Advice to Next Creatives

[Ed. - I wrote this post several months ago, halfway through the first semester of Next. After I was finished with the post, I saw the brief for the third project. It specifically asked for print and poster executions, which rendered most of what I'd written irrelevant. Blog post, meet drafts file. Since we're about to begin another semester, I decided to dig up my post and publish it today. Enjoy.]

We're through two cycles of Next. I've showed up at both presentations, although both times I've been late and angry when I walked through the door. Gregg and Norm are two of Denver's best, most insightful, most ethical creative directors. And I should probably keep my mouth shut and let them do the critiquing. But, meh.

At your presentations, I've seen kazillions of good ideas. New business ideas. Marketing ideas. Technology ideas. What I haven't seen much of is good advertising.

Understand that I mean advertising in the broadest possible sense. I'm not boring enough to demand you all come to your presentations armed with print campaigns. But street teams, websites, guerrilla demonstrations, branded content, posters, short films, stickers. Anything.

As junior creatives, your first brief is unlikely to read, "Come up with some cool new technologies our client could develop." If you are lucky, it'll read, "Our client has decided to launch Initiative A. How do we publicize it to Target B?" (More likely, it'll read, "Please write a mirror cling that families with the existing brand campaign.")

Maybe you want jobs on the client side, in the marketing department. Or maybe you want to be planners. But assuming you want to be creatives, you need to anchor every campaign with at least one tangible piece of communication. Something that shows you can concept, write and design. (In addition to coming up with iPhone apps.)

For instance, Fallon London's Tate Modern work hinged on a marketing idea. But that didn't stop the agency from creating posters like the one that illustrates this post, which I hijacked from Creative Review.

To get a job, you're going to need more than ideas for new marketing initiatives. You're going to need communication skills. You're also going to need books that can ride by themselves, without explanation.

I would love to see some work that doesn't require a long commentary. And that's my unasked-for advice. Create a thing, and make that thing awesome. So awesome you can tack it to the wall. And walk away.

Top secret, last-second, surprise extension for Next announced. Gasp.

Every award show in the history of advertising has extended the entry deadline at the last second. Every speaker at every ad club event goes on 15 minutes late. Ninety percent of creatives can't even make a 9 a.m. meeting on time. So you shouldn't really be surprised by the news that we've extended the entry deadline for Next: A portfolio program from the NDAC. You now have until August 10 to get your application in.

Dare

Ten years ago, Mark Fenske did something nice for me. I'd just presented an ad to him. He looked at it for a second and then asked me if I wanted to know how to make it better. I said, "Yes." He ripped it up and threw it across the room.

Fenske could have flipped past that ad. He could've shrugged, "It's not my favorite thing in your book." Or changed the subject. "How about them Atlanta Braves?" Instead, he liberated me from my baggage and dared me to dig deeper.

There are some twenty-somethings in Denver who think their student books are swell. There are those who believe that their struggle ended the day they landed their first jobs. And there are a few who are just too lazy or self-absorbed to bother thinking about their careers after the clock strikes 4:20.

I hope they enjoy long and happy careers. I suspect they won't.

If you're in that other category - the category of people who want to create work that knocks people onto the floor through the force of sheer awesomeness - you owe it to yourself to apply for Next, a portfolio program from the New Denver Ad Club. Over the course of eight weeks, you'll get new work for your book and the chance to sit down with people like Norm Shearer, Gregg Bergan, Jonathan Schoenberg and Mike Sukle. (And if you live in Denver and don't know who those people are, your first assignment is to wake up.)

Here's what you need to apply for Next. An NDAC membership and a few samples from your current book.

Here's another thing you need. Courage. The program is only accepting eight writers and eight art directors. So you might not get in and rejection sucks. Or you might get in and sit down in front of one of the aforementioned folks and have to hear them tell you that you need to go back to the drawing board.

That's not criticism. It's an opportunity. One you shouldn't miss. You have 48 hours to get your application in.

The first spot for Next: A Portfolio Program from the New Denver Ad Club

I am constantly amazed by the generosity, talent and work ethic of the people I meet

The NDAC is launching a portfolio program. Next. It's targeted at young guns. Copywriters and art directors who want to improve their book and their network. Jennifer Hohn and I volunteered to brand the program. We went through concepts. Laughed a lot. Wrote some scripts. When Brian asked me if I could guarantee that I could get the stuff produced, I said yes. But I was totally lying. I mean, who was going to make our ideas come to life?

I should have had more faith.

Soon Jim Elkin of Roshambo Films was producing and directing our videos for the club's YouTube page. (The first will be posted Monday.) Radical was getting us three great actors and Idolum was donating editing time. (And incidentally, Tom also offered to help out.)

David Mejias was shooting the poster campaign, with XYZ doing the retouching and Tewell Warren printing.

Justin McCammon and Taylor Beseda got all digital on the idea, with elements like the @nextcreatives smackdowns, nextcreatives.com, and a collaboration with Burns on a soon-to-be-released Facebook app.

And Gregg Bergan, Norm Shearer, Mike Sukle and Jonathan Schoenberg offered to donate their time to mold the next generation of Denver creatives.

Every single person I just mentioned has a crazy-stressful job and a loving family and who knows what else might be going on in their lives. But every single one of them believes that Next will help the career of a young creative who is just burning to be great. Every single one of them wants to make Denver a better market. Every single one of them deserves a giant round of applause. This is a good business we're in. And it's filled with good people. Believe it.