There You Go Mother

I got a few extra hits over the last couple of days, despite not having the time to post much lately! Where did they come from I wondered? Until someone in the office pointed out that The Drum had ran a little piece on the cross thing.

You can finally start a clippings file Mam.

Why so busy lately? Me and Michelle (my partner of art direction type styling) have been working on a lot of TV scripts. When I say a lot, I mean my side of the bed has been getting cold.

TV scripts are my new nemesis. If you’re looking for your first copywriting job, learn to write scripts! The time this could save you later on will be unfathomable. I’d wrote some previously at uni, but not to the Nth degree. Not to the one page, perfect line spacing, correct font, trim every piece of fat, I’ve got to get this in a nano second, degree.

Rewrite after rewrite has left my desk. Then come back. Been rewritten. And left again. I’ve had a tough couple of days. But it’s been fucking great. For a long time I haven’t had this kind of stimulus. Someone prodding me and insisting that I do better. I know I’ll improve because of it. So yeah, get a head start, get writing some scripts! And then write them again.

Cannes. Eh?

I don’t know what all the fuss is about.

Maybe I should be more bothered. Maybe I will be more so, as I become more entrenched in the ad world.

Last week an email went round the agency, linking people to the Cannes site, and giving us info on updates that we’d get. And we got a gentle rally, that we should be aiming for Cannes.

Well, there’s a couple of problems I see here. One, from looking at the Cannes winners, is that a lot of it seems to me to be stuff clients just wouldn’t agree to. On Scamps blog there’s been a lot discussion about ads winning awards that probably aren’t ads that ran.

Now from my naive, new to this viewpoint, I’d say that it seems that way too. Some of them just blatantly wouldn’t get approved. Virtually everything I’ve worked on so far, ends up being watered down. Until ideas are so far removed from the original conception that I hardly recognise them as the babies I breathed life into. Which brings me to the second thing I saw in a lot of the Cannes winning work: lack of idea and/or relevance.

I mean some of the stuff was just without strategy, or devoid of a concept. I’m not gonna link to stuff, because I could be on dangerous ground and I’m way too young to die in my ad life. But there were ads winning awards, that just had no relevance to the product. Not in a good way. Just in a ‘not quite working is it’ type of way.

There was some stuff I liked. Some ads for Jim Beam were possibly my favourites that I saw on the Cannes site. And some Tesco fresh fish stuff. Both from the press ads category. But there was more stuff I skipped over than stuff I wanted to save as examples of good work.

Then you’ve got people saying British ad agencies are lacking. Or going down the pan. Can’t do press. Can’t do dialogue. I know I’m knew to this, but that’s total bollocks. From what I’ve experienced so far, you’ve got to have a client with some real vision or hefty gonads to actually run creative work. And then you’ve got to have some accounts/planner people who are willing to fight and argue the case for the work too. It seems to me there’s a lack of both.

I mean when I read comments about no British person could have come up with an ad like Gorilla, I just think that’s a total dog shit comment (inferred by someone on Scamp’s blog). There’s creativity in abundance. Country doesn’t matter. I’ve said that before when I referred to location not being important. Maybe we’ve lost something, I don’t know, I ain’t been around that long. I can’t put my finger on it.

I could be talking shit, but it seems maybe sometimes we don’t push enough for the idea. Perhaps that we don’t lead enough. Shouldn’t an agency lead it’s clients? Isn’t that why they come to agencies in the first place?

It’s too easy to say yes sometimes. That’s what it seems like to me. I suppose this is the constant battle an agency faces to stay afloat though. The battle between creative ideals and getting paid.

Green Day

Not the band. TBWA Manchester’s recent Green Day. An excuse for a few beers or a good way to help make employees more aware of what they can do to be more green. Whatever your view, it was good day:

Pics are off my phone, sorry not top quality

Not bad for a lunch hour. Or two. . . So what came out of it?

• We had a two hour blackout
• Introduced TBWA bikes for travel between the two offices
• Virtually no one came to work in their own car
• Generally increased awareness of what each member of staff can

Oh and I won a ‘recycled PC’ in the raffle. Can’t complain.

Busy Busy Bumblebees

Blimey, it’s been a good ten days since I posted. And it’s gone so quick. I simply haven’t had the time or energy to write anything here. So what’s been going on?

Well the main thing has been a pitch for a client at work. I think we saw the brief late on Wednesday last week. Spent all day Thursday and Friday on it. We came up with three routes, two of which we tried to progress after the creative directors had cast their collaborative eye over them.

6.30pm on Friday and our idea got killed. It wasn’t transferring well from TV to press. Which was a shame, we had a couple of really cool ideas that were totally different from anything in the sector. But it was a struggle to get them across in press – and it told.

A lesson to be learnt there I guess, in recognising when to listen to the little voice in the back of your head that is whispering ‘yeah, it’s just not doing everything you want it to’.

So after about 1-2 hours of deflation, I got some inspiration. Spoke to my partner and CD about it. And we were back in business. And that business was open on Saturday and Sunday. Yep, we worked all weekend to crack our idea. Kinda spooky in the TBWA Church when there’s not many others around. But we got it done, and finished off today in work, ready for the pitch tomorrow.

So what have I learnt recently?

Well, for a start I think I need something really particular to stimulate my blogging. So I keep it up. Maybe there’s something in trying to crystallize the ‘lessons learned’ thing, so as to create a little list of tips for people who chance upon the blog in a similar position to which I was.

Oh we had our Green Day as well last week. Think I’ve got a photo, I’ll post up sometime. BBQ, beers, lawn games, splendid stuff. Won me a PC in the raffle. Refurbed work throw-outs in keeping with the Green theme.

Oh and I’m sure I’ve got a bumblebee nest in my house! Little blighters.

Skoda Cake and South Park

Great ad, not denying that. But I’ve just seen an episode of South Park where the Devil’s son asks for a Ferrari cake for his birthday. Cue the scene: some chefs in white hats etc, making a full size Ferrari cake with icing and everything, and cool music on in the background.

Wonder if this is the inspiration behind the ad?

If anyone is wondering. It’s an episode from season 10 (2006).

Linky

Who Speaks Russian? … or Bulgarian

In the last two days, I’ve got a load of hits from one site in particular…I click through and it’s all in Russian, so I don’t have a clue why or if they are linking through to me.

capital.bg/showblog.php?storyid=50152…

That’s the place ^ who are you? Come say hi …

Best TV ads of 2008 so far?

Can an advert for Waitrose be my favourite TV ad of the year so far?

This goes close, but something in it just loses me for a bit, some of the bursts, I don’t know maybe they don’t look real, or it switches about too much

And also in contention, the Budweiser jam ads. I think these are a love/hate campaign. I know some people really don’t like ‘em, but I’m into ‘em. Though I’m sure I saw one with a different song which I really liked!

What’s yours? What have I missed?

My Entry For Scamp’s Competition

His photo comp, based on the word ‘advertising’. Thought it was quite apt. No sign of it getting shown though. Shucks. (Click on Scamp on blogroll for more info).

Found on a lamp post just round the corner from my abode. Obviously whoever made it, has a particular perspective on adverts. But I thought it was quite nice ‘cos it also states what adverts should do. Anyhow…

Getting lots of lil jobs in at the moment. Sort of 1 or 2 day turn around type things. The odd headline here, a new strapline there. Some I’ve been involved in from the off, some I’ve just been asked to do have a quick look at. I prefer to get involved in things right from the off, so you have a better feel for what you’re writing about. But all part of the day to day agency grind I guess.

What else has been going on? Hmm. Bloody apostrophes they’ve been going on. I’ll admit I’m not a master of the grammatical aspect of English. Something I need to brush up on. ‘Cos mistakes really matter now, don’t want to look like an amateur or a nob for that matter putting some work in front of clients, with errors all over it.

Not that I have. But I’ve got to pay more attention to detail. On my blog, yeah fuck it, doesn’t matter that much to me…though good habits and all that. Anyway, I only mention it because I had a tussle with some possessive apostrophes today. Horrible. It doesn’t help that English is such a bastardised language. It’s ever changing. I always viewed English language as something liquid, something open to interpretation and essentially open to change. Maybe that’s why I ended up in the creative industry.

I remember refusing to spell Therefore with the ‘e’ on the end in College. Why? Well, it doesn’t look right. It doesn’t really need to be there. What’s the point in it? I was a very stubborn teenager and well I still think the same to be honest.

So back to apostrophes. Because English is so bastardised if you type in any given word that you want to check the apostrophe placement on, you’ll get different versions of it. When doing this I found out that Denmark (if I remember correctly) don’t use apostrophes. They deem them unnecessary. Much as I did the ‘e’ on therefore. I gotta say, sometimes I do wish we could simplify things a bit with English. Not to the point of vomit inducing txt speak, but well…

Personalising Your Desk

The desk I’ve been stationed to was seemingly used for the placement people, as such there was a selection of junk to clear off it. Nothing really good, just scrap. But now my desk is pretty bare and it makes me sad. People have lots of cool random things on there desks, whereas I’m redundant even just of a measly pen holder. The one thing I seem to have collected is a Sunderland FC sticker (Panini style, but not). Well, that’s no good to me being a Boro fan.

So, gimme some inspiration – what have you got on your desk? The randomer, the better.

(ps – no comments on the word randomer, I’ve decided I like it)

Day 11: I’m In

There you have it.

I’m writing this post from work today (hope you don’t mind work!) while I have a well earned coffee. I feel like it’s been a really satisfying day. Here’s what’s happened.

Got in early. Getting used to it now, we’ve got facilities here, so it’s quite nice have breakfast at work and getting ready for the day. The CD’s were in early doors too and I got the nod to go and have a chat with them. I won’t big myself up or anything, but basically they were happy with what they’d seen in terms of enthusiasm and work produced while I’ve been here. The result being, a full time job offer.

Obviously I made them shake hands on it and got someone to cross the deal, so they can’t back out. Ever. Cue me walking round with a big fat smile all morning.

Our sports drink work went in front of the client today too. Unfortunately, we’re not 2 for 2 like I hoped we might be. The client was presented 3 routes. Loved all the work apparently. The only flaw in our campaign was that the client thought one of their competitors had a similar proposition in their identity.

Nay bother though. It was a good brief to work on and was great to get work presented alongside that of some other really good creatives from TBWA. The route that they will be going with was a copy based campaign. Similar to one I came up with actually, but certainly a bit better than what I had, when I looked at it. The writer got it more on the money with his copy. In terms of tone of voice I think. It’s good to see other people’s work as well, I think there’s certainly people I can learn from here. And it’s not an environment where it’s all closed off and secretive, people seem willing to give advice, help out and discuss.

Then this afternoon I had a brief thrown at me for a radio script. The client had wanted a re-write, some alternate versions, but we needed them asap. This is where the satisfying bit came in. I’m pretty much a virgin in regards of scripts. Done bits and bobs at uni on my writing course, but nothing ‘real’, you know. So I set about that with only a few hours to get it right. A few brews later and I had four versions ready to go.

I was happy with that. Accounts person seemed happy too. And there you go. Now I’m writing this. Feeling like I’ve earned a crust today and damn well enjoyed it.

FINALLY

Long post I know, but I’d just like to say a big thanks to everyone who’s offered me advice & feedback on the blog. Especially though to the likes of Hari from Love Creative, Vinny of The Escape Pod Agency fame, Adam who’s on a similar quest and Stan from Brand DNA, who’ve all taken time out to correspond with me via email.

I’ll carry on the blog. Not sure exactly what direction I’ll go yet. Maybe as a forum to diplay/discuss work i produce here at TBWA when it goes ‘live’ as it were. And then other random bits n bobs.