I wonder what the Perspective Vs Process of ‘getting into ad-land’ is in reality if we take it from the Creative tip with Proposition handling & Trend Management in place of Books

It seemed to me upon two successful work placements from very inspiring (still!) ad Jedi’s, that all the great minds though streaming not to be alike, were/ are/ will be employed from much of a mushiness when it comes to Planning Directors (…and their safe future entourage of Qualitative serving or Account Exec/Manager Graduates-to-Planners.)

Maybe instead of criticising the creative result - and our in/ability to communicate/ sell to the every and anyday Joe or Mary - we should bollock the planner’s limited vision and cultural realms through lack of people exposure. By this I mean where the planner is from to where they are at, both inside the agency & research process, and outside through the memes of recruitment.

After all do you really gain insight from a clone army of Ox Grads in ill fitting ‘It’ wear, hanging around Skateboard Parks & Cyber Goth BatChat Rooms?

In doing so we might gain some future facing knowledge, AND dare I say it People - and with it natural living idea’s of value/(s). Not just an agreed client safety trap that can carry client - and - planner from proposition to focus group evaluation.

With real evolutionary ‘peoples’ - be they Gen Y or Nora Batty - and their ability given room to act, not just borrowed from in a 3rd hand P.Point Slide, knowledge that capture’s whatever the trust needed can come alive in the right time, people, and context.

Not 3 months later in an ad that element that say’s what reality was thinking then…only now?

So I Ask (Me Lord!): Or are there any planners that -
Did not attend an old boy Uni?
Did not take a bogus 17k Account Exec Grad Scheme?
Did not swallow his/ her pride and disappear into the bogus world of qual research?
Did not find themselves accidentally in the role of after their Web agency was purchased?

?And had the passion and living talent (supported by IQ/ insight) to ‘walk into a planners mentored wing’ within the realms of post-uni/ life knowledge (as SO many of these US / Miami agencies claim and Campaign seems to run around September every year since Dave published that article)

Or at the advice of a planner ? no names ? taken the Dave deep & mass targeted method to the face, not a distant whining blog or mash up of daily second hand ?ideas?, and scored a realistic job.

By this I mean realistic in financial and knowledge rewards in return for your realistically valid mindset.

you did a nice story about a guy who was told, ‘we like your work but we’re looking for someone senior for this job’, so he went out and came back dressed as an elderly guy.

question is, at interviews, do agencies often try to see how you don’t fit the job, rather than how you might be able to?

If you have good ideas in press, they say we need someone with TV exposure and vice versa, or if you have good new media ideas, they say we need someone with traditional media experience…

‘if u can think, u can think in any media’ , why isn’t that how they should judge people?

i hope i am clear.

For years, I used to read bios of people who came to Singapore from China or India. These guys worked 20 hour days and became rich. They were in banking, rubber plantations, import/export, cinemas.

What I mean is, these days, many people (and not just in advertising) work long hours too. But fewer and fewer build up business empires. So, has the ‘model’ changed? Thanks?

G.
I don’t think CDs will always look at books via mail; or email
But if they’re looking for teams they will, so it’s self-selecting.
Just like advertising, you can only sell something to people that are in the market for it, right?
There’s always a lot of wastage in media.
Just look at all the papers left on the tube every evening.
I just mailed the first 50 names I could find.
And then I would have mailed the next 50, then the next 50, and so on, just don’t stop.
Eventually my mail will get to someone who’s got a job for me, right?

Fantastic post. I really appreciate your posts and honest view at this industry. I would love to repost this on my blog (www.addirection.blogspot.com) and hopefully help us soon to be graduates graduate students here at the Brandcenter. Would that be alright? And thank you so much for a great blog.