Sure, you want to sell great work, and you should do everything you can to do that. But what I learned many years ago is that the most important thing you can sell a client is yourself. Why? Because when the inevitable happens in a year, two, or five, and clients decide they need a new campaign, you don’t want them to also decide they need a new creative director to do it. All campaigns have a shelf life. You shouldn’t.
Hopefully, the above has been helpful to you. I know it has been to me as it gave me an opportunity to capture some of the things I’ve learned over the last forty years in the advertising business, and pass them along.
7. But reading about my experience is one thing, understanding how to apply it is very different.
So let’s give it a try. Here’s an assignment that applies how I think creative people should approach opportunities:
Take a product you really like and use and create a brand strategy for it. Look at how it’s marketed, its competition, assess the advertising, and write down what you like and what you don’t like. Then develop a new brand strategy based on your insights. Who is the target audience? What need does the product fulfill?
Write a campaign line, develop a design and some visuals that capture the brand/product in a compelling way.
When you’re finished, show it to some friends, or colleagues, and ask them for their honest opinions.
Revise your thinking based on their feedback.
When you’re done, ask yourself this question: Would I buy this product?
Good luck. Enjoy.
Skills You Need to Move from Beginner to Creative Director
Now that we’ve gotten the perspective from Ron, I’ll add my $0.02 to the discussion on how to further your career.
WRITE
I’ll start this by overtly stating something about the words behind the pictures that I’ve been emphasizing indirectly in each of the chapters in this book. Writing. I cannot stress how much of a benefit to my conceptual process it has been to articulate my thoughts in writing. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a writer or whether you’re the boss—being able to write a good concept, headline, or positioning statement will ensure that you are noticed in situations that require thinking. Sometimes this is the only way to test out the essence of the approach without getting bogged down in the details.
The rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation are crucial to know if for no other reason than to recognize when to break them for the right effect (for example, Think Differently versus Think Different). The only way to learn this skill is to read the writing inside award-winning creativity. Get Communication Arts, The One Show, Art Directors Club, or Society of Publication Designers annuals and read the work. Be sure that the annuals are from the last five years because you’ll need to remain familiar with what is now. I didn’t mention websites because it is too easy to Google something that hasn’t been vetted. You can then spend most of your time sifting through everything versus focusing on what has been curated by industry veterans.
ANALYZE
You must exhibit the ability to develop a sound written strategy from research.
The creative strategy framework in Chapter 6, positioning statement guidelines in Chapter 9, and the creative brief guidance in Chapter 10 are all examples of this. You may not need all of these tools at once but practicing them will help you choose what you should use and when.
SYNTHESIZE
Synthesis is the development of a relevant written conceptual execution created from the strategy (this includes headlines, taglines, body copy, brand manifestos, tweets, blog posts, and so on). The feature and benefit insights from Chapter 5 are an example of synthesis. The words of my mentor and Pratt Distinguished Professor Tony Di Spigna still ring in my head: “It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the hands of the right designer, a word is worth a thousand pictures.” Whether visual or verbal, it all comes down to effective communication. And that communication must include key parts of the brand or service you’re representing.
ASK FOR HELP
One of the best skills I’ve learned during the years is to admit when I don’t know and then ask someone who does. It has helped me learn from those who have made decisions like the ones I’m needing to make, but even then, with their advice, I must still make the actual decision. Failure is a part of the process and even now I still make the wrong call every now and then. It’s not the end of the world, and faking it till you make it is a waste of time. Ask if you don’t know.
Turning Words Into Inspiration
Keep in mind that what it means to be a creative person changes with the speed of the new products and platforms created for consumers to use. We must always adapt, and challenge ourselves to redefine the role of a designer or art director as the business changes. What will not change is the requirement that we possess the ability to use sound judgment when making recommendations to our clients. The best recommendation is not always obvious, as we are tasked with selecting the best options to present from the multitude of directions that we develop when creating.
So I practice, and if you’d like more practice making creative decisions, you can purchase the classic Harvard Business Review “Case Study: Mountain Dew: Selecting New Creative (Multimedia Case)” by Douglas B. Holt, available here https://hbr.org/product/mountain-dew-selecting-new-creative-multimedia-case/503038-MMC-ENG. Or, put your new learning to the test by turning to Chapter 15.
14 Dragon Slaying
Successfully Managing Fear
This is the story of the professor who had no intention of going to college. In high school, I was terrible at math and French but by my junior year, decided to go to a summer school math class on my own accord. I switched to Spanish to get my two years that colleges required at the time. I took the SAT three times to get the best score I could get in order to complete the college requirements. It would seem that I was doing this because I had the intention of applying to and attending college but nope, that wasn’t the case for me.
I did all that to have the choice to go to college if I wanted to. I wanted to be able to say that I didn’t go to college because I didn’t want to, not because I couldn’t have. I had no guidance within my high school, or familiarity with colleges except through family trips, an aunt, and a cousin who had gone to a local state college. And then I graduated from high school in 1994. I had my diploma but no plan for what was next. I happened to stumble onto a conversation about a top historically black college I had never heard of and went home and told my mom, “I’m going to Virginia.”
I applied to Hampton University and got in. I was going to major in Fashion Merchandising, but that lasted all of the six hours it took us to drive from my home town in Lexington, South Carolina. When I went to registration and learned it was phased out, I thought to myself I’ll major in graphic design because I didn’t know what it was. The moral of this story is: try so you can fail and then succeed. Even if you don’t have a plan, plan to increase your options because having choices is important.
Facing Your Fears
If you haven’t guessed it, this chapter is about everything that you’ll need to slay the dragon of fear when trying to enter or advance in the field. Now that you’ve been exposed to the language of business and gotten some tools and techniques for building strategy into your creative solutions, it’s time to use those skills. None of it will do you any good if you give in to your fears. We all have them. Some of us are insecure about the fact that we didn’t attend design school. Others are afraid to negotiate on money or scope of work, or to turn an opportunity down flat. Some are afraid of typography (and to that I would respond that you’ll have to get over this one as soon as possible, period); others are afraid of learning a new coding language or software. The good thing about these types of fears is that they can be overcome with a little effort.
The really scary things to overcome are more big-picture: being afraid of failure, getting the “wrong” answer, working in a team, or presen
ting in public. These are fears that can’t be avoided if you want to leverage the skills you’ve gained in previous chapters. Though there is no quick fix, I can relate to how you feel and wanted to offer some stories to let you know that you aren’t alone. If I can do it, you can.
Dear Students: It’s Not Just about Getting a Job
“The worst of you will get jobs.” Distinguished Pratt professor and world famous typographer Tony Di Spigna did have a way with words—but on this occasion, these words confused me. “What? The worst of us?” I was busting my rump at 21 in graduate school, unsure if I could compete. When I think back, his words should have provided the comfort I was needing as I often thought aloud, “Design eludes me.” But instead his words pissed me off, as I was engaged and confused all at the same time. That statement stuck with me, and later, as usual, I realized that he was right.
I didn’t even have to apply for my first job in the field—literally, one came and found me after just one year at Pratt. Back then, everyone used a jobsite called Monster.com and that’s where I was found, contacted for an interview, and hired. Up until that point, six out of seven days I walked around New York City without a dollar in my pocket, and overnight, I had a job in digital advertising with more money than I had ever had before. These were the days of the dot-coms back in 1999. I worked full-time in the day and finished my graduate degree full-time at night. Then the bubble burst.
A year to the day that the job came, it went. I was the first of my group of friends to be laid off. I saw it coming and three days later, I had a website up and was open for freelance business. It took a year and nine months to get a job again so I freelanced in the meantime. It was hard, but I fell asleep at night having applied to every single job posting on Craigslist and Creative Hotlist. I had a Master’s degree from Pratt and yet had to work at the Gap to make ends meet. I’d call creatives at work and leave messages at 1 A.M. so that I would be the first message they heard in the morning. When they called back, they would leave messages while I was folding sweaters. I’d return calls on my break. Though that time was extremely hard, I had a few clients during that time and the experience came in handy when the market came back.
Fast-forward eighteen years. Now that I’m in a position to teach, I can’t say the same thing Tony said to anyone I’m teaching. You are not walking out into the same field I walked out into. The worst of you will not get jobs. However, it has taken me all these years to understand the essence of what Tony was saying and I see that it remains true. Over time, as I became more experienced in the field, I realized he was really speaking about focusing on the quality of the work I was going to do after being hired and not on getting the job itself.
A while back I came across a New York Times article that piqued my attention (“What It Takes to Make New College Graduates Employable,” www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/your-money/a-quest-to-make-college-graduates-employablehtml). In it the author Alina Tugend cited a recent special report by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace that stated, “When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving.” Interestingly enough, this resonated with my experience in school and my mission as an art and design educator. Clearly these items cited are the exact things design and advertising education seek to develop because, combined, they are the job description of any creative job.
So, how does it feel to have the exact skills employers say most students don’t have? Though the worst of you won’t get jobs, the rest of you have been trained in exactly what employers want. Yes, breaking in and sustaining a career in design or advertising is hard, but you have no excuses. If I can do it, then so can you. So the question I’ll leave you with is, “Are you using the skills you have to create quality concepts and beautiful executions?”
ENGAGE IN GUERRILLA NETWORKING
If your career feels stagnant, sign up for a continuing education advertising, design, or digital class at a local design school (e.g., Pratt, SVA, or NYU SPS if you are in the New York area). While fulfilling the assignment requirements and interacting with your classmates (who are usually working professionals as well), gain the respect of the facilitator through the quality of your thinking/contributions in the class. Voilà, you now have an advisor/potential employer who is invested in your progress because he or she taught you.
The Root of the Fear
Here’s my advice to people in different stages of their career who have various fears: To the Professional: You’re afraid because you aren’t using your passion to fuel the work. Align what you have to do with what you love to do and you’ll never have difficulty with inspiration again. Find what you would do for free and channel it into the work so that you can pay the bills while pursuing your passion.
To the current student or recent grad: You’re afraid because you’re not using what you have. Many students call me a year after graduation afraid that their “degree is getting old,” but I remind them that the degree doesn’t have an expiration date. What does have an expiration date is their skills, their portfolio, and their confidence. If you’re not practicing, it breeds the fear in your loss of confidence. So find the scenic overpass, mountain vista, coffee shop, painting class, or old classmate that inspires you and make something.
How and When to Use the N-Bomb
Another common fear that holds creatives back is the fear of saying no to a client in one way or another. It’s a simple lesson, but knowing it can mean the difference between steering clear of danger and diving headfirst into disaster. Here it is: Know when to use the “n-word” with clients. Yeah, I said it. The “n-word.” Now that I’ve gotten your attention, let me put this in context.
Early in the summer of 2014, I was contacted on LinkedIn by a very articulate prospect about a potential business relationship. I responded with thanks, as usual, and we spoke at length by phone about the work needed for a business idea he and his partner (a family member) had. In his initial e-mail, he seemed very clear on his business idea and stated the budget. Without any specifics, the stated budget for the items needed was fair enough. I had the product launch, digital, and strategic experience relevant to get the job done. The client was very formal—he called my references and spoke at length with three of them. After two weeks of vetting, the prospect was ready to meet.
He and his business partner then took me to a pretty expensive dinner, I signed a nondisclosure agreement, and they explained the business idea.
It was terrible.
I asked a few questions, one of which was about the business plan. He replied that the business idea was so simple, it didn’t need one. This is when my red flags started going up. I should have halted everything right here and used the “n-word.” Hindsight is 20/20.
I reasoned that I could help by benchmarking the company he had based his idea on and, using that company as a yardstick, explain why it worked for them and therefore why it wouldn’t work for him. From there, I could give him the tools to tweak his offering and develop something original that would work. So I suggested that, wrote a proposal, and ensured that he would be able to determine viability from my research. I’m always clear that I’ll make recommendations, but the client will be making the decisions. We agreed on my rate and signed the agreement; I did the research and presented it at another expensive dinner.
At slide ten of ninety-six during the presentation, I could read the body language but wasn’t sure if it was impatience or confusion and asked for any questions. Our small discussion revealed a bit of both. He wanted me to just tell him what to do and trusted that if I did, we could be done with the presentation. This felt a bit like trust, but much more like the expectation that he had paid me to write a business plan. I assured him of the value in his understanding the viability research and the strategic tools I was presenting and continued. Something felt weird but I couldn’t put m
y finger on it.
It was my intention to move on, having helped the client determine a lack of viability, and having given them the tools to reach viability in exchange for a fourth of the overall budget. Win-win.
Some time passed before the entrepreneurs called again, ready to move forward and hire me to launch their brand. I assumed they had taken the time to incorporate and tweak their idea using the ninety-six-slide presentation I delivered. I drew up a contract and after a month of back and forth on details in sixty-four e-mails (which included what was and what was not offered in the agreement, what was and what was not a part of my expertise, and even an option to have me project manage a cheaper team that wasn’t mine, which I declined) and a check, I signed on to do the project.
I completed the first milestone on the schedule of the signed agreement, a creative brief, as per the signed agreement. I was five minutes into the call when something strange happened. The client stopped me mid-sentence and said, “Douglas, we are really disappointed in what we are seeing, we thought that we would be farther along than this.”
I was blindsided. I had no idea what they expected of me. In the following conversation, I began to understand that after vetting me, paying me for a viability study, taking three weeks before contacting me again, sixty-four e-mails to clarify the subsequent agreement over three weeks and a 40 percent deposit to start the job, these guys didn’t read the contract, or recognize or understand anything that they paid me to do. After all the explaining over expensive dinners, several presentations, and green lights, we were still here. All of this could have been avoided if at first sign of serious red flags, I had just used the “n-word.”
Creative Strategy and the Business of Design Page 17
