribute to Pick Me as well as write the foreword to this book, and then asked how our favorite school, VCU Adcenter, could be part of it. He has been a great supporter, and we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have his energy and enthusiasm on our side. That was equally true when he was the North American creative director of Ogilvy. His vision and entrepreneurial spirit are a big reason we’ve spent most of our careers in one agency. Rick, you are the wind beneath our wings.

Richard Narramore, our editor, believed in our idea and pushed it through the gauntlet at John Wiley & Sons. We deeply appreciate his patience, as we delivered the goods three months later than he would have liked. If only we could get away with that at our day jobs.

The star contributors of Pick Me bring tears of gratitude to our eyes: to our friend and mentor Neil French, who is the most brilliant, politically incorrect person we know; to dear friend and dynamo Chris Staples; to über-CD David Droga, many thanks. And thank you Mike Hughes, the writer’s writer and fellow “American bloc” Cannes jury member; Bob Scarpelli, King of Beer Ads, great Clio Awards chair, and Real Man of Genius; Lorraine Tao, sickeningly great writer, friend, and founding partner of red-hot Zig; feisty, fabulous Sally Hogshead, an inspiration in work and in life; Shane Hutton, the always hi-larious Beetle Boy and Hummer Honcho we’re proud to have called our intern; Tom Monahan, who changed our lives at a workshop in Toronto and who almost died of fright driving with Janet (that was 110 kilometers, not miles per hour, dude); Brian Millar, boy genius and superfreak, who we met in Capetown on his mission to inspire Ogilvy’s top CDs, funniest pen pal of all time; Mark Fenske, dissatisfied, self-deprecating artist (sorry, man); Chuck Porter, generous, loud, and wonderful, now king of the world; Bob Barrie, the eternally boyish, brilliant art director who had us at hello, winner of the Pick Me Grand Prix for submitting his assignment first (actually, you were third, but we didn’t want to burst your bubble).

For the creative directors who saw something in us, gave us a chance, and taught us so much, a thousand thanks to Sam Macuga, Jim Frost, Lou Gunshol, Michael Paul, Bob Gardner, Tony Houghton, Keith Ravenscroft, Mark Hilltout, Steve Landsberg, Rick Boyko, Neil French, and Steve Hayden. (That’s thanking Rick and Neil twice, but who’s counting?)

Thanks Dennis Stief, for making us CD’s and warning us first about the best and worst job in the world. (You were right about everything.)

Much gratitude to the many brilliant people in the Ogilvy network who have generously shared their insights, resources, and really good stories with us for years.

We also thank our ever-patient and supportive families, who resisted all temptation to murder us during the many hours we spent on the book instead of with them; Leslie, for staying up all night to catch every repetition and misspelled word; and Farokh, in particular, for organizing, formatting, and making dinner.

Thank you Greg Mitchell for many hours helping to refine the book cover, which looks pretty damn good even though Richard insisted we make the copy big enough to read from 80 feet away. And thank you Marina Pietracci, our angel.

Who Wrote This Book?

First and foremost, Pick Me is the creation of the young advertising students and professionals who have sent us questions at Ask Jancy since 2003. The questions we thought would have relevance and interest for a lot of others made it into these pages, and we’re grateful to all who wrote, relevant and interesting or not.

Our own advice is greatly enhanced by the words of wisdom of 14 highly accomplished ad stars we’ve had the privilege of knowing, some casually and others very well. They have created some of the world’s best work and championed countless juniors along the way. You can see their names in just about every awards annual you can put your hands on, and now it’s our privilege and your good luck to have their insights into making it in this business.

Bob BarrieArt Director, Fallon/ Minneapolis

Bob has been an art director at Fallon for 21 years. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and arrived at Fallon after stints at two other Minneapolis shops. Bob has worked on a wide variety of successful campaigns for clients ranging from Time magazine to United Airlines. His Time “Red Border” campaign was named “Print Campaign of the Decade” in 2000. Bob has been named to Adweek’s All-Star Creative Team five times. He’s won a whole bunch of the shiny metal blobs the industry likes to hand out, but is most proud of his 44 One Show pencils. Bob was president of The One Club for Art & Copy in New York from 1998 through 2001.

Rick BoykoManaging Director, VCU Adcenter

Rick is former copresident and chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather North America. He joined VCU Adcenter on July 1, 2003. A longtime advocate of advertising education, Rick also sits on the steering committee for Art Center College of Design. While Rick has won almost every advertising award there is, he is most proud of an accomplishment outside of advertising. In October 2001, following the September 11 tragedy, Rick conceived of and was the driving force behind Brotherhood, a tabletop book honoring the 343 firefighters who perished. It sold more than 200,000 copies, and the proceeds of $1.5 million went to the families of the deceased. Rick currently sits on the boards of Napster, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, the Art Directors Club, and The One Club for Art & Copy.

David DrogaWorldwide Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Ltd.

David’s career began normally enough, as a writer at Oman Sydney. His career path veered sharply from normal almost at once: only four years out of school he was partner and creative director. Four years after that, he was named regional creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi Asia. In 1999 he became executive creative director of the London office, and an already stellar career went into overdrive: By 2002 his shop was named Global Agency of the Year at Cannes, and David was proclaimed the world’s top creative director by Ad Age. Adweek named Saatchi London Global Agency of the Year in 2003, and later that year David moved on to become the big deal at Publicis Worldwide. Details magazine named him one of the 50 most influential men in America under age 38 in 2004. We’re out of breath.

Mark FenskeCopywriter, Creative Director, Commercial and Video Director, Voice Talent, Teacher

After graduating from Michigan State University, Mark Fenske almost became a missionary, but “displayed a genuine lack of aptitude for sinlessness.” Instead, he went into advertising. He’s worked in a variety of agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy where he “learned how high to aim.” In 1990, he started The Bomb Factory, an ad agency/commercial production hybrid. Mark wrote and directed Van Halen’s Right Now music video, which won MTV’s video and director awards in 1992. He’s directed music videos for the Indigo Girls and commercials for Coke, Rhino Records, Nike, and others. He is on the board of Creative Circus in Atlanta, and 12, the Wieden + Kennedy experimental advertising school. Mark is a faculty member at VCU Adcenter in Richmond, Virginia.

Neil FrenchWorldwide Creative Director, WPP

Neil has been a rent collector, account executive, advertising manager, waiter, singer, novillero matador, beach bum, pornographer, bouncer, debt collector, concert promoter, nightclub owner, rock band manager, copywriter, art director, creative director, film director, actor, television station owner . . . some of which were concurrent (or he’d have to be about 110 years old by now). He started his own agency and went spectacularly bust after eight years. Neil worked at CFP in London, BateyAds in Singapore, twice, The Ball Partnership, Ogilvy three times, and is currently worldwide creative thingy for WPP. He was once reported to have won more creative awards than anyone in the world. Neil is featured in The CopyBook, a compendium of the work and methods of what is purported to be the world’s best 32 copywriters.

Sally HogsheadCreative Director, Author

In her second year in advertising, at Fallon McElligott, Sally won more awards than any other copywriter in the United States, including six One Show Pencils (we figure this means she was the greatest junior of all time). From there Sally joined the Martin Agency, and at 27 she opened Robaire & Hogshead, with clients such as Target, Remy Martin, and Conde Nast. In 2001 she opened the West Coast office of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Today Sally is a “SWAT creative director,” most often working on new business, increasingly in nontraditional forms of branding. Recent projects include developing a cable channel, new product innovation for P&G Europe, and licensing original content.

Mike HughesPresident and Creative Director, The Martin Agency

Adweek has called Mike one of the nine best creative directors in America. Ad Age has called The Martin Agency one of the three best agencies in the world. We see a connection here. Mike has been a director of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and has served as director of The One Club in New York. He and Nancy were the only two American judges on the 2002 Cannes print jury, where he was the one, eloquent holdout for long copy.

Shane HuttonCreative Director, modernista!

Shane has worked at four agencies: Ogilvy & Mather, Roche Lowe, Arnold Worldwide, and modernista! He’s donated brain cells to accounts ranging from direct mail for IKEA to KFC, Volkswagen, and HUMMER. He’s traveled to Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, France, Mexico, and both coasts of Canada and the United States, on someone else’s dime. Shane’s work has won the Grand Prix at Cannes, some Pencils at The One Show, though not gold, British D&AD, and the Andys. He has appeared in several issues of Archive magazine. Some of his work is canonized at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in an exhibit called The Art and Technique of the American Television Commercial.

Janet KestinChief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Toronto

Janet’s life as a copywriter began in Montreal. But French language laws drove her to a warmer, less funny climate where she worked at Y&R, Leo Burnett, and Ogilvy, twice, where she met soul mate, Nancy Vonk. Their work has won Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils and Clios and has appeared in Communication Arts and Archive. Their Dove “Litmus” campaign is used as a case study at the Harvard Business School. Janet develops advertising training programs and speaks at schools, including University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, Syracuse University Masters of Advertising and Design Program, Ontario College of Art and Design, and VCU Adcenter. Her husband, son, and three cats don’t work in advertising, for which she is intensely grateful.

Brian MillarFreelance Copywriter and Policy Consultant for the UK Government

Brian’s first job in advertising was in 1990 with Saatchi and Saatchi in London, “who thought I was someone else.” After this accidental hire, he moved to Ogilvy and worked in its London, New York, and Paris offices, often simultaneously. Later Brian worked for WPP as creative director of a management consulting and problem-solving team. He founded Myrtle, doing the same, with five others. They wrote the Orange Telecom business plan and invented Tinkerman for Breaking Views, which was named one of the top 10 ambient media ideas of all time by Campaign magazine. Currently he works with clients like the British Museum and Reuters, and is a policy consultant for the U.K. government.

Tom MonahanPresident, Head Creativity Coach, Before and After

Fifteen years into running his own hot shop, Leonard/ Monahan in Rhode Island, Tom’s career took a sudden turn. He found himself teaching a creativity workshop in Iceland instead of attending New England’s most important awards show. Since then, he’s been a leader in the field of applied creativity in business. Tom’s unorthodox training approach, which includes origami and throwing rotten tomatoes, has inspired individuals and companies, including Hewlett-Packard, McDonald’s, GTE, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Hasbro. He’s been honored as one of the top 10 copywriters in America, has been a contributor to Communications Arts magazine, and has won an Emmy for television writing.

Chuck PorterChairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Chuck joined the Crispin agency in 1988 as creative director and partner after a long career as an award-winning freelance copywriter. Within three years, Crispin Porter had doubled in size, had been profiled in Communications Arts, and was named as one of the top 15 creative shops in the country.

CP+B’s client list includes MINI, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Molson Canadian, Burger King, and the truth® anti-tobacco campaign. Ad Age and Creativity magazines named CP+B Agency of the Year for 2004. In 2003, Crispin Porter + Bogusky became the world’s most awarded agency, including the Television Grand Prix at Cannes, the Grand Clio, Best of Show at The One Show, and Outdoor Best of Show at the London International Awards. Ad Age and Creativity magazines named CP+B Agency of the Year for 2004.

Bob ScarpelliChairman, DDB Chicago

In Bob’s 27-year career at DDB Chicago, he has created some of the most iconic, talked-about, and awarded advertising in the world. His agency’s Anheuser-Busch commercials were voted the most popular spots in three of the last five Super Bowls according to USA Today. The Budweiser “Whassup” campaign won the 2000 Cannes Grand Prix and every other award on the planet. DDB Chicago was named Clio’s Agency of the Year in 2003 and 2004. Bob has chaired shows from the Andys to the Clios and many in between. And still, such a humble guy.

Chris StaplesPartner, Cocreative Director, Rethink Advertising

Rethink is both a business plan and philosophy at Chris Staples’s small, friendly, ultracreative shop. He started the agency in 1999 with two partners and no clients. They created an herbal beer with a CD rack carrier and became their own client. This unconventional approach to creativity and problem solving has served Chris and his long list of real clients well. Ranked Canada’s top creative director from 1998 to 2001, Chris is also one of the country’s most award-winning copywriters. He’s been a judge at the Clios, the Andys, The One Show, Communication Arts, and the Cannes film jury. Four years after opening its doors, Rethink was named Canada’s Agency of the Year.

Lorraine TaoPartner and Cocreative Director, Zig, Toronto

Lorraine and her two partners opened Zig, one of Canada’s hottest shops, in 1999. In 2004, it was named Canada’s Agency of the Year. Lorraine and art director partner, Elspeth Lynn, have been listed by Maclean’s magazine as 100 Canadians to Watch. Described as having a “knack for knickers,” courtesy of their award-winning campaigns for Fruit of the Loom and Special K, breast cancer and W, the Women’s Television Network, they’re well known for their ability to communicate with women. Lest men feel left out, Zig recently landed Molson Canadian, Canada’s biggest beer account. No wonder Lorraine is featured in the 2004 book, Northern Lights: Outstanding Canadian Women.

Nancy VonkChief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Toronto

Nancy graduated from the University of Delaware and began her career at a tiny Washington, D.C., agency. After three years at Baltimore’s RM&D, she headed to Toronto’s SMW. She met Janet at Ogilvy, where they’ve been codependent co-creative heads since 1998. Nancy and Janet have won Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, and Clios, and they have been recognized by Communication Arts and Archive. Nancy has judged and chaired the Marketing Awards and Bessie Awards. She’s been a jury member for the Clios, Communication Arts, Cannes, and The One Show. Nancy lectures at schools such as the Ontario College of Art and Design and the VCU Adcenter. Her daughter Lily believes Mommy’s job is to be bossy and laugh all day.

Introduction

Ignacio Oreamuno: The View from Down Here

Junior.

Could there be a more inferior title? I’ve personally never seen a Junior Fire Swallower or heard tales of ladies going to their Junior Plastic Surgeon for a facelift.

That’s what I was wondering as a I stared at my shiny brand-new red Ogilvy business cards during my first day as an official “Junior.” I’m not quite sure why they even bothered printing them. It’s not like I would have given out my “Ignacio Oreamuno, Substandard & Powerless (Wannabe) Art Director” credentials to my mom, let alone to the clients.

The junior’s perspective is not a pretty one. Everyone around you seems large and powerful. Your paychecks will buy tons of absolutely nothing and your powerful new position will give you control only over the adjacent perimeter of your desk, if you happen to get one. But for the optimists, like you and me, being a junior means you made it. And that, my friend, is the career equivalent of becoming an astronaut (only with much more stress and casual clothing).

In my first week on the job, I got to clearly understand why the stupid junior title exists. Even though I was confident I was prepared to take on the role of creative director emeritus of WPP on my second day, I actually knew birdpoop about advertising. My years of arduous scholarly research and preparation vaporized. I wondered if I had taken the wrong college degree by accident. Doing color corrects, timing voice-overs, managing client politics, learning to talk to print production people, and even trying to understand the moods of my creative directors were classes I had never taken.

The pre-junior gap between school life and ad life is a deep, dark, scary abyss. I know. I crossed it. I saw many of my friends turn back, others fall, and some are still trying to get in. Pick Me was written so you could have some sort of bridge to cross into the ad world.

You might have realized by now that there’s a big hush-hush about this stage. Why? Well, perhaps because you wouldn’t have made it this far into your future ad career had you known how hard it was to get in, or perhaps because nobody in advertising wants to chatter about the most daunting stage of their careers, or perhaps because it’s simply a taboo question, like why doesn’t Donald Duck wear any pants?

If I’d been as lucky as you are to have a book like Pick Me, I might not have gone to my first job interview wearing a full beige suit, white shirt, shiny shoes, and black The Thinker tie or answered “creative director” when I was asked on my second interview if I wanted to be an art director or a copywriter.

Read every word in this book. Then pursue your new career with every inch of energy in your body until you sweat every drop and shed every tear. Believe me, there is no better job on Planet Earth.1

PART I

Breaking into Advertising

1

Was I Really Put on This Earth to Do Ads?

We’ve been asked this question dozens, if not hundreds of times. If you’re reading this you’ve asked it yourself. The question can come up at any time, when you’re a student, a junior, an intermediate, a senior, or a creative director. At all these points in time you will have ample occasion to wonder, “Am I nuts to have chosen this profession?”

It’s an amazing business. Glamorized in the media on everything from Bewitched to Thirtysomething, and most laughably on Melrose Place, many of the clichés are true. It is a ton of fun to create little movies and posters called ads. It’s never boring. It often involves travel; and you may even meet some stars along the way. Feel like an Oscar winner picking up your fancy awards and life is good. The great free lunches, a trip to Cannes, the industry parties: What’s not to like?

If you’re not cut out for it, plenty. You will need to develop a skin like elephant hide to withstand the rejection that every new day brings. You’ll be told by your partner, your creative director, your clients, or research that your idea sucks. You’ll need to remain positive after the campaign you slaved over for months gets killed because budgets just got cut. You’ll need to act cool and professional when you want to cry. You’ll need to forgo killing people when you really, really want to kill people. And you will likely want to kill your partner, boss, client, and especially the dolts behind the focus group glass many times over.

The people who make it in advertising absolutely love it. There’s often an early interest in ads; in Nancy’s case, she was in front of the bathroom mirror pretending to sell dish liquid before she could talk. It’s a strange calling—shouldn’t we be trying to cure cancer? But somebody’s got to do it—and have an amazing time in the process.

Advertising is for you if you can be calm in a crisis, optimistic to the point of looking the fool, if you’re a team player, a hard worker, and deeply curious. It also helps to have God-given talent, although talent without drive is useless.

It’s not for you if you can’t take constructive criticism, aren’t passionate about it, aren’t willing to go to the wall to do great work, or have an ego problem (many highly successful egomaniacs walk the earth—we’ll just say most CDs don’t want to deal with them).

You’ll know advertising is your destiny if you can’t imagine anything you’d rather leap out of bed every morning to plunge into. Short of having that feeling, consider your other options long and hard.

Dear Jancy: How do you know that advertising is the right career for you? If you can’t get an internship until you’ve completed an ad degree, how can you truly know if advertising is the true career path?

I love advertising, am quite creative, and think that I would like to be a CD, but there is always that little guy in the back of my mind saying something different.

Just like studying to become anything—a lawyer, a psychologist, whatever—you can’t really know until you’re in the real world if you’ll truly love it. The closest you can come to knowing is to feel a passion for the idea of it. That’s a pretty good sign you’ll put all you’ve got into this career when you graduate, and people who do that tend to do well. It’s normal to have doubts and even be torn between multiple interests. But we’d have to say that if you’re still feeling squarely on the fence by your last year of school, that’s a bad sign. If you’re not highly motivated and really focused on a goal of being great in this field, you probably won’t get the job in the first place to discover just how much you love or hate advertising. Creative directors hire only juniors who are clearly driven. Any hint of uncertainty means that potential hires may not put heart and soul into doing their best, and the effort of training them could well be energy misspent. On that CD goal, a suggestion: Visualize a new, really important short-term goal instead—being the best damn underpaid, overworked junior you can be.

You’ve probably heard the question “What would you be doing if you weren’t in advertising?” many times in your lives. But now it’s a question that I’ve asked myself and am unsure of the answer. I’m thinking of getting out of advertising and moving in a yet undecided direction. What arguments could you make to convince someone to stay in the biz?

Anyone who’s been in the business for a while and hasn’t asked that question is possibly dead. At least you know you’re breathing. So how can we persuade you to stay when we don’t know why you want to leave? We could remind you about all the early mornings, late nights, and crumpled paper you’d be giving up, but we won’t. Seriously, though, Janet has come up against this question a couple of times and left the business twice. But like a boomerang she keeps coming back. How come? It’s a psychological game. No two days are the same. No two problems are the same. No two teams would crack them in the same way. Most of the people are clever, decent, and talented. Even the crappiest days come with a laugh. And coming up with ideas is fun and exciting. Not every business can say that. Rethinking yet?

I am currently a student in an advertising design program. I don’t know if it’s me or advertising, but I don’t feel the “love” for it. My dilemma is sometimes I really enjoy it and sometimes I want to shoot myself in the big toe. What should I do?

This is a big moment in your life. You’re staring at a fork in the road. We wish we knew whether you’re near graduation or just starting the program: It makes a difference. If you’re early into it, know that it’s normal to question if this is the right path, and every student struggles with how tough the learning experience is. It is a taste of the real world—the long hours, the anxieties that come with trying to find a big idea, over and over again. It will never be one long happy experience—it’s really tough. For many, the payoff moments (an idea cracked, praise from the professor, the rush of getting the idea in the first place, etc.) are worth the natural struggle. But if you are well into your program and having serious doubts, listen to your inner voice and explore other career choices. If you don’t have a burning passion for this business, in spite of the difficulties, you won’t find much success at it and certainly won’t enjoy it. It would be the intelligent choice to go down another road and chalk up your school experience to date as a valuable chance to learn that advertising may have looked interesting, but it’s not for you.

I’m an aspiring copywriter who hopes to create award-winning ads one day. I’m presently still in school and I often fall into a “creative depression” about whether I’m talented enough for the industry.

I saw a CD of one of the hottest shops in Singapore for the first time in my life last month for her to take a look at my book. She went “nah, nah, nah . . . won’t work, won’t work . . .” and she picked out one spot, not a campaign but one spot out of 12 campaigns and went “not bad . . . but could be better.” You could say my first experience with a CD was terrifying.

Still, I think I’m hungry to make it in advertising, but the little rational guy on my shoulder says, “Get a real job, dude, you will have bills to pay soon.”

If I were your son, ha ha-ha, would you recommend that I continue to push for my aspiration to be a copywriter? I don’t want to be a hack.

Here’s a good news, bad news answer. If you’re still a student and have a year or more to go, you’ve been out there too soon to show your book to a CD. Of course you suck right now. We wouldn’t take time to see students who aren’t near graduation: They need every moment of education to get their portfolios to the point of being good enough to get themselves a job and show their true potential. If you’re at a bad school, that’s another story. We’ve written quite a bit about this lately. If your school doesn’t have great student work on display and successful graduates to point to, you’re probably wasting your time and money. It’s not too hard to check out these basic criteria.

Let’s assume you’re in a decent school. To worry that you’re an untalented hack is normal and, sad to say, probably means you’re good. This is the burden of creative people: We all think we’re hacks. The really cocky, confident people are either pretending really well that they have no fear, or they really are hacks, blissfully unaware. Strange but true. It took us years to figure this out.

Your harsh view of your own work also bodes well for you. The drive to push yourself hard and never feel satisfied describes all the great ad creatives. No great advertising person is complacent. The person who leaves at 5:00 entirely satisfied that he or she has nailed it is probably deluded. (That said, not many places expect you to spend the night twice a week. Long hours can kick in for periods, sometimes lasting far too long, but you don’t have to choose an agency that calls for sweatshop hours.)

How do you know at this point whether you’re talented enough? You’re at the mercy of your teachers. Ask them to be brutally honest with you. Some schools have a portfolio review every year or six months and take that occasion to tell students if they should change their majors. This is a kindness, and it’s too bad it isn’t common practice. Generally, it’s too soon to go to CDs unless you’re talking to CDs who teach and who are used to evaluating student books. However, talking to people in the business is always a good idea. If you can identify a mentor at an agency, this would be great (some schools have mentor programs that pair people with creatives willing to give regular feedback and advice). Ask the head of your department about how you might identify such a person. If your school is any good, it must have some kind of dialogue with agencies.

So, we hope you’ve got it; you’ve got some of it for sure (the attitude, the drive). One last point to ponder: A young writer took first place at a big student competition, and her professor said afterward, “You may not be the most talented, but you’ve got the most drive, and that will get you to the top.” Sounded like a backhanded compliment at the time, but there’s truth to that, too.

2

School Daze

Does school matter? This isn’t as dumb a question as it seems. We hear it regularly. And frankly, lots of successful creative people have made it without an advertising degree, most of them copywriters.

Art direction is so detailed and labor-intensive, with so much to learn, that it’s pretty much impossible to get a job without an advertising program. We’ve known only one successful art director who didn’t learn it in school. All we can say about him is that he was born with a silver design spoon in his mouth and turned that into a variety of art-related careers, such as clothing and house design, before becoming an art director. He was good at those and he’s good at this.

Art directors had schools to go to before copywriters did. This meant that copywriting used to be a more forgiving, learn-as-you-go sort of gig. That’s why copywriters used to come from lots of different types of education and shockingly unrelated jobs, like bartending and home renovation. But that’s changed, which is sort of sad; carpenters brought a lot to the party.

Now, you’re expected to be able to perform as soon as you walk in the door. This makes school way more important, and also puts pressure on you to go to a high-quality school.

Which leads to our ultimate pet peeve. All kinds of colleges and universities claim to have advertising programs. Sorry. They don’t. Just because a school says it teaches advertising doesn’t mean it does a good job. There are no standards for what an advertising program should teach. Some offer the basics, or less. Some are brilliant and inspiring. But how can you tell which is which? Here are a few thoughts: Many programs are taught by academics and people who worked in the business, once upon a time. While these people may have something to offer, advertising is an intensely practical business, and unless the course includes teachers who are both working and respected by the industry, you risk getting an education that’s meaningless in the real world.