A Madman's Mission Statement

Welcome. Make yourself at home, get a cup of tea or a glass of juice if you wish. Sit in your favourite chair if you have one, put on your lucky pants if you have some. Today is the day I post my first ever blog entry! Let me get straight into it. Unlike many blogs, this one has a purpose. Well, its purposes are twofold:

1. To highlight and discuss funny/well-shot/creative/bizarre ads and new issues surrounding advertising as a whole. 

I'm interested in all types of advertising - television, radio, print, digital, ambient, and so on - so you'll if you follow this here blog, your diet will be varied. Admittedly CR Blog does the exact same thing and despite the thousands that read the magazine, very few bother to comment or discuss the stuff they post up there. So I guess I can't expect to attract too many readers that way. Hence the blog's second purpose...

2. To document my personal progress as I embark on a 'here goes nothing', 'get my foot in the door' journey into the world of advertising/copywriting. 

Now, my friends have been giving me a little aggro about 'selling my soul' and marketing lard to kids 'n' all, but really that stuff doesn't bother me. I think they've probably watched too many movies and think you have to be a tough guy rather than a nice guy to get into the industry. Of course I might be proved wrong, but therein lies the beauty of this blog -  I'm doing it so that other like-minded idealists can see how one man fared on his journey, how exactly he coped, what moves he took etc. It's a kamikaze mission. It starts with making a book/portfolio, then applying to advertising school for a year, then trying to get a job. 

The course I want to get on next year is of course the 'oxbridge of advertising'... The Watford Course (at West Herts College) headed by the respectable Mr. Tony Cullingham. Now this is something easier said than done... a lot easier. After answering the 10 creative questions and submitting your portfolio/book, successful applicants get invited to a group interview (which has been known to last up to five hours, so I hear). The interview comprises of a 'think on your toes' advertising pop quiz - which agencies have which clients, which creatives are with which agencies... all that jazz - and you also get the chance to talk through your book, and respond to some more on the spot creative tasks. No doubt I'll be a ball of nerves, but I have a year to get my act together, so I intend to use it well. The first step I'll be taking (after finding a job to keep me alive for the year) will be subscribing to Campaign - the advertising industry's weekly supplement, "the Bible of british Adland" as it is known - and reading the hell out of it. I'll also be writing ads and 'being a sponge' as Cullingham puts it - absorbing as much as I can, from as many sources as I can... no idea stealing mind (see The Youtube Dilemma). 

Assuming I do get on to the course, do find a creative partner I like, do get a job, and do come up with some genuinely good ideas ... the journey (and this blog) will end when i finally secure my first D&Ad pencil... or it will end prematurely when I kill myself on the way.

So on that note - with its fine balance of optimism and pessimism, idealism and cynicism - I'll leave you dear reader, but please... stay tuned!