If You Want to be a Writer, Team Up with a Promising Art Director

And if you're an art director, find a writer you get along with. You need each other's skills, and together you will add up to more than the sum of your parts. More than anything, look for someone with energy, with drive. Someone who's hungry. It's a long, uphill battle putting a great book together, so you'll need all the firepower you can muster.

An art director can help the ads look great, and given the rise of the advertising schools out there, the way your work looks is getting more and more important—even if you aspire to be a copywriter. Books with good ideas that are poorly art-directed will simply not get the same attention from agencies. (Come to think of it, it's no different from when I was in high school, and the good-looking kids got all the attention with all their cool clothes and their daddy's car and…oh…excuse me, I digress.)

Bottom line: The competition is fierce. Look your best.

Study Other People's Portfolios

My friend Anthony Kalamut from Seneca College told me: “I tell my students ‘know your competition.’ In the agency world we do competitive analyses of other brands, and you need to do the same. Google a creative you admire, check out their website, check out their work. Visit other ad school websites; look at their student work. This is the best prep and barometer to check your work against.”¹

Like he said, every ad school out there has a website. Somewhere on each one you'll find a section showcasing the work and the websites of their best graduates. This is the best place to see what you're up against, to learn how good your book will have to be in order to be competitive.

Study also the formatting of these websites. Obviously, you can't copy the ideas, but if you like the format of a particular website or how it flows, feel free to pinch it.

If You're a Writer Working Alone, Your Ideas will have to Shine Through Your So-So Art Direction

Obviously, art directors have to have good ideas and a polished book, but we writers have to work especially hard to do stuff so good, it shines through.

Here's the big piece of advice, and I don't care if you're an art director or a copywriter, if you're all on your own or at a top ad school. You need to spend most of your time making sure your concepts are great. Concept comes first; then execution. At the end of the day, ideas trump art direction. That should be comforting news if you're a writer having to art direct your own work. Idea trumps everything.

Here's an example of an idea that's so good, even a bad drawing doesn't get in the way. I am right-handed. With my left hand, I have rendered a famous Nike ad from a British agency (Figure 20.2). With a concept this great, recruiters and CDs can see beyond the rough execution. As ugly as my drawing is, if you could put together a string of ideas this great, you'd make the team.

Come Up with Monstrous Ideas, not Just Monstrous Ads

“The best way to impress a CD,” says Frank Anselmo, “is to show something they've never seen the likes of. An idea that's more than just another print or digital piece but one that defies or even reinvents the medium.” He goes on to say, “When you have work this good you become more than ‘that one kid, with the great portfolio’ and become ‘the one who did that – fill-in-the-blank – thing. You know, that cool thing we saw? Yeah, that one.’ ”²

So do something big and marvelous and wonderful. Newcastle Brown Ale hijacked Super Bowl XLIX with online videos of the commercials they “would've aired” if they could afford it. (Search “Newcastle If We Made It.”) Also from Droga5 was an outrageous attempt to crowd-source on Kickstarter the sum of $29.8 trillion. It was their way of dramatizing the wage gap between men and women. Neither of these cool things were commercials or ads. They were just big ideas.

Similarly, it was one big simple idea that moved Las Vegas's tourism away from a Disney-happy-fun strategy to the idea that reversed their declining visitor counts—“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” (Remember that advice about “what is the truest thing you can say about your product or category?”) R&R Partners' simple and unashamedly honest idea was the engine behind years of incredible advertising, a sample of which is the fabulous ad shown in Figure 20.3. A lint roller covered with naughty detritus like spangles, sequins, and false eyelashes brings to life the strong business idea underneath all of the Vegas work. This is just one print ad of the entire platform. Study this campaign online. You'll see how the brilliant thinking came first, the brilliant advertising later.

Remember, recruiters and CDs want more than cool ads. They see cool ads all day long. What'll impress them is to see how you solve business problems. Identify a problem for a brand and then show how your idea can make the client money. How your idea will attract more customers or make people look at the brand in a new way.

Pick a Particular Technology, and Crush It

A common mistake I see in many student books is this notion that an “integrated campaign” means extending your print idea by Photoshopping it into a bus shelter and maybe reskinning the art direction of the client's Facebook page. Cookie-cutter extensions are rarely as strong as the initial idea, and all they demonstrate is you know how to use Photoshop.

Says, GSD&M's Carroll: “When I see this, I think the student is trying to convince me it's a big idea because, ‘Look, I can put it in all these places.’ Instead, just pick a technology (mobile) or platform (Instagram) and show me a brilliant idea that makes the most out of that technology or platform. Make me look at using Instagram in a way nobody's thought of, and I will love you forever. Or at least hire you.”³

Don't do an App, Unless…

Just don't…with the sole exception being you have some monstrously cool idea that meets an unmet customer need. And then, if you still have to include an app in your book, then make the app. Building an app on your own has never been easier. Being a Mac person (and most people in the business are), I'd go to the Apple Developer Program.

One great example of how effective this kind of ingenuity in a student book can be is the Avoid Humans app. Look it up on your phone. While still at VCU Brandcenter, Matt Garcia (and his partner) created and built a Web app that reverses check-in data from Foursquare and displays all the nearest restaurants/bars/coffee shops with the fewest people. The CDs at GSD&M were so impressed by this piece, they hired Matt and helped produce the app. It turned out to be a big hit at the (extremely crowded) SXSW Interactive in Austin.

Remember, don't make things for the Internet. Make things out of the Internet.

Come up With Stuff that is Interesting

I remember interviewing this one kid for his first job. He'd just graduated from a good ad school, and as we clicked through his book he said, “I'm sorry there's not much advertising in there but…” and I interrupted him. “Dude, you had me at ‘Sorry.’ ” There was not, in fact, a lot of advertising in his book. But it was filled with interesting things, cool content, and yes, pretty much everything except traditional advertising. And I loved it.

What a book needs isn't necessarily cool advertising. Just cool creative stuff. Yes, ultimately your work needs to have some sort of commercial aspect to it, has to report to some sort of purpose, some strategy…but the main thing is to show something cool, something interesting.

My friend Frank Anselmo, ad prof at SVA agrees. “Push your thinking to the point you come up with an idea so new it defies being categorized.” Of the many CDs I've talked to about junior books, all of them remember hiring kids who had a piece of work so good, it made them actually gasp. Looking back on my own years of hiring, pretty much every kid who had one of those OMG ideas in their book, I hired.

Remember, the person looking at your book is like anybody else out there. They're distracted, a little tired, and to get this person's attention you've got to do something extraordinary.

If There's Ever a Time to Study the Awards Annuals, This is It

Don't just concentrate on the most recent issues, either. You can dig up old annuals online. Go to the ad blogs. Go to oneclub.org, Lürzer's Archive, or look for the latest winners at Cannes. Design fads come and go, but the classic advertising structures endure. Do some of that dissecting we were talking about. See what makes the ads work. Take them apart. Put them back together. Some of the ads are humorous and work. Some are straight and work. Why? What's the difference?

Anselmo told me: “The best creative directors interviewing juniors all know the past 20, 30 years of great work, almost by heart. You do not want to have even one piece in your portfolio that seems familiar.” So, ask around or go online and find every One Show annual you can, every Communications Arts, every D&AD and study, read, learn, memorize.

Nobody Expects Your First Book to Include TV Commercials

If you're young and just trying to get into the business, don't try to put a TV commercial on your site. Note that I'm saying TV commercials, not videos. There's nothing wrong with including cool videos you've made; videos that might appear on a client's site or YouTube. Actual TV commercials, however, usually require a budget and a polish that's beyond the capabilities of most juniors.

That said, if you happen to have a mind-roastingly great TV idea and it's something you can shoot on an iPhone, well, okay, go for it. Overall, though, it's better to address television by including it as one part of an integrated campaign; describe the spot in a sentence and throw in a key frame if the idea needs it.

Same thing with radio. Recruiters don't expect junior books to have finished radio commercials. And whatever you do, no TV or radio scripts.

One Way to Start: Redo an Existing Campaign

Page through your favorite magazine (mine's Fast Company) and look for a bad ad. Find the idea buried in the body copy (where it almost always is), pull it back out, and turn it into an ad, then into a campaign. Or choose a Web-based brand you like and do an entirely digital campaign for it.

Anthony Kalamut tells his students at Seneca College to create campaigns for challenger brands—the second- and third-largest brands vying for top. Find a second-tier brand you like and then demonstrate your brand's unique elements vis-à-vis the leader.

Round Out Your Portfolio with a Variety of Goods and Services

If you're just starting out, don't try to add your take on the latest, award-winning Nike campaign. It's tempting to do so, but you set yourself up for a harsh comparison to work that's extremely good.

Just pick some products you like. Start a file on them. Fill it with great ads from the awards annuals and bad ideas from the magazines or online. Start jotting down every little thing that feels like an idea. Don't edit. Just start. You like mountain biking? Maybe do a campaign that pitches the sport to joggers. Now find two other things you like and start on two campaigns there.

Then it's time to choose some boring products—products without any differences to distinguish them (besides the ads you're about to do). Insurance. Banking. You figure it out. But find a way to make them interesting.

You might try writing ads for a product you've never used and likely never will. If you're a guy, write subscription ads for Brides magazine. The fresh mind you bring to the category may help your concepts ring new. Concentrate on brands that actually advertise but don't do it well. A book full of ads for the local bakery, your brother's auto shop, and the dry cleaner just isn't as impressive as work done for checking accounts, a brand of clothing, a cologne. Real stuff.

Jamie, my agency recruiter friend, told me: “My favorite books are the good ones that come from shops with crappy clients. If a person can make something good from some of the godawful products I see…that is someone with brains and drive.” My friend Bob Barrie concurs: “Do great ads for boring products.”

And, finally, take a shot at a campaign for a packaged good. Like lipstick, soup, or bouillon cubes. Don't touch Hot Wheels toy cars or Tabasco sauce; everybody in the space-time continuum is doing these. Also, I implore you, please, no pee-pee jokes, potty humor, and for the love of God, no condoms. All of these things have been done to death. You won't just be beating a dead horse. You'll be beating the dust from the crumbling rocks of the fossilized bones of an extinct species of prehorse crushed between two glaciers in the Miocene Era.

To get you started on the kind of products that might make for a good student book, I provide the following list. It's by no means definitive, just stuff I've seen over the years.

When you're done, your book should show the ability to think creatively and strategically on goods and services, both hard and soft. It should show conceptual muscle, technological savvy, a unique point of view, and stylistic range.

One last thing. Avoid public service campaigns. They're too easy. (“Hey, look at these fish I caught. Sorry the holes in their heads are so big, but they were at the bottom of a barrel when I shot them.”)

In Addition to a Variety of Brands, Make Sure You Show a Variety of Styles in Your Book

Not all ads, not all websites, not all headlines, not all visuals, but a good mix of everything you're capable of. This advice applies particularly to aspiring art directors and specifically to page design, whether the page is in a magazine or online. Show work that demonstrates your ability to handle type and work that is all visual, or all headline, or ads with a lot of stuff in them that require a good sense of design. Flex a lot of muscles. The same advice applies to writers. Show a range of voice. I've seen books written entirely in one wiseass voice, and the only brand that really comes through is the writer's.

Let me repeat: Flex a lot of muscles.

In the past couple of years, 90 percent of the student portfolios I've seen are made up almost entirely of visual solutions. A visual solution is fine; I've been harping about them in this book, yes. But they're not the only solution out there. When it comes to print, I see so many of these ads now it's getting to feel a little formulaic. (This trend, I'm guessing, is driven by the predominance of visual solutions that fill the award shows.)

A book full of visual solutions will not show your prospective employer how good a designer you are. How could it? The typical visual-solution ad is a photograph with a teeny copy line down next to the logo.

So, show off. Do a long-copy ad. Do one that's all type. Dazzle us with your art direction. Show us you know how to handle headlines and body copy. Show us you know how to bend the 26 letters to your will. Show us you know how to assemble a page blazing with the craft of design.

The ancient and wonderful ad shown in Figure 20.4 for North Carolina's tourism commission from Loeffler Ketchum Mountjoy is an example of extraordinary craft. (The reprint here doesn't do it justice. You should see a nice printed version of it, like in Communication Arts #38, page 46.)

Remember, as an art director your job isn't over when you come up with the concept; it begins all over again. And it's at this phase you have a chance to move a great concept into the orbit of perfection with a booster push of amazing design and execution. You probably won't get into this orbit with a book full of picture ads with a snappy tagline down by the logo.

Do not Show Just Ads. Show Mind-Roasting Platform Ideas Executed in Different Media

Almost anybody can do a decent ad if they work at it long enough. Skilled ad people think in platforms. Don't send your book out until it has eight or nine great platform ideas. And remember, platforms aren't three one-shots strung together by a common typeface, but one big fat idea executed across a whole range of different media. Good examples are Allstate's Mayhem, Twix's Right-Left campaign, or the U.K. telco Three and their wonderful “Stop Holiday Spam.” whipple5three

So, as you begin to build your first workable portfolio, you'll need to create an impressive lineup of media-infinite ideas and put them through their paces.

Keep in mind it's not a campaign to simply resize one idea to fit newspaper, then outdoor, then online. Trying to drag a print-based idea kicking and screaming into the digital space is no good—by the time it gets there, it's dead anyway. You need to show us how muscular and flexible your core idea is with different executions across a variety of media, with executions tailor-made for each medium that surprise and delight by leveraging that medium's core strengths. So it makes sense to go into each project with no particular medium in mind. Let the idea drive the media you choose. This is where the big brands play. It's the stage on which big ideas can best show their stuff. It's what clients are asking for. And it's pretty much all that creative directors are looking for in student books these days.

Frank Anselmo reminds us here: “If it's not a great idea on its own, don't include it just so you can say, ‘See, I have an “integrated” campaign.’ A great one-shot is more impressive than a great one-shot mixed in with four or five so-so ideas.” If you have a couple of great one-shots, fine, throw 'em in. But they should be icing, not the cake.

Come up with great executions of the platform idea that are great all on their own. Could your print campaign extend to the side of a coffee cup? Could it be an environmental installation and website combination? Can your mobile app be activated by your outdoor concepts? How would your idea work as a handout at a trade show? As a place mat? A receipt?

This isn't a nice-to-have. It's a must-have.

Now is not the Time to Play it Safe

As you put your book together, err on the side of recklessness. It's the one time in your career you get to pick the client and write the strategy. If you're not pushing it to the edge now, when are you going to start? A junior book should be the most fun thing a recruiter gets to look at all day. There are no clients or CDs telling you what to do. So swing for the fences.

Nor is this the Time to be Clueless and Naive

Don't fill your book with outrageous ads that have no chance of ever running.

Swearwords in the headlines, pee-pee jokes, stuff like that is all fine and dandy when you're working with your partner, telling jokes, and messing around. But when you actually include stuff like this in your book, what it says about you isn't flattering. (“Hello, I'm a clueless young creative with no business sense. My work is ‘edgy’ and ‘provocative,’ and I think putting a Christmas sweater on the Statue of Liberty would get a lot of attention for the client's big Christmas sale.”)

Do stuff that actually has a chance of client approval.

If You're Looking to Land a Copywriter's Position, Show Some Writing, for Pete's Sake

Visual solutions are all the rage. Fine, do some. But as a junior copywriter in an agency, your first 500 assignments are likely to be writing headlines for some airline's 500 destinations, or pages of content for some brand's social media. So show me you can write.

Show me some muscular, intelligent headlines. In Breaking In, creative director Pat McKay says: “It's good to have…a headline campaign. I want to see if [you] can spit out great headlines, crystallized clever distillations of the main idea.”⁴ For a reminder of what crystallized clever distillations look like, revisit The Economist headlines listed on page 93.

In addition to short bursts of brilliance in headlines, also show me you can write something longer. A long-copy ad, some digital content, or a brand manifesto—it doesn't matter, as long as it's substantial, intelligent, and well put together.

“Every creative director who attended our most recent portfolio review was clear about the importance of long copy,” says Seneca's Anthony Kalamut. “And it's not about just info-dumping some product details. It's about storytelling. Not long copy for the sake of long copy but showing you know to integrate the main platform idea into a story.”

Remember that Range Rover ad in Chapter 4 (Figure 4.7)? That's a great example of a long-copy ad. Will your prospective employer read every word? No. But have it in there.

Each Piece of a Campaign Needs to Stand on Its Own

For your portfolio, you get to decide which piece of a campaign to show first. But once your work starts to run, you won't be able to control what a customer sees first. That's why each piece of work in your campaign has to stand on its own, and yet the whole should be visible in the part. Follow? As a customer, I have to be able to quickly get each particular ad and the whole campaign from every execution.

Put a One-Sentence Setup in Front of Each Campaign

It helps the people assessing your book to know what they're looking at, to have some context. So set up every one of your campaigns with a dedicated page or area that quickly spells out the business challenge and describes your main idea. Three headings should suffice: The Business Problem, The Strategy, and The Main Idea. (Main Idea, not Big Idea, which is a little presumptuous.) Have one sentence after each one these three headings. And don't just bang this copy out. This is writing. It needs to be done carefully. Smartly.

Think About the Order in Which You Want Your Work to Appear in the Book

I used to say the way to go is start strong, end strong. But recently I've begun to think that's a holdover from the era of printed portfolios. It took my friend Ryan Carroll to set me right. He said: “Start with your very best campaign. Next, put your second strongest. I know, convention says put the best campaign first, second best campaign last. ‘Start strong, finish strong,’ and all that. I disagree. This is a boxing match. Knock me out with the first punch. The first campaign in your book needs to floor me. If you don't, you may never get anyone to check out your second campaign. Put your simplest, most compelling idea first. Simplicity and power is key.”

Just Before You Put the Final Book Together, Get Out a Big Knife and Cut Everything that isn't Great

Novelist Elmore Leonard had this great line: “I try to leave out the parts people skip.” That's good advice about writing as well as for assembling your final book. But it's hard advice to follow. Thin the herd. If you have doubts about something, cut it. Leaving even one weak piece in your book makes a creative director doubt your judgment. It's weird, but people often judge you based on the weakest work in your book, not the strongest.

One more note on the phrase “final book”—it will never be final. The day you get your first job you begin working to replace all your student work. Then you work to replace all good campaigns with award-winning campaigns. And so on and so on. Because good enough isn't.

Client Work that's been Produced is not a Good Enough Reason to Put it in Your Book

It also has to be great. Yes, I agree it's cool you've had some real-world experience, perhaps in an internship or freelance. It's good you've tackled some real-world problems. But if the work isn't great, don't put it in. But there's nothing wrong with mentioning you've had real work bought by a client…in the interview, not in your book.

By the same token, I think it's important to mention here that the same thing applies to any work that's digital. Obviously, digital is extraordinarily important, but the work should only be included in a book if it's great, not just because it's digital. SVA's Anselmo put it this way:

As ad students, you have a huge advantage because you have the freedom to choose any brand you want, to deliver any message, and to choose any digital technology. Working in digital is an opportunity for students to show agencies something they don't see much of—brilliant ideas that can exist only through technology.

Have Your Book be Responsive

My buddy Ryan Carroll says, “Make sure your site is responsive. If you don't know what responsive is, find out.* And make especially sure your site works beautifully on mobile because nearly everything I do is on my mobile—including looking at work.”

So, do like the man says. Make your book beautifully accessible on mobile, tablet, and laptop; and it wouldn't hurt to have a few small printed leave-behinds for when you're leaving a face-to-face interview.

“Now if I do like your mobile site,” continues Carroll, “I might go to my laptop and check it out in more detail. But I can usually tell from the mobile site alone if I want to call you in for an interview. Also, having a site built for mobile says you get it.”

Advice on the Overall Design of Your Main Site

The design and usability of your site is crucial. You need to craft your website as carefully as you would a campaign for a client. From the moment a recruiter or CD clicks onto your site, everything he or she sees is a reflection on you. So use every pixel of the experience to show off, to impress; from the design to how you arrange your work.

“If it's some off-the-rack Cargo Collective template,” says Carroll, “part of me wants to call you out for being lazy. With all the resources out there, you couldn't customize a site to best reflect you and really showcase your work? You're trying to land a job that requires you to help brands stand out, break through, and connect with their audience. Show me you can do that for yourself.”

One of those resources out there Carroll mentions is WordPress. WordPress is probably the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system out there. As of this writing, it's powering about a quarter of all sites on the Web, and that number keeps climbing, for a good reason. WordPress is open source, elegantly coded, optimized for search, and it's infinitely customizable. Plus it's easy to use. If I can make heywhipple.com with it, you should be fine. It's free and if you want to customize it—and you do want to customize it—it's something like $60 to buy a theme you can fit to your needs.

My friend David Esrati of The Next Wave told me there are two ways to use WordPress on the Web. One is WordPress.com, which is a free hosted platform. This one isn't as customizable. You want the open-source app downloaded from WordPress.org.

Squarespace is probably the next best if you want to customize a lot, but it costs a bit more and you pay by the month. Then there's Behance, which I recommend only as a satellite. It can't hurt so, sure, post a couple of your best pieces there, then link them to your full site. And when you create the name of your full site, don't be cheap. It's just $15 or so to customize your URL and you can be janedoe.com and not janedoe.wordpress.com.

Whatever system you settle on, just make sure the load times are minimal and it's easy to navigate. (A pet peeve of mine is having to go backward to navigate forward.) There's nothing wrong either with just putting all your work up on one long scroll (parallax site design) with the option to download it as a big PDF. As we just heard, most recruiters prefer PDFs. If you do it this way, remember most PDFs will be viewed in a landscape orientation, so think about maximizing the views and minimizing the scrolling.

“The bottom line is this: make your site user-friendly,” says Kalamut. “Concentrate on the UX. The recruiter needs to flow through the work with ease, from campaign to campaign seamlessly…with a very quick way of getting to your contact info. Make sure your site also includes connections to your LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and make sure the links work and are ‘live.’ ”

Other Finishing Touches for Your Site

Say up front whether you're a writer or art director or whatever. And please, don't forget to put your phone number and e-mail address all over the place. There are kids I have wanted to hire, tried to hire, but couldn't get ahold of them because of this oversight.

And as for the aesthetic of the design, the same rules apply to your website as to all the work you're putting in it. Don't get hung up in the presentation. Just showcase your ideas and get out of the way. The work is everything. Show it in large images so viewers can see the details, including any body copy.

Give Special Love and Attention to Your “About Me” Section

Many CDs and recruiters tell me they go right to the “About Me” section, even before checking out the work.

“This section,” says Ryan Carroll, “is an opportunity to make me like you; really like you. This section is almost as important as your work, so don't blow it off or half-ass it. If you purport to be a writer and you can't make me like you with words or entertain me for 10 seconds, well, that's a problem.”

All it takes is a paragraph or two to give recruiters some insight about you—how you think, how you look at the world. Remember, agencies don't hire books; they hire the people behind the books. So it's kind of a big deal to make sure you come across as a likable and interesting person.

Don't do a “Clever” Mailer or Résumé

It's tempting to demonstrate your creativity this way, but don't. I've never seen anything as clever as a strong portfolio.

As for your résumé: First off, just so you know, CDs rarely look at résumés. Résumés are just part of the usual paperwork required of any job applicant, and it's mostly for the HR department files.

Keep it to one page and get right to the point. This is my name. I'm a writer, or I'm an art director. I'm proficient in InDesign, After Effects, whatever. And here's my work history, address, and phone number. Boom. And if you're an art director, yeah, your résumé's design should rock.

Don't title the document “resume.doc.” Your résumé may be the only one you work with, but a recruiter's e-mail list is full of mysterious resume.doc's. Label it “YOUR NAME resume.”

Anthony Kalamut says: “Another great résumé style is the ‘visual résumé.’ This is a very easy-to-e-mail résumé that tells your story. There is no shortage of samples of these (mostly ugly ones) on SlideShare.” (Go to http://www.slideshare.net/jrodlw)

Then there's the dreaded cover letter. This is the short letter you use as the introductory e-mail you send to agencies and recruiters. If you want your cover letter to be read, say something very interesting about yourself in the first sentence. Make it provocative. Make it memorable. Remember there are thousands of ad students working late nights trying to get your dream job. You have to position yourself as a unique talent and a really interesting person. Whatever you do, do not write in “business speak”—you know, that overly courteous formal voice: “It would be an honor to be considered for a position at…”

Don't get crazy about this. Just write the way you talk and let your personality show.

“Some small mention of your hobbies can be a good way to humanize yourself,” says Ryan Carroll. “I like knowing if, say, you were a Division One field hockey player and had a full ride through college.”

Do not ask for a job in this introductory letter, nor ask, “Are there any jobs open?” Those letters go straight to the recycling bin. “Sell me you,” says Carroll. Let them know you've researched their agency, that you know enough, for example, to mention why you might be a good fit for a particular client on the agency roster.

Think of your cover letter as a teaser ad for your portfolio. CDs are busy people. Keep it short and simple. End it with your name, position (AD, CD, etc.), your e-mail address, phone number, a link to your site, and drop the mike.

E-Mailing, or Dropping Off a Leave-Behind Book, isn't Enough

This is a people business.

Although there may be a small sense of accomplishment in securing a name and sending your book off to one of your target agencies, don't check that agency off your list, lean back at the pool, and wait for the phone call. You need to get in there. You need to follow up with phone calls, letters, e-mails. You need an interview. It's rare a leave-behind results in a phone call.

This is a people business. Although the ante to the game is a great book, the winning hand is a great interview where you impress the person who actually is in charge of filling the job opening.

If You're Just Beginning, don't Count on a Headhunter to Find You a Job

Typically, headhunters work with midlevel to senior positions that have higher salary potential. (They make their money on a percentage of the salary.) In addition, most agencies don't want to pay recruiters' fees to fill entry-level jobs when they're getting all the applicants they can handle walking in off the street.

Just the same, you may decide you want to use a creative recruiter to supplement your search. Fine. They're great people to get to know in this business, and, who knows, if they can't place you now, they could be of great help down the road. Keep in touch with them. It's called networking.

“Networking”

I once swore I'd never use the word as a verb, but nothing else seems to fit here—networking. If you don't have relatives working in the business, networking's precisely the thing you'll have to do. You'll have to send out feelers far and wide. Obviously, the social Web is where you'll do much of this work. Use all the platforms and don't be shy. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—they all have their strengths. There are also sites dedicated to hosting portfolios of all kinds. Find them and put your work up there.

Tell every living person you know you're trying to land a job in the business. You may find the friend of a friend has a name. And a name is all you need to start building your contacts.

So you ask around and get a name. Maybe this person doesn't even work in the creative department. It doesn't matter—you call. Even if the company is not hiring, you ask for an “informational interview” or maybe a little advice on your book.

Finding a creative person you respect is great, and is often a better way to search than looking for a creative agency. Frank Anslemo of SVA says: “Agencies aren't what they were a decade ago. It used to be the best people worked only at the elite agencies. But today, talented people are everywhere—big agencies, small; big cities and in the heartland. Getting hired to work for great people, regardless of the agency…that is what'll get you producing great work and launch you on a great career.” You'll find these people by reading the award books. Follow the great work.

Follow the Twitter feeds of creative people you admire. And don't just retweet or repurpose their stuff, but add your perspective on the material. We've had many students connect to industry people this way.

When you do meet this person, be your usual charming self. Listen more than you talk, and before you leave, ask if he or she knows where you might look next. Get the name of another contact. Ask if you can use your interviewer's name to land another interview somewhere. Keep this up and over time you'll slowly build a list of names, numbers, and contacts. One day the phone will ring.

Attend Industry Events

Seneca College's Anthony Kalamut has this advice:

“The number one recommendation I give my students is attend advertising industry events. Attend events from the local ad club, travel to New York if you can for Advertising Week or One Show Week. Also, the New York Art Directors Club (ADC) organizes global ‘Portfolio Nights’ where you can get your book reviewed by creative directors.”

Kalamut also suggests you volunteer at these industry events. It'll look great on your résumé and shows you are doing stuff.

“If you don't have money,” says Kalamut, “invest your time.”

Establish a Phone or an E-Mail Relationship with a Working Writer or Art Director

There are plenty of friendly and helpful people in the business willing to coach you along and who go out of their way to “pay forward.” They know how tough getting into the business can be. The trick is finding one.

Take a risk. Write a letter to somebody whose work you admire. Or call them. (Call before 9 AM or after 6 PM. It's less crazy then.) Tell them you really like the stuff they do or the work their company does. No brownnosing. Just matter-of-factly. Tell them you're trying to get into the business and ask if they could take a look at your work and give you advice on how to improve it.

Once you get a dialogue going, there are two important things to do. One, take the advice you get. And two, don't stalk the person. Keep a respectful distance. Don't call more than once or twice. If somebody doesn't return your call after three tries, take the hint—stop calling, at least for six months or so. And get back to the person only when you've significantly improved your book.

Avoid the Rush at the Front Door and Try the Side Door—Or Even a Window

Many agencies now employ creative recruiters. These people are generally not writers or art directors, just folks with a good sense of what makes for a good portfolio. Get to know the names, numbers, and e-mail addresses of the recruiters in your target agencies. Be courteous, but don't limit your calls only to them. If you have the contact information for a writer or art director in the creative department, go straight to them first. If you can do so, you stand a better chance because you're removing one layer of approval.

If You Can't Get in to See the General, Talk to a Lieutenant

You don't have to get an interview with the creative director to get your foot in the door at an agency. If you have a great book, see if you can get 15 minutes of time with an ACD or just a senior creative person. These people will know when the agency is hiring, even if they're not the ones doing it. If they like you, it's relatively easy for them to slide your name under the creative director's nose at the right moment.

If you come on board and do great work, it reflects well on them. I've helped several juniors get on board and have watched with some measure of undeserved pride when a kid “I discovered” does well.

It may happen for you this way. If it does, someday maybe you can return the favor to a kid who comes into your office with bad hair and a great book. Take the time to help. We're all in this together.

Before Each Interview, Study the Agency

It's probably smart to begin your search by looking closely at the agencies that are doing work compatible with your style.

Know which creatives you are going to be talking to, the work they've done, and what other agency clients keep them busy. This isn't hard. Just ask the recruiter. “The recruiter,” Ryan Carroll reminds us, “wants you to get hired too, so she can stop searching for the position and get on to the next four positions that need filling.”

Google the names of the people who created their best work and check to make sure they still work there. Get online and familiarize yourself with the agency's best work. Memorize the names of their top clients. Of course, none of this is for the purposes of brownnosing. (“Gee, Mr. Russell, I thought your work for Spray ‘N’ Wipe was so meaningful.”) It'll simply help you be able to ask smart and relevant questions. It'll also show you're a student of the business, you're serious about getting into it, and you've done your homework.

Okay, First Thing. It's Probably a Pretty Good Idea to Show Up for Your Interview on Time

I continue to be amazed by the number of young people who think showing up 10 or 15 minutes late for an interview, or any business meeting, is somehow “okay.” Please, get out a yellow highlighter and highlight the entire next paragraph.

Yes, advertising is a fun and wildly creative business. But it is also a business; one with lots of money on the line, tight deadlines, and clients who expect their agencies to run a tight ship. You will tick off your soon-to-be-ex-employer by missing deadlines, by not filling out time sheets, by being rude, by having to be reminded to go to meetings, and by playing fast and loose with any company policy. And if you're gliding into the office at 10:30 you'll soon be canceling your subscription to People Who Have Jobs magazine.

You are not God's gift to advertising. You are not special. Be humble. Be grateful. Be on time.

In the Interview, Don't Just Sit There

I don't care how good your book is, you can't just throw it on a creative director's desk, sit down, and start talking company health plans and vacation policy. You must make it clear you have a pulse. Advertising is a business that requires a lot of people skills, and it will help if the creative director sees you have them—that you're personable, that you can handle a business meeting with verve and confidence, and that generally you aren't a stick-in-the-mud.

My friend Ryan says: “Be prepared to talk about you. Again, this is like a date. I'm trying to figure out if I like you. So if you're boring, shy, or give one-word answers you create an awkward vibe. The best interviews are the ones where the interviewee can take the first question like ‘How are you’ and we find ourselves talking for 30 minutes before even looking at your book.”

One famous creative director I know told me he's more interested in a person's hobbies than anything else. And Andy Berlin told me hiring often comes down to chemistry. “A lot of people could probably do this job,” he said, “but what it's really about is…who would we wanna go have a beer with?”

Also, bring a notepad to the interview. It says you're there to listen.

Have an Opinion

This is another version of “trust your instincts.”

If the interviewer asks you what kind of advertising you like or what campaigns you wish you had done (and many do), have an opinion. Say what current or classic campaigns you like and describe why. It's also okay to not like a campaign, even a popular one, if you can articulate your reasoning.

It's a subjective business, and unless you pick Mr. Whipple as your dream campaign, you'll probably do fine. What's bad is having no opinion at all. (“Oh, I like…well, I like whatever's good is what I like.”)

Before You Start, Ask if They'd Like Commentary from You or Not

Some recruiters and CDs will say, yes, I'd love to hear you present your work. Others will just want to silently click through your stuff. Be ready for either. If a reviewer says, “Just let me read,” take no offense. They may want to see if your work has a quick “get” factor.

As you watch your interviewer page through your book, resist the temptation to explain anything. If you ever feel the slightest urge to explain something in your book, cut that piece. That urge means the piece isn't working.

As someone once said, “If your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.”

Be Ready to Speak with Precision about Every Piece in Your Book

Before you walk into an interview you should have rehearsed a quick set-up for every campaign. The setup should be one sentence, maybe two. And by rehearse I mean do it aloud a whole bunch of times; if you can do it with a buddy, all the better.

When you're finally in the CD's office and clicking through your site, he or she might say, “So, I like this campaign. How'd you come up with it?”

“Aww, dude, I just thought it up, man. Just sorta…poof! And I went like, whoa, duuude, this rocks.”

Ummm…no.

You are being considered for employment at a firm that sells the intangible. Agencies sell ideas. Your ability to precisely articulate how you created an idea and to persuasively pitch it to a neutral (and sometimes hostile) audience is a very important skill. Have your answers ready.

If you are presenting off of a deck on your computer, you have the opportunity to show the CD you know how to write a presentation deck; how to set up a campaign and present it. The CD is judging your work, yes, but often they're trying to picture you in front of one of the agency clients. “Could I put this person in front of the IBM people?”

Remember, too, to show some enthusiasm for the work as you present it. Your work may all be familiar territory to you, but if you aren't excited about your own ideas, you can hardly expect your reviewer to be. “Too many junior creatives present their work like they are taking me through a mortgage application,” says Carroll. “Get me excited about you, and your work.”

Sell Your Ability to Think Strategically

Your work should speak for itself. You should speak for you.

Don't make the mistake of explaining everything in your book. If you must talk, discuss the strategic thinking behind the ads you're presenting. CD Ryan Carroll agrees, saying: “Talk through the strategy and how you arrived at the idea, not just the execution. Show me how you think. Chances are, I've seen your book already, so I know the idea and what I really want to see is how the gears in your head work. How do you tackle problems? Do you get and love strategy?”

Trust Your Instincts

Go to 10 different interviews and you're going to get 10 different opinions on your work. It will be confusing. (“The guy with the goatee liked this campaign, but the guy with the ponytail said it blew.”)

If the majority say the same thing, take the hint. But you don't have to agree with everybody. If you do, you'll water down your book. Trust your instincts. Keep what you believe in and change what you don't. Keep reworking your book until the weak parts are out and the good parts are great.

One way to get a good read on what needs improving is to ask everyone you meet in an interview what they think is the weakest campaign in your book. If more than a couple point to the same campaign, take it around the back of the barn. You know what to do.

Relax. Ask Some Questions

Keep in mind as you interview that you can learn as much about the agency during this meeting as they can about you. Remember even though you're young and on the street, you have options. You don't have to take this job, even if it's offered. You have choices.

Ryan Carroll says: “I actually appreciate being grilled by juniors. How does the creative department work here? What will I work on? Who will I report to? What do you think makes a great ad? How can I make an impact here? What do you expect from a junior creative?”

Asking some well-informed questions tells your interviewer you're not just looking for a job, but for the right job. With that in mind, relax a little bit. Your interviewer is not there to pin you to the board like a butterfly. If you've been invited to come in, the agency already likes your book. They're trying to see if they like you. So be yourself. Have an opinion and ask questions.

After the interview don't forget to follow up with a friendly “thanks very much” e-mail and/or letter. Don't ask to friend them on Facebook; that borders on the creepy. But asking for a connection from your LinkedIn page, that's okay. Go for it.

Offer to do the Grunt Work

My very first assignment in the business was to write some 50 “live” radio scripts for a hotel corporation. Live radio is simply a script read by the local DJ in between the farming updates and lottery numbers. I suspect if that awful live radio project hadn't come through the agency door, I might not have, either. But I was more than happy to do it.

I recommend you take the same attitude. Express your willingness to take on any assignment thrown at you. Many young people come in wanting to work on an agency's national TV accounts. My advice is, offer your shoulder to any wheel, your nose to any grindstone. I overheard a junior creative wisely coach a student by saying, “Trust me, you don't want to be on a TV shoot. You can't imagine how much you don't know right now.”

Although it's possible you could land some big campaigns relatively early on in your career, it's more likely you'll be doing odds and ends, like updating a client's Twitter feed. But work on every job like it's a spot for the Super Bowl.

Let Your Readiness to Work Like Crazy Come Off of You in Waves

If I'm asked to choose between hiring for creativity or hiring for work ethic, I'm gonna go for the harder-working person every time. I love how my friend Frank Anselmo puts it: “In my experience, talent is a bit overrated. Talent is human. Talent gets lazy and distracted. But intense work ethic is beyond mortal beings. Work ethic will add years of experience to your life while everyone else is posting selfies on Facebook. I'll hire work ethic over talent any day. Lazy talent will not get the job done.”

If You're Willing to Freelance, Let 'em Know

Agencies often have more work than their staffs can handle, and even if they don't need another full-timer, they may need temporary help. Ask if this is the case at your target agencies. Let them know you're willing to freelance. It gives the creative director a chance to work with you, to see if you should keep “dating” before you get married.

If You Can't Get into the Creative Department, Get into the Agency

I can name quite a few famous creative people who started their agency careers in the mailroom or as coordinators, assistants, even account people.

The thing is, once you're past the purple ropes, you'll learn a lot more. You'll be able to watch it happen firsthand. You'll also start making friends with people who can hire you or help move you into the creative department. Unlike corporations such as, say, IBM, ad agencies are loosely structured places that often fill job openings with any knucklehead who proves he or she can do the work. They don't care what you majored in.

So get in there, do the job, keep your ears open and your book fresh, and when a creative position opens up, whom do you think they'll hire? A stranger off the street or the smart young kid in the mailroom who has paid his dues and is still chomping at the bit?

A Few Days after the Interview, Send a Thank You Note. On Paper

No e-mails allowed here; use snail-mail or drop it off at the front desk. Some students create cards for this purpose, cards that match their personal brand style online.

Thank them for taking the time to meet with you, and add a detail on why the interview was important or informative for you. And make sure it has all your contact information.

How to Talk About Money

I had a long discussion about money matters with Dany Lennon, one of the best creative recruiters in the ad business. (The ad that opens this chapter, for “The Creative Register,” that's her.) She gave me this advice, and I pass it on to you.

“Do your homework,” Dany told me. “Before you go into an interview you should know what the starting salary levels for that city, and that area, are. Talk to headhunters, talk to the agency recruiters, make phone calls, but find out. Then you won't be left in the position of saying, ‘Okay, so what do you think I'm worth?’ An agency might be tempted to low-ball you.*

“Instead you say, ‘Well, this is what I understand to be the starting salary at comparable agencies in this area.’ Drop the name of an agency if you like. But take the responsibility of knowing about money. Don't leave it up to the agency. If you do it forthrightly, your interviewer is going to see an intelligent person who's done their homework, and money won't be a federal case. Just one of fairness. It's not so much the money you get that matters anyway, but the way in which you conduct yourself during the negotiation. A mature, intelligent, and fair negotiation says a lot about your character, also very important in an interview.”

Depending on where you're looking, your interview could be with a creative director, the agency recruiter, or someone in their HR department. Typically in midsized and larger agencies, you won't discuss salary with the CD. The CD will decide if they want to hire you and then turn over salary and benefits details to the agency recruiter or HR.

“Once you've negotiated your salary,” Dany went on, “you may want to tell your CD you would appreciate a review in six months. Not a raise, but a review. This says to him, ‘I'm going to work my tail off for this place and I'm confident in six months you'll see you've made a great hire.’ And six months is all it usually takes for a CD to get a good read on you: on how hard you work, your attitude, your overall value to his company.”

Dany's bottom line: “Take charge of your own financial destiny, do your homework, stay informed, and learn to negotiate fairly.”

Don't Choose an Agency Based on the Salary Offered

If you're lucky enough to get a couple of offers, you may find the better salary is offered by the worse agency. It has always been thus. And lord knows, it will be tempting to take that extra 15 or 20 grand when it's held out to you. Don't.

One of Bill Bernbach's best lines was, “It isn't a principle until it costs you money.” In this case, the principle in question is the value you place on doing great work. I urge you to go with the agency that's producing good advertising. You may work for less, but it's more likely you'll produce better ads. And in the long run, nothing is better for a great salary than a great book.

More than once I've seen a talented kid go for the bigger check at a bad agency and a year later take a cut in pay just to get the hell out of there. The bad part was that even after a year in the belly of the beast, he hadn't added so much as a brochure to his original student portfolio.

If you get a fair offer from a good agency, take it. Take in four roommates if you have to, live in your parents' basement, but get on board—that's the trick. I read somewhere not to set your sights on money anyway. Just do what you do well and the money will come. McElligott once told me, “You'll be underpaid the first half of your career and overpaid the second.”

Take a Job Wherever You can and Work Hard

All you need to do to get on a roll is produce a couple of great campaigns and have them run. And it's possible to do great work at almost any agency in America. (Note judicious use of the word possible.) Once you do a great campaign, creative directors will remember it. And you can make the next move up.

Don't be crestfallen if you can't get into one of the “hot” shops. The agency offering you your first job will be a launching pad, a stepping-stone. (However, it's probably not a good idea to tell them this as you're shaking hands: “Thank you, sir. I guess this job will just have to do until something opens up at Wieden+Kennedy. In fact, I think I'll just keep my coat on if you don't mind.”)

Here's the other thing: Starting at an elite shop right out of school may be a little too intimidating for some. Also, if an A-agency is your first job in the industry, you won't be able to appreciate how good you have it. The late great Mike Hughes of the Martin Agency once told me: “People who start in great places like Goodby and then leave are forever disappointed in their other agencies.”

Remember, wherever you land a job, there'll be plenty to learn from the people you'll meet. Think of that first job as continuing your education. In Breaking In, BBH creative director Todd Riddle agrees, stating: “That first job is a critical part of your career. Even more critical than the college or education you got. Because everyone will forget where you went to college after two or three years—whatever school you went to, nobody's going to care. All they'll want to know is what have you done in the past two or three years. And if you've been surrounded by really great, smart, bright creative people, and it's rubbed off on you…that's all you'll have to have.”⁵

Just get on board and work like hell. Early in your career's the time to do it, too, when you don't have children calling you from home asking how to get the top off the gasoline can in the garage.

It may seem you can't outthink those senior creatives right now, but you can definitely outwork them. Make hard work your secret weapon.

“Interns? Cleanup in Aisle Three, Please”

The answer on whether to intern or not depends on the agency. Look for a paid internship, and expect to work hard. It's not likely you'll be creating Super Bowl spots. Doing image searches for an art director or making copies for a pitch is more like it. But that's life in an agency, and an internship can be a great place to learn what it's really like. Offer to do anything for anyone. If you see a senior team working late, lean into their office and offer to help. They may take you up on it. That's the break you need.

A word of advice: Don't stay in an internship too long; a couple of months is enough. And whatever else happens, make sure you're not taken advantage of, either financially or personally. Sadly, both have been known to happen.

Once You Land a Job, Stick With it a While

There are going to be rough spots no matter where you work. There are no perfect agencies. I like to think I have worked at a couple of the best, and there were plenty of times I thought just about everything that could be wrong was wrong.

Hang in there for a while. Things can change. An account that's miserable one year can suddenly become the one everybody wants to work on. There's also value in learning to stick with something long enough to see it through. Plus, it does not look good on your résumé to bail on a place inside of a year. Show some patience.

If you've heard the best way to increase your salary is to change jobs, it's true. But I advise against job-hopping solely for that reason. If you're at a good agency making a fair wage, stay there. Every six months or so, take a long, hard look at your portfolio. If it's getting better, stay. Move on only when you've learned as much as you possibly can. You don't want a résumé that's a long list of brief stints at agency after agency.

Don't Let Advertising Mess Up Your Life

On the same page I say work hard, I'll also warn against working to the exclusion of all else. We all seem to take this silly advertising stuff so seriously. And at some shops, the work ethic isn't ethical. People are simply expected to work until midnight, pretty much all the time.

When this happens, we end up working way too hard and ignoring our spouses, our partners, our friends, and our lives. Remember, ultimately, it's just advertising. Compared with the important things in life, even a Super Bowl commercial is just an overblown coupon ad for Jell-O.

Love, happiness, family, stability, sanity—those are the important things. Don't forget it.

Don't Underestimate Yourself

Don't think, “I shouldn't bother sending my book to that agency. They're too good.”

All people are subject to low self-esteem, and I think creative people are particularly prone to it. I can think of several people in our creative department who didn't think they were good enough but sent their book on a lark, and we took them up on it.

Don't Overestimate Yourself

For some reason, a lot of people in this business develop huge egos. Yet none of us are saving lives. We are glorified sign painters and nothing more.

Stay humble.