How to get a Watford place

So I'm winding up the blog.

This is because I've lost my love for advertising.

I didn't try and fail. I've just changed path...

I did manage to get a place on the Watford course. I just didn't accept the offer. If anyone wants to know roughly how to do it, its all here in the archives. The creative test I used is here. The portfolio I submitted is here...(it only got 6/10 so you should look to do better than this). Tony doesn't really like digital so don't do complex google-maps-treasure-hunt rubbish. If you do digital, do something simple like Subservient Chicken. And before you do anything, I'd read 'Hey Whipple, Squeeze This', 'Advertising is dead, long live advertising' and 'The Idea Writers'.

So yeah. Don't get me wrong, I still think that a lot of the work (especially in the 60s) was great, fresh, exciting, artful, witty, intelligent. But I've realized that I don't like selling. I don't like 'creating want'. And for those who say that advertising can't make people buy something they don't already want or need - that it simply convinces them chose my brand over the competitor's - well, I don't like branding either. Creating something from nothing - adding value which isn't there and getting people to pay more for it. Some people think that stuff is cool, but I'm not one of them. And I'm not so keen on state of advertising today... the phrases crowd-sourcing, multi-platform, user-experience and brand advocacy make me feel empty inside and a little angry.

And while I'm aware that the lifestyle of an adman would be fun - drawing, filming, travelling... If I'm doing something I don't believe in, then deep down inside I'll never really be satisfied. So I'd rather do something meaningful if possible - and if not meaningful, at least something which is appreciated rather than widely hated.

Yes there are your Duncan Marshalls (an ex-Watfordian himself) who do good and meaningful things in the field of advertising, like helping get clean water to millions (see Tap Project) or Obama elected, but these type of people are 1 in a million. And the type of projects those types of individuals initiate are vastly removed from what I'd label advertising. They're simply great ideas.

And you don't have to be in advertising to have one of those.

Steve Henry on Anti-consumerism

Steve Henry (HHCL founder and ad legend) starts to embark upon an ideological analysis of advertising, particularly in post-recession (are we out yet?) Britain. I found this interesting because I too sense the anti-consumerist sentiment which is on the up, and often just try to repress it when I start to think about why I'm trying to get into this industry...

Instead of repressing more, I've starting reading some more political philosophy, namely F.A. Hayek - The Constitution of Liberty. It's basically the defining exposition of classical liberalism. Thatcher reportedly brought this book into an early meeting, slammed it on the desk and said "This is what we believe", getting everyone who hadn't already read it to do so. Essentially, I'm trying to fill myself in on where this country has previously been ideologically and where it's headed. I know that Hayek isn't so fashionable anymore; his work was born out of cold-war suspicion and built on a highly self-interested model of human beings, but (like in advertising) you have to know your history in order to understand your present. (If you haven't seen Adam Curtis' documentary series 'The Trap: What happened to our freedom?' I highly recommend it - its on Youtube in 18 parts. It retells the process by which the Western concept of negative freedom developed here and in the US, and discusses on an ideological level, our govenments' attempts to export an ideology - we ourselves have qualms with - to other countries and cultures).

In other news, after my second interview (I don't think I could have bared one more) I got offered a place at Watford. Score!!!

I decided to defer till next year, though, due to financial reasons mainly. Today, for the first time in about 3 years, my bank balance went back into the black. I'm now on double digits! Still got the £18,000 student loan of course, but no one needs think about that yet.

Right, I'm off to play in a Texas Scramble... google it.

The last thing you want to do is write 'ads'.

Tony gave me some great advice on Tuesday. And it hit me like some sort of revelation.

First of all, he gave me some simple tips which I took on board.

My book was too robotic; Brand - Proposition - Executions.

I was simply writing the strategy as a visual ad.

There was no 'vehicle' - no intermediary idea to carry the message.

It needed to be Brand - Proposition - Idea - Executions.

Then, crucially, he said that with it was clear that I was sitting down and trying to write 'ads'.

He said "The last thing you want to do is write ads"

And it hit me... I've been trying to imitate that which I admire, rather than originate.

I've been mimicking the kind of ads that find their way into Luerzer's Archive, the kind of ads you see on I Believe in Adv.

I've been doing things how I think they're done.

Big visual - logo - tag. Or some combination of the three. Product demos. Too formulaic.

At first I thought to myself: didn't VW get the strategy It's small, but it's also tough - and just write visual ads which dramatized it?

Adding the tag 'Small but tough'.

Wasn't the copy simply restating the strategy?

But then I realised: that kind of ad is not what Tony is looking for.

He wants to see something more.

Something that can take on a life of it's own.

Something that looks no ad he's seen before.

Something that looks like nothing he's seen before.

Take pretty much every idea that Droga5 have come up with. Each one looks like no idea they, or anyone else, has ever come up with before.

That's exactly why they picked up 2 black pencils last year.

That's what I need to be aiming for.

Like Vik Kayno, a current student at Watford, told me - I need to push my thinking, get it to the next level. I need to stop writing ads, and start having ideas.

What a revelation to have!

Anyway, I've got more work to do than ever.

Tony said there was such a thing as a third shot (even a fourth and fifth), but he'd let us know how we did next week.

In other news, Uber Agency got back to me. They said I could come in for a crit session with the CD and/or go on a one week placement sometime in April. So that's nice news. Also, the Saatchi & Saatchi facebook recruitment scheme is well under way and after two rounds I'm in the last 250 or so. Excited for the next brief.

There's light at the end of the tunnel.

Get Fresh Kicks

With one week to go before heading back to Watford I've made a few new ads to go in my book.

They're pretty much all visual.

An image, with a logo, and a tag line if needs be. Like the one above!

What's more, I've displayed each set along side a simple Luke Sullivan style 'Brand = Adjective' explanation. It expresses in words, quite literally, the benefit or selling point I've chosen to dramatize. Hopefully this will make my book much easier to present in the two minutes they give you at Watford.

In other news, I recently discovered that the top billing agency outside London is actually based here in Sheffield! Uber Agency have done work for Netto, DFS, Morphy Richards and some Xbox and Wii games. I dropped them a line, asking if they'd look at my book. They said yes, so I sent it over. Any feedback from them would be just greaaat as I've never sent my book out anywhere. Some respectable criticism is just what it needs. I might get in touch with an agency called digforfire too... they were ranked 5th and are also Sheffield based.

Finally, I did my first ever graffiti session today in my back garden on some wood stolen from a skip. It's slightly illegal to do graffiti, so I'll let you know now... I'm certainly not practicing so I can get up early one morning this week and let loose on this old building they're knocking down in town. Certainly not.

Heg out.

Viagra, Watford and Keeping on going

(Above: a lovely simple ad for viagra - visual, logo - nothing to do with the post below!)

Hey lovely followers! How are you? As some of you may have heard, Watford have given me another go at the interview on March 2nd. This is great news. Apparently it isn't uncommon to have two goes. The two Watford students whose blogs I've followed had to try twice before getting on, so I'm not the only one.

As of yesterday I'm on a mission to do a million times better this time round. I now know what is expected of me.

Here's my regime for the next month:

1. Watch Luke Sullivan's lecture on simplicity

I did this yesterday, and every time I watch it I'm inspired to write ads. It's like the bible of ad writing condensed into one sermon.

2. Rewrite my portfolio

This means pretty much replacing every campaign if possible. If I write one ad/campaign per night I should have around 25. I'll take the best 12 and put them in my folio.

3. Learn all the agencies/clients/creative directors

As you may know, I really tried this last time, but only got 4/10 on the test. It's hard recalling so much in only one minute. If I record all the info onto an audio file and listen to it on my MP3 I'll be able to memorise it in my lunch breaks.

Which brings me to my next thing to tell you. I got a job.

Its a boring admin job, but it's what you gotta do in a recession.

This makes it very hard not to come home at 5:30pm and just veg out with a beer till bed time.

It's all about self-discipline.

Wish me luck.

Watford: 'the Oxbridge of advertising'

So yesterday I went to Watford for my interview.

It was a very interesting experience and I learnt a lot...

Or rather - so much of what I already suspected was brought home, big time.

About originality, simplicity, what to put in my book. It was an awakening of sorts.

At the moment I doubt I got on, but they sometimes give you a second shot at the interview a couple of months down the line. I'm reluctant to go into too much detail just yet, because knowing what to expect is a real advantage, and the last thing I want to do is help someone nab my place on the 2010 course!

Apparently Tony has already given away 10 of the 25 slots to last year's deferees. That was quite a surprise considering this was the first round of interviews.

I'll let you in on the structure of the day though, just so you know what I went through.

It was a bit like masterchef!

I was up against four other candidates (one who worked for JWT Paris and had flown in from France). I think it should have been five, but there was a no-show. Here's what Tony had us do:

1. A quiz on the industry. One minute to answer ten questions.

2. Go away for an hour and a half and prepare:

i. Responses to a live brief (ours was 'Think of ways to make people turn down their mp3 players on public transport'). One minute to present.

ii. A speech on one person from a list (Steve McQueen, Charles Bukowski, Alain Robert to name a few). One minute to present.

iii. Show your portfolio of work. Two minutes to present.

In the quiz, I managed to beat the other four candidates by two clear points with a meagre score of four! I did quite badly, but everyone else did worse.

One of the questions was 'Who is x factor winner Joe McElderry moving into a flat with?'

Despite watching the whole of The X Factor, I hadn't a clue.

The question was to see whether you read the tabloids or not.

Apart from that, I was revising the right sort of thing last week - creative directors names, agency initials, current clients.

As for the presentations, I didn't do so well.

They were done in front of Tony and four current Watford students.

Two candidates scored better than me, two scored worse.

He liked my portfolio and gave that six out of ten; quite positive feed back really.

He said I had lots of good devices and knew how ads worked structurally.

I'm glad about that and I now know exactly what I need to work on.

He's letting us know the verdict by post in January.

As I say, I've got my fingers crossed for a second shot.

I was so nervous I couldn't eat and if I hadn't read snippets of what to expect on other people's blogs, I'd have been even worse. That said, I can see why Tony keeps it a secret. He wants to see what you know and what you're like naturally - not how much you can prepare for what you know is coming. That's another reason I'm not giving too much away!

The Watford Interview

EDIT: I originally held this post back but now I'm making it visible on 15/07/11

It's the post you've all been waiting for. (All ten of you - if that).

After sending off my portfolio and creative test last last month, a letter came inviting me to an interview for the BTEC Advertising Copywriting/Art Direction course at West Herts college - commonly known in the industry as 'the watford course.'

The night before the interview, after 4 hours on the road and two bottles of Bud, I kipped at a nearby B&B.

The room was hotter than a sauna, but generally quite nice.

Next morning, I went to the cafe to get my complimentary breakfast.

I turned down the full english and went for a danish pastry and a drink.

I stared at the pastry for a whole hour before getting the bloke to wrap it up in cling film.

I was too damn nervous to eat.

On my way to the college, I called into the news agents and checked the tabloids... I'd heard there'd be a question on The Sun's headline.

After a brief chat with the four other candidates in the foyer, Tony appeared.

He took us to a room, gave us a brief intro speech, then hit us with a quiz. One minute - ten questions.

1. Who is the executive creative director at TBWA London?

2. Who is x factor winner Joe McElderry moving into a flat with?

3. What agency did the recent running jockey TV ad for Weetabix?

4. What agency did the recent Bakers Tweet for Fresh Bread?

5. What does M and C, as in M&CSaatchi, stand for?

6. What agency did the most recent Carling TV campaign?

7. Which of these is not an ad agency: Brooklyn Brothers, Isobel, Poke.

8. What agency handles the above-the-line UK work for Honda cars?

9. Which agency won Campaign's 'Agency of the Decade'?

10. Name three ex-students of this course?

I think one person got 0, two people got 1, another got 2 and I got 4.

A small victory on my part.

(Noticeably, The Sun question was replaced with an X-Factor one... again, something tabloid-based).

As Tony said after the test, you can find the majority of that information through reading Campaign or spending 5 minutes on each of the major agencies' websites.

True - but whether or not the names of every client and every creative director stick in your head after you've looked at over 20 agencies is another question altogether. (The past two weeks I've been memorising what the initials RKCR/Y&R, BMP, DDB, BBH, AMV/BBDO, TBWA and HHCL all stand/stood for, but didn't think to learn Maurice Saatchi's first name. Typical). Given a minute more, I coulda got six, maybe seven right, but I simply wasn't quick enough.

After the test he gave us a really engaging 20 minute talk about what it is to be a creative and about the type of person he was, and the kind of traits he was looking for in us. I'd say it was worth the trip alone.

After that he gave us an hour and a half to:

A. Come up with ways to get people to turn their ipods or MP3 players down on public transport (with one minute to present your ideas).

B. Prepare a minute-long presentation about one of the following people: Alain Robert, Steve McQueen, Charles Bukowski... I can't remember the rest.

C. Present your portfolio - two minutes.

Now, for A, obviously he wanted executions, not just strategies. And of course he wanted as many as possible. (If I could do it again, I'd bring an A3 pad to pop my scamps in. The A4 stuff he gives you is no good when you're standing up and you've got four current students all leaning forward to see your scribbles).

For B, what he wanted wasn't so clear. Crucially, he doesn't want to find out how much you know about your chosen person. Nor does he want the kind of facts you can find on wikipedia. He wants you to make the information interesting. Make it personal, take an angle, be memorable, say something funny if possible...

Whilst I was there, one girl simply re-enacted McQueen's famous scene from the great escape, running round the room making motorcycle noises and eventually jumping up on a chair and falling down.

She got 9 out of 10.

Essentially you've got do anything but the obvious, whilst still remaining relevant.

Unfortunately this only dawned on me afterwards. I was so panicked I forgot that this was part of an interview for a creative course, not an English Lit one. I ended up giving a perfectly friendly, light-hearted presentation on Bukowski, recalling a scene from Factotum and explaining his take on 'creativity'. Ultimately I did nothing inventive with the task. MY BAD.

I got three out of ten. Tony told me that this was mainly for the joke I put in there.

Finally task C. Present your portfolio.

Have you ever flicked through an catalogue in Argos looking for a certain page?

Well that's about the pace at which you had to show your ads.

There is no time for long-copy, and - as I soon found out - Tony cares very little about ideas designed to work through digital media. He wants posters. Simple, visual campaigns expressing a benefit. Your top three executions for each campaign. Ideas you can get in five seconds (without having someone explain them to you). You have to let the ads speak for themselves to an extent. Simply set them up by saying who the ad is for and what the benefit you're dramatizing is. Also, (classic folio advice) avoid ads for big brands like Volkswagen, Heinz, The Economist, Mini, Sony - your stuff is always going to be compared to the work that's already being produced, and that shit's gonna take some beating. (You can throw a few ambient ideas in, so long as they're as simple and as clear as a poster would be).

In short:

NO to long winded virals. NO to long copy ads. NO to big brands.

YES to crisp headlines/straps. YES to visual wit. YES to smaller brands with simple benefits.

I got six out of ten on this one. He said I knew how ads worked, how they're structured, and I had a good range of devices going on. I was quite pleased about that. But, again, if you're presenting to five people, an A3 folio wouldn't go a miss. Mac your ads up too (in photoshop or whatever), as this makes them much more legible.

So - the panel's results came in for the presentations.

Two people did worse than me, and two did better.

I seriously doubt I'll get offered a place straight off, but with any luck I'll be invited back to give the interview another shot in March some time. If so, I'll be a hell of a lot calmer, and I'll know exactly what Tony wants from me.

Remember that ad?

To get onto the Watford course there's a test. I hear it happens on the interview day. I have no idea what sort of questions will be asked, but I guess they'll be about advertising. So, I've set myself the modest task of learning about every agency in the UK - plus a couple more to boot.

I've written the name of each one down (and what the initials stand for), their current creative directors and most of their major clients. I've also made a list of this year's Cannes Lions and D&Ad winners...

After starting on A3 paper... I realised that I should probably have done a spreadsheet instead.

Oh and there's my cluttered desk... Rubberduckzilla 'n' all.

Oh, who did that ad?

Mother?

I left them off the list too... silly me.

This is a real test of memory. If you spot any errors in my list, please let me know. And if anyone has any interview advice please dispense. It's only five days away!

Keeping busy

Last week I sent off my application to the Watford course. Waiting for a reply was like torture (for a neurotic like me), but they decided to invite me to an interview on Dec 16th. This is good news!

In the couple of days spent waiting, I busied myself with some drawing. My friend Louis wanted some artwork designing for his website, so I came up with a nice banner and logo. You can visit his great Techno/Electro blog 'Louis Louis' right here. I also made a little image for stickers/tee-shirts he might be printing. Who knew I could draw so well using Illustrator alone?!

There's lots to be done in preparation for the interview. Learning all the agencies names, creatives, clients, past campaigns. Not to mention improving my portfolio. I'm also trying desperately hard not to think about the Dragon's Den style presentation I'll have to do...

Pressure's on.

A Little Something

Okay, today I started brainstorming headlines and t-shirts to be worn the day after global flooding happens (part of the Copywriting entry test below). I have a page full of scribblings - some dead end, some okay... but this is one of the questions you can keep adding to while you do the rest, so I'm optimistic I'll stumble on a gem or two soon. The next one I wanna tackle is the funny poem about death. The question reminded me of "The Dead", a poem by one of my favourite poets, Billy Collins. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it's light-hearted, thoughtful and human - like most of his work. Here is a lovely animated version I thought I'd share:

P.S. I take it everyone has seen the new Evian roller-babies viral? My 'Absurd Graphic vs. Dance Classic' prediction is further corroborated!

 Watch this space pals!

Holy Mother of God!

Okay, news flash - the new creative test for Watford has gone on up the net! When I emailed Tony Cullingham he said it would go up in November, but here it is... bang in the middle of July. I don't want to know why I got given the wrong date - lets hope he doesn't hate me. Anyways, the self-set deadline for getting this thing sent off is December. Although there's no real deadline, the sooner I apply the better. I need to respond to all of the following tasks... 

Q1. Write a funny poem about death.

Q2. What would I find in the brightness at the light at the end of the tunnel?

Q3. Devise a campaign strategy with executions to promote Cliff Richard as the next UK Prime Minister.

Q4. Write headlines and designs for T shirts to be worn the day after Global Flooding.

Q5. Devise as many posters as you can to sell yourself.

Q6. Why should you never underestimate a handsome bear?

Q7. Sell Tarantulas as the next must have pet.

Q8. Devise a digital idea for a chocolate bar.

Q9. How would you get more folk to learn the Ukelele?

Q10. How would Michaelangelo,  (the Renaissance artist not the turtle),  sell Edam cheese?

Q11. Enclose an A4 copy, non-returnable, of your own portfolio.

The first one sounds my cuppa tea, but that last one is a toughie. I really need to get writing some top notch copy - I think around 8 campaigns constitutes a decent size portfolio. I've already made a start but I'm gonna need to work fast. Nothing like a bit of pressure to fuel me on!

I Heart Stickers

For this post I thought I'd bring together a few sticker/adhesive sort of campaigns which probably fit under the ambient category (ambient advertising refers to pretty much any any kind of advertising that occurs in some non-standard medium outside the home). Most of these examples take advantage of their situation/positioning, making it part of the ad or joke. So here goes a few of my recent faves, in no particular order...

This one is by the mighty BBDO (Germany) for MediMax... as you can probly tell, the shaver moves as the articulated section of the bus rotates. Only a great (or very bored) mind would look at the articulated section of a bus and think to put an ad there. Super.

This one's by an agency called Marcel (Paris). Though it reduces the effectiveness of the mirror, it can't help but steal your attention - making you part of the ad. The next two examples work in a similar fashion. For the one below, your best seeing the two images in conjunction...

So yeah... clever huh? It's by Saatchi & Saatchi (Cape Town) for Save our Seas. Finally there's this one...

Its by Advico Y&R (Zurich) and is for Acat.ch who are campaigning to abolish torture. Again, this is an ad which utilizes it's position and does so in an unconventional way. I just wonder why I've never seen any ad of this sort first hand. Perhaps I'd see more of them if I went to London or something. I'd love it if each time I went out I saw ads like this, life would be so much more interesting (well... maybe not so much more but a little). 

P.S. Credit where credit is due, most of these ads are pillaged from a collection of blogs eg. I Believe in Adv and Osocio (more on Osocio soon). 

In terms of personal progress - I am still no nearer to finding a job for the year, though I have applied to Blockbuster, Loch Fyne Restaurant, Tesco and shit like that. Hopefully I will get something, then I can start writing some ads. I bought a book in 'Help the Aged' today by Edward DeBono on Lateral thinking (recommended reading for the Watford Course)... it's supposed to de-mystify the concept of 'creativity', pinning it down as something which can be taught, and thus learnt. Sounds a little dry, but I can't wait.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for a blog on 'Ads for change, not awards' and the notion of 'Brand Advocates' which is quite a new one to me! 

I'm learning... slowly.