Or: Whose agency is it anyway? Part I. On principle, I will never send inspirational or touching videos. I will break every FWD chain. I will never fill the Subject field with “Just thought you’d enjoy this.” People have enough to read, see and think about. However. If you work a knowledge economy office job, consider squeezing in this TED talk from Jason Fried at some point — some low point, when you …
The Surfer’s Journey, Vol. 6
Today’s message is pried from the mind of an advertising demigod. Young people in particular, perk up those furless ears. Background: I was in California for the last three weeks on magazine business, for this magazine, which I help edit. Apparently we can put anything we want on our T-shirts. In truth, though, Vice is a better magazine (and The Economist may have our number as well). Last week I found their …
The Surfer’s Journey, Vol. 5
Here’s a pair of popular maxims on technology. I like both because they’re downright folksy enough (if too factually accurate) for a Tea Party stump speech, yet still highly relevant to advertising today: 1. “You don’t see many horse-and-buggy drivers anymore.” 2. “Television didn’t kill radio.” Both are true, but as metaphors for disruptive innovation, they conflict. The first warns, “Don’t be a buggy …
The Surfer’s Journey, Vol. 4
The portfolio is to a creative what MCAT scores are to med students: don’t apply without one. Legion are the books (and blogs) concerned with crafting impressive books (and blogs — many portfolios are now digital). So creatives have this established protocol for demonstrating aptitude to a potential employer, partner, client — whomever they must convince. If not easy, at least it’s pretty straightforward. For …
The Surfer’s Journey, Volume 3
“The best way to get a job is to write down all the things you love to do, draw a circle around it, and call it a job.” —Jelly Helm, former ECD at Wieden + Kennedy and founder of Jelly Helm Studio I love that advice — the audacity! these Millennial sensibilities purr — but I’ve never had to exercise it because Stanley Pollitt and Stephen King did my legwork about 45 years ago. In the late ‘60s, Pollitt and King …
The Surfer’s Journey, Volume 2
Advertising simply cannot wait to tell you about itself. This I’ve quickly come to realize. It’s a business of prolific boosters and publishers that collectively generate so much unsolicited, inward looking content, you start to infer their paid client work is a little slow. Or that the whole industry is on speed. People with ad careers seem to blog, tweet, speak and podcast at four or five times the rate of humans …
The Surfer’s Journey, Volume 1
Editor's Note: I found Stuart Cornuelle, a 23-year-old aspiring strategic planner/copywriter, digging around in the dumpsters out behind our office. After learning what he was after, I suggested a better use of his time—a weekly column detailing his campaign to break into the advertising business. The personal branding geeks always say it’s important to blog about what you’re interested in. Develop a reputation …
