How to get a place on the Watford Course.

 In the worship of security we fling ourselves beneath the wheels of routine-and before we know it our lives are gone.

I have written this because I'm finding too many young people are trying to get in to the ad profession in a half-hearted way.  You need stuff that cannot be taught. Stuff that only you can develop yourself. Like passion, energy, excitement for making ideas, excitement for other people's ideas, a love of problem solving, an upbeat love of people and life. That's the stuff I'm talking about.

 Prove you love advertising.

You should know the names of all the agencies . You should know  what accounts are where and  the names of the creative directors and the 
leading creatives. You should know  your advertising history.  When I  mention 'Dambusters'  the ad should spring to mind , not the film. 
If I ask you to name the best three VW Beetle ads from DDB New York you should name 33.
You should have an opinion on the work of every great ad creative from Socrates to Trott via Lautrec.

Prove you are creative. 

If you are creative you are creating. You are building web sites, writing ads, making films, writing books, producing art installations. Don't be precious. Think.  Do.  Learn.   Move On. 

Prove you like writing ads.

We all know what an ad is.Take a simple benefit. eg Brillo Pads. Best scourer. Come up with a campaign thought  that communicates this message in a creative way and execute the idea in as many different ways as you can. Write your ads in posters. Poster are the purest , simplest forms of advertising. Writing  poster campaigns forces you to think simply and clearly. Check the D&Ad annuals to see examples of good poster campaigns. You should come to the interview with a book of ideas/ads for brands. Be as visual as you can. If you can't draw do crude drawings. Or find the visual you want on an image bank and paste.

Prove you are a cultural sponge.

Mop up everything. Literature, art, cinema,poetry,politics, economics, music, theatre, dance, opera,..............and good gravy. Never waste good gravy. You need to be an interesting person with a wealth of reference points and experience you can draw upon. 

I look to my students to teach me something. Students in the past have turned me on to Maus, Modest Mouse and Blacksad. In reciprocation I have turned students' attention to the  creative minds of Buster Keaton, Eno,  Peter Greenaway, Prince Buster and Peter Cook.

Prove you can write or art direct.

Or prove you can do both. Ideally, you should have some published work under your belt. If you can't write or design with style, wit and emotional empathy you cannot own your ideas.

Prove you love hard work.

Right now some agency creatives are doing 60 hours a week to hang on to their jobs.  Some are working weekends for free.If you love coming up with ideas and executing them you'll want to work the  hours. If you don't love it you should consider studying something else.
A friend of mine loves ceramics. He has just finished his course at The Royal College of Art. He was at the college at 8.00am and finished at midnight. At weekends he finished at 10.00pm. He loved it.

Prove you know something about the Watford Course.

 Do your research.You wouldn't book a vacation to Greece without research. Ditto Watford. And it's not even a holiday.

Prove you don't take yourself too seriously.

You need to laugh at your mistakes and failures. 

Writing ads is a trivial pursuit compared to what some people do for a living. Be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender.

Be punctual and be nice.

This is more important than talent. 

      

Preparing For Watford.

1. Do stuff.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO CREATE FOR A LIVING- CREATE. EVERY DAY.

CREATIVITY IS A PREOCCUPATION NOT AN OCCUPATION.

Pick simple brand problems. Start with writing down loads of insights and truths. Turn one of these truths in to a benefit. An emotional benefit for the consumer-your audience of one.  Be positive. Don't rubbish the competition. Deliver the benefit with executions that the audience can relate to.

Example. Becks Blue bottled beer.

The message; Becks Blue is a bottled beer that contains no alcohol. Insight/Truth: a 24 year old can blend in with his beer buddies. 
Write to emotionally true benefits with pithy strategy lines.

Here are three strategies as examples.

Becks Blue No Alcohol. No questions asked.
( Your mates won't ask if you why you're not drinking a beer.

Becks Blue No Alcohol. You're not drunk you're you. (Drinkers doing silly things in bars  because it is their personality.)

Becks Blue. No alcohol. Mornings are wonderful.
Show the opportunities of the early morning. ( The beauty of the sun rise, the bargains at a car boot sale, the wildlife in the local park before the dog walkers arrive.)

Write 10-20 concepts in posters for your strategies and then make a judgement.

The above example should be done in one hour.

2. Widen your cultural hinterland.

Go beyond the creativity of your time.

Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin can teach you how to tell stories.  

Stanley Kubrick can teach you the importance of detail.

Charles Bukowski can show you how words can punch.

Stand up comedians  and shows like Friends and The Simpsons are based on human truths. Watch hundreds of episodes of well observed comedy.

You should also research the history of advertising and be aware of every great idea that's gone before. 

People like George Lois and Mary Wells Lawrence should not be strange names to you.

3. Start an ideas book.

Keep a scrapbook or a note pad by your side. Jot down truths, insights, experiences and ideas.

Use pen and paper-not a computer.

The biggest barrier to creativity is your mobile phone.

4. Work hard and have fun.

The more you have fun the more you work the more you have fun the more you work. 

It's a lovely circle.

The teams that do well are always the hardest working and never the most talented.