You're only human after all

Hi all, hope all is going well with interviews etc. Do let us know either here or on Facebook. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about different agencies and their different approaches to advertising. I had lunch yesterday with the extremely clever Paul Edwards and discussed the opposite ends of the spectrum. At one end you have the very logical, very academic and very craftsmanship agencies. They usually produce some great work but it takes them a long time to get there. You then have the young energetic agencies at the other end who work quicker, with more excitement and base their work on instincts and gut feelings. These usually operate in the very creative realms. You then have some that fall in the middle, have little identity and struggle to be one or the other. They produce safe, uninspiring and vanilla advertising. Isn’t it strange that considering agencies are meant to be the master of branding that some are actually pretty poor at it. However, one thing that will mark your success in either of these places is the fact that you’re human.

Being a consciously aware human that craves collecting cultural references I think is very important for those moving into advertising. Your job is essentially to understand other humans so the more you observe people interacting with one another, brands, events, music, art, travel everything and anything. Whatever agency ‘type’ you decide to go with the one criteria that I think will unite you all is your love of people watching. I’m also a big believer that the simplest strategies are the most potent and engaging. Therefore understanding what turns you on, your friends is great material for entering ad agencies. So, after this long winded brain dump I would encourage you to keep your thinking as honest, simple and articulate when you start having your interviews.

Good luck

Anton xxx