I’m involved in a couple of professional groups that are big into mentoring, which has me reflecting on how lucky I was to have great mentors and role models in the early, formative years of my career. Let’s face it, the ad/agency/marketing industry is not exactly known for excellence in mentoring and training programs; the phrase “trial by fire” comes to mind. So, I thought I would share a few of the lessons that were shared with me early on, in hopes that they might help some young ‘uns new to their advertising or marketing careers. (Gayla, Lisa, Peggy and John, this one’s for you.)

You exist to make your bosses’ lives easier. There are times when challenging authority is appropriate, even necessary. And we certainly don’t want “yes people” who never question anything. But more often than not, you need to be really listening to and acting on the input you are given and asking how you can help instead of putting up roadblocks. Chances are, as a young person in the industry, the people you report to are much, much, MUCH busier than you. So I recommend that you do all you can to help them. It’s how you will advance.

[Tangent: I wonder if the "Millennials" reading this will be offended at the suggestion that they have bosses and hierarchy? Trust me, we want and value your opinions, and social media has trained us all to be more democratic, but work is not a democracy. Not really. I hope I'm not coming across as condescending here, but I have observed a potent "You're not the boss of me." vibe in some - not all - of the "Millennials" with whom I have worked. Bonus points to anyone who can help me truly understand this generation and how they work - enlighten me in the comments. I beg you.]

Underpromise and overdeliver. This is the best piece of client service advice that I ever heard and the same holds true of managing your supervisors’ expectations. Never, ever make promises that you can’t keep. Not keeping commitments kills trust faster than you can say “unemployment.” Conversely, setting expectations that you exceed wins every time.

Check your work. Then check it again. I started my career on an airline account, where if there was a typo in a fare ad, it could be a seven-figure mistake. Sloppy work is just not acceptable. No one is perfect (see below), but job hunters, I’m telling you right now that if there are typos in your resume or email, you are done. *Poof*. In the bin. No chance of employment. We don’t have time to correct your work so you need to demonstrate that you care enough to do great work in the first place.

Don’t try to hide your mistakes. Check your work as you will, you will still make mistakes. In cultures of innovation, it is actually encouraged. In servicing clients, not so much. Yet, it happens, particularly in the trial by fire scenario mentioned earlier. Fresh out of college, I failed to cancel a $75,000 ad placement on time; I simply had no clue about space closing dates and when the ad had to be cancelled. Shortly thereafter, there was a cease and desist order on an ad that hadn’t gone through legal. I was absolutely horrified and for a time, I’m pretty sure I actually hid the file under my desk in hopes that it would disappear. In a lesser organization, I might have been fired. But my mentors understood that I simply didn’t have the information and experience at the time to have possibly known any better. If you are in a gig where you feel like you have to hide your mistakes, you should probably look for a new one.

Toot your own horn. In the wonderful new-ish world of social media, we’re not supposed to talk too much about ourselves. In our careers, though, it is essential. Your boss may well be too busy to take note of your hard work and your accomplishments, other than maybe at your annual or semi-annual review. Therefore, as long as you doing it with tact, it is a good idea to merchandise yourself to them now and then. If a client praises you, pass it along. Update people on your progress. If you are functioning as an island, and no one knows what you are doing, it may seem like a good thing. Trust me…it’s not.

If you can do those five things, you’ll build yourself a nice little suit of kevlar to get through the trial by fire. An advertising or marketing career is not an easy one; but it can one of the most multi-faceted, creative, challenging and fun ones. Don’t be scared. : ]

What about you? What have you learned so far?

I love “not knowing.”

I love writing songs because generally I have no idea what that song is going to sound like when I’m done. I love taking little photo journeys, wondering what kind of shots I’m going to get. And in my job in advertising, I love the next creative opportunity and wondering how I, along with the team, are going to solve it. The “not knowing” is part of the thrill of the chase.

But if you’re creative, like me, you run into brick walls periodically. For me the brick wall is usually fortified with some kind of impenetrable force that stifles my enthusiasm, desire, and willingness to try harder.

As you grow as a creative person, the brick wall is perceived as a number of different things: the reason to quit your job, the reason you suck, the reason advertising may not be your calling, the reason to stop searching Some of these things may or may not be true. Generally, based on my experience, they’re not. (And really, we should never stop searching.)

But I have figured out the reason the brick wall exists. It exists because, generally speaking I “know too much.”

Let me explain.

As creative people, over time, we take on baggage. When you first start a creative endeavor, the only baggage you have is your own tendencies as a creative person, your past experience, and the things going on in your life. Your baggage, as far as your work is concerned, is relatively light. When a new client or opportunity comes along all things seem bright — you have a new challenge and you’re excited to see what your creative output is going to be.

Then, over time, baggage starts to build up. Client meetings. Rounds of work. More meetings. Dead concepts. Corporate machinations. A victory here and there. You begin to know the client, their taste, and their goals very well. You begin to see what the limits of your creativity can be within a certain context. It’s like going to the same location to shoot photography over and over again. Or writing songs with the same band for years — there is a good reason songwriters make solo albums.

When the definition of insanity starts to creep in — you know, the whole “doing the same thing over and over again” thing — you’re in real trouble. The wall begins to build.

This baggage corners your creative psyche inside your brain armed with a knife, threatening to stab and kill it.

So what do you do? Because knowing too much can kill the creative desire to discover, you need change. A new account. A new lens. A new photo location. A new musical instrument. Heck, move around your office to get a new perspective. Agencies can shift creative teams to new accounts. Change keeps things fresh and change brings new things to discover. It can also bring you back to where you were blocked with a whole new perspective too.

It’s good for agencies to recognize those who have hit a wall and help bring about the change the staff needs. What do you think? Are you driven by not knowing?

‘Tis the season for holiday advertising. Most of the advertising is retail. Most of it is fairly predictable. How many biggest sales of the season can there be?

A friend sent a link to this ad created by St Matthews-in-the-City Church in New Zealand. Its honest portrayal of real emotions was refreshing after seeing too many contrived jewelry store commercials. (Who has money for a diamond necklace the day of signing on a new house? People who shop at Tiffany? Maybe. But Kay? Come on.)

One of the things that makes this ad remarkable is it takes something familiar and makes you see it in a slightly different, deeper way – a hallmark of great advertising.

No one really knows a lot about Mary. Many of us have heard her story what feels like a million times. But in all the telling and retelling, it still doesn’t feel like we have any sense of what she was like as a person. What we do know makes her seem different and distant. She lived over 2,000 years ago in a country many of us have never even visited. Where’s the common ground?

This ad succeeds because it overcomes differences and finds a common link that connects women throughout the world and history. Any woman who sees this ad, especially those who have experienced a Clearblue Easy moment, can imagine what she’s thinking and empathize with her. I’m going to be someone’s mom? It’s freaky. It’s overwhelming. It totally rocks your world. And we see all that in her expression.

The use of the pregnancy test in this ad doesn’t so much make her seem modern as it makes her emotions feel timeless and universal. The years, cultural differences, distance and unknowns melt away, and we are in that moment with her.

The outdoor board has no copy. It doesn’t need it. It’s just a simple visual solution that, in mere moments, makes an emotional connection with the viewer. And that’s what great ads do. They uncover a universal
human truth. They find common ground. They make us feel something real and true.

Now, if only someone could tell that to Kay…

Last night I had the great pleasure of sitting on a United Adworkers-sponsored panel discussion at Discovery World with Jigsaw CD Nick Pipitone, Mitch Markussen from BVK, Dennis Jenders from Laughlin Constable and Andy Larsen from Boelter Lincoln.

It’s always fun talking to students, and this was clearly a highly-motivated group, to come out during finals week to hear Nick pontificate about the Chicago Cubs and give some career advice in between sports metaphors. The students asked a ton of excellent questions, and while I wasn’t taking notes, I’ll do my best to capture some of the key themes from the discussion.

1. NETWORK. The old cliche “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is true; often that’s what will get you in the door. And if nothing else it will make your cover letter, the necessary evil that we established that we all dislike, less awkward. Use the tools at your disposal – social media in particular – to research your audience and know what they care about. Connect with them and offer some value.

2. BE PERSISTENT. Nick and I often disagree, but not on this point – if you contact someone, and they don’t respond, don’t give up. I get that you don’t want to be a “pest”, as someone said to me last night, but you have to understand that we are all crazy-busy people with a million balls in the air at any one time. It’s entirely possible that we read your email or your letter and are absolutely open to meeting you, but it just gets lost in the day. Try, try again. Unless we say “No” and then, it’s time to move on. : ] Likewise, if one agency says “no”, don’t give up then either. You might be a great fit with the next agency.

3. MAKE YOUR WORK AS GREAT AS IT CAN BE. Mitch said it well: “Who you know will get you in the door. Your work will keep you there.” Whether you’re a designer or writer or a strategist or a PR person, we’re all obviously looking for mad skills. Ask as many people as you can for honest feedback on your work, and keep polishing it.

4. LESS IS MORE. Whether it’s a cover letter, a resume, or a portfolio of work, share only your best stuff. A paragraph written smartly and with personality is a better cover letter than a page-long regurgitation of what’s already on your resume. Keep your resume to a page or, at most, two, just summarizing your major accomplishments.

5. BE YOURSELF. When making hiring decisions, agencies are looking almost as much for a personality that fits the agency as they are for great work. Both have to be there. And you owe it to yourself to find an agency that is a great fit with YOU, too. So don’t be nervous or try to fake anything. You have to be you.

6. BE PASSIONATE. One of the most important factors in getting our attention, an interview, an internship or a gig is your passion. Demonstrate that you’ll bring energy and initiative to the job.

7. DON’T ACT LIKE THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ROOM. We want you to speak up and share your ideas, and we want to learn from you because you ARE smart, and we’re all still learning too. But the sense of entitlement that we see from young professionals sometimes is not attractive. Be confident, but also be humble.

8. EXPECT TO WORK HARD. We’re in an incredibly fun, interesting, always-different business. But don’t expect it to be a walk in the park. We often work long hours…be ready for it. It’s a mad and crazy business but worth it. So, no, you’re not crazy to get into it…but sometimes you will think that you were.

I think those are the high points. What did I miss? What other questions do you have?

It’s not new news, but most of the time, even in our changing world—many advertisers still want to talk more about themselves than their consumers. In their version of the advertising strategy, features outweigh benefits in key messaging platforms. Especially with limited dollars, “more bang for the buck” comes with cramming every nook and cranny of a spot with something to say about the product. I’m not casting judgement. I get it—with the pressure to succeed, and success ever more tied to ROI, it’s tough to be a marketer. But I urge us all to still focus on the consumer. Something I think we did well (along with our client) in these recent spots for HSHS (Hospital Sisters Health System) in Green Bay.

You may have read a post here months back, on a 60 second spot we shot with Michael Prince for the brand. Well, these are the harder-hitting siblings of that spot. What we’d call the “service line” spots for cancer and orthopedics. These spots carry some pretty heavy loads—boasting that “we provide the most treatment options,” that “we beat national survival rates” and that “we are among the nation’s best” when it comes to cancer. Product features, not benefits. But notice how the facts are surrounded both visually and verbally with “life”, “hope” and “a new belief.” Things I believe every person with cancer wants as much as the latest and greatest treatment.

By identifying that what we see in a cancer patient is a path to new life, we brought context, benefit and a personal connection to what would be a list of ingredients. Kudos to the team and the client on recognizing the fine balance between logic and emotion, especially when it comes to our health.