How to get into advertising – or at least fail with more dignity

Yesterday my twitter pal mistercastro ( check @saatchi_grads for his enfant terrible antics) challenged me to provide some advice for all the kids out there who want to work in advertising.

It’s all but impossible to do this without sound INCREDIBLY PATRONISING so I’ll keep it brief, and leave out all the standard boring guff about trying to make sure you stand out etc etc.

1. Consider NOT doing a grad scheme at a big agency. Just because all your friends are obsessing about their KPMG application it doesn’t mean you should be sweating blood over your JWT ap. These days grad schemes at big agencies tend to land you straight into account management, and there are lots of frustrated would be planners or creatives trapped in account exec positions. Which brings me to…

2. Sneak in by the back door. Apart from possibly a prison, there are probably no buildings where the inhabitants have such a varied set of backgrounds as advertising agencies. So, you may be better off doing a couple of years in TV, digital production, art school or market research (a LOT of planners have researchy backgrounds). Not only will this mean you bring something interesting to the table, but big agencies are moving towards integrated models of working which will require them to hire from smaller, more specialised and more varied agencies and suppliers.

3. Get your philosophy right. Don’t think about getting in as being about getting through an interview. Rather,  just concentrate on being the person they would want to hire. Get into it. Beg borrow or steal a copy of ”Behind the Scenes in Advertising” by Jeremy Bullmore. It’s the best book about advertising EVER. Hang out in Soho for a bit. Do something interesting on Twitter. Follow some ad people. And if all that doesn’t put you off, you are not only prepped, but you are ready.

4. Don’t try too hard. I once saw an application where, when asked to make an impression, the applicant had written CUNT in letters so big he couldn’t have got more than 4 across the page. I thought this showed promise, but more sensitive members of the agency vetoed. My old boss once told me that you should try to be the cool girl on the periphery of the party all the men want to talk to, rather than the “I’m mad me” girl dancing round her handbag in the front room. There’s probably something in that…

Marketing ideas – and Danny Baker

Much excitement whenever we have an idea that can be called a marketing idea, rather than just an advertising idea. As I understand it, the difference is that whilst an advertising idea is an idea for an advert, a marketing idea is something which isn’t in itself an advert, but could be filmed and turned into one. So for instance the Walkers ‘Sandwich’ idea was an event that would have had some impact simply through word of mouth and social media activity. But it also made for something fantastic that could be filmed and turned into a TV ad. You get the idea.

The way these things are talked about you’d think they were a recent invention. What struck me the other day was that a classic from my own childhood should and does count as a  great marketing idea – and it’s at least 15 years old. God knows why I thought of it, but I am of course refering to the unsung classic that is… the Daz Doorstep Challenge

I love how it says ‘Recorded Live’ – which is of course completely meaningless. Even if it was a bit of a set up, this was still something that made a real change from the two-t-shirts-with-stains-dipped-in-detergent-and-pulled-out guff that continues to make it on to our screens.

Any other classic ads which are actually marketing ideas? I’d love to hear them…

On demand and the ‘emergent quality’

Here’s something i’ve been thinking about for a while. I’m not quite finished thinking about it either, but if I waited til then, I’d never write anything.

The question was, why was I so excited to be able to tune in to hear Andrew Weatherall (for those not familiar, something of a cult figure amongst record shop bothering men of a certain age) on BBC 6 music last Sunday? Why, when the show was going to be made available for a week after on the BBC’s iPlayer was it exciting to hear it THEN, as it was going out? The answer I think is an interesting one and reflects something we are only just getting to grips with.

By way of introduction, I can remember as a wet behind the ears researcher seeing TV clients terrified about the potential effect of the newly arrived Sky Plus on their audiences. This was probably 2005/6. Advertising revenues would surely dry up! Of course, it never really happened, despite the success of Sky Plus and other PVRs since. That’s because although time shifting – and indeed on demand – is great and enjoyed by many, it has become an adjunct to rather than a replacement for scheduled TV viewing.

That’s just because we’re all stuck in our ways and the kids are time shifting EVERYTHING, expect it all to be on demand and will grow up to be schedule ignoring adults of the future you might say. Well, i don’t really believe you. For two reasons.

1. Because for as long as schedules exist and are repetitive, content won’t just be content. It will have a context which will give it meaning due to where it is and hence what role it plays (eg stuff on Saturday evenings being stuff families can watch together on the sofa after their dinner, or soap operas being things people can escape to after another dull day at work). And because it will to an extent be made with a view to filling these roles, it will be a better watch at these times than others. To put it another way, people have social relationships not just with content but with schedules.

2. And this is really my point, but it’s a little different - Because content is linear, it has to start – emerge - at a certain time. So there will be something about getting it hot off the press that makes it attractive to get it as it is emerging. Or rather, we do not like the feeling that it has happened and some  people may be enjoying while we are still waiting. This is different to the potency of the ‘live’ experience, by the way. I have pretentiously dubbed it ’the emergent quality’ but if you can think of a better name, do let me know.

This is an important thing for broadcasters to consider when they think of their futures. I’m almost certain it makes an entirely on demand model a non starter (ever sit in front of Google and can’t think of what to search for? Imagine that on your telly). Or rather, that if a broadcaster – or should I say content provider – wanted to do something without schedules, they’d need to do very well to remove all but a gloss of decision making from the consumer.

Anyway, here’s a picture of Andrew Weatherall, and a link to a wonderful record he featured in his 6 mix.