Foot Caught in the Door

Last weekend, the UO Ad Team presented at the AAF competition and took third place, having some of the best creative work and the best presentation (Portland state took first with more concrete explanation of marketing strategy). There was also a 25th-annual Ad Team celebration that drew members from Ad Team alumni, who visited for the day and watched the presentation. The next day, we had a chance to talk with the judges, go to a career fair, and listen to a number of executives share their wisdom. Some things we learned:

Getting Hired
- Choose who you want to work for. Don't take the first offer just because you need a job.
- Make friends with grads and junior staff at agencies. They'll refer you for openings.
- Be interested in the clients, events, and dilemmas of agencies; have something to say.
- Don't just hope that someone will approach you with a position. Ask for the job.
- Avoid human resources like the plague.
- Love the secretaries. Talk with them and ask questions if they have time.
- Small places earn you experience. Big places earn you money. Don't expect both.
- Ten years from now, what will you wish you'd done?
- Perserverence beats talent. Merit wins over gimmicks.

Agencies
- If the owner is creative, the atmosphere will encourage creativity. If the owner loves numbers, then the atmosphere will reflect that, instead.
- Clients are top-dog; they bark, we bow. If you want to collaborate with clients, work at a smaller shop.
- There is a negative correlation between agency size and creativity. The larger they are, the smaller the ratio of good to poor creative.
- There is currently no other agency like W + K. Nobody knows where the next W + K will turn up.
- Agencies are still a business/creative dichotomy. There is little hope of merging account planner insight with marketing solutions anytime soon, and almost none of artists getting the ear of big CEOs.
- Talented account planners are still widely underappreciated; many still consider it a management position (without creative training).

The biggest revelation for me was that there is no up-and-coming agency modeled after W+K. Right now, agencies seek notoriety by the size of their clients, content to get paid maximum dollars for campaign work.

I think we should try "venture advertising." Like venture capitalism, venture advertising would latch on to clients with great potential rather than great wealth, with the aims of sharing in the reward of building a successful brand. Perhaps instead of cash payment for ad work, it could be a stock-for-labor trade, by which the ad agency has a stake in the company it's promoting. It'd be a symbiotic relationship, much like the rise of Nike and Starbucks. The ad agency would be obligated to pitch in with the business and marketing decisions, the ideas fueled by account planners' insights. Does anything like this exist? Has it been tried? What happened? And if not, why not? Just exploring the possibility.

OK, now I have to work on getting hired.

Tell your employer!

Thanks.

Lots.

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