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.

Whatever happened to the class of 2019 who haven't even left yet?

Some of this year's hard working students have already been snapped up before the end of the course. 

Sian's pet bear is happy at her working at Adam and Eve.

 Team Cristiana Ronaldo have bagged three placements to keep them busy until Christmas. 

Lara and Alice have been abducted from planet Watford.

Will and Rowan on a VCCP mission. To work on the Mars pitch?

Joe and Jack got The Call Up from VCCP and Lucky Generals.

Watford Applications for September 2019 intake.

My web site is now up  www.thewatfordcourse.com

I'd like to put more kittens on it. In time. In time. 

If you wish to apply for the Watford Creative Ad Course which starts on Monday September 2nd contact  Ruth Piech our admissions officer on ruth.piech@westherts.ac.uk and she will send out the application form and the creative test.
Don't fret over the test. It's meant to be fun.

There is a late interview at 11.00am on Thursday 29th at the college, WD17 3EZ.  I'll repeat that just in case you didn't have a pen and paper ready. It's  Thursday 29th August 11.00am at the college. Any queries that Ruth is unable to answer contact me on tonyc@westherts.ac.uk 
However, I will be off grid until mid August so please be patient.
I'll also be away from the internet.
If you are in doubt read this. If you are still in doubt after reading then you must be a robot.

Hi TC,

Wanted to think about what I was going to write before sending you an email to say thank you for this crazy, wonderful year at Watford.  

This time last year I was sat in a grey office, working for Capita wondering if life would always be this boring. Now I’m sat opposite Oli Beale, on our first day at Anomaly and we’re already working on a super cool brief. 

And the course only ended on Friday.

I toyed with the idea of doing the course for two years, and boy am I glad that I took the risk, packed my bags and swapped the countryside for Watford… 

It’s changed my life and thanks to you I’m now doing what I really really want to do. 

So thank you a million times over, for your guidance and the amazingly special course that you run. 

Alice 

BUSTER. KEATON

I was going to write about the story telling genius of Buster Keaton.  And in particular how he used fewer words ( caption titles) than other film makers at the time.

In the 1920's silent comedy films had an average of 240 titles. Buster took every opportunity to craft the images to work harder. His films had an average of 50 titles.

My research led me to this video essay. After watching this I stopped researching. Hope it helps. 

How to write a John Lewis/Waitrose Christmas TV ad.

1. Come to the Watford Ad Course.
2. Get brilliant.
3. Get a job at the agency that runs John Lewis.
4. Write 200 scripts.
5. Then write some more.
6. Get one made.

The following ads were all written by ex Watford students: Ben Stilitz, Milo Campbell, Sophie Knox, Frank Ginger, Laurent Simon, Aidan McClure and the latest one by Sali Horsey and Zoe Nash. 
All of these ex students were never knowingly underworked.

Every Creative Needs To Find An Eagle Owl

I recently gave a speech at the Watford Graduation for the classes of 2016 and 2017.  The graduates are all in agencies like BBH, VCCP, Blink, AMV, BBC, Channel 4,  Y&R and WK. Here is a precis of the talk:

Adland. Population: Worried. Capital: Average.

Currency: The Dull.

Adland is a complicated land of false trails, mirages and fruitless treks. 

So, you are all going to need a guide.

You all need your very own Eagle Owl.

Eagle Owls have the physical skills of an Eagle. 

They are focused, precise, powerful and energetic.

And can soar to great heights over the landscapes of Adland.

They are also blessed with the sensory and intuitive skills of an Owl.

In Native American culture, the Eagle is a symbol of truth, the Owl is emblematic with wisdom and intuitive knowledge.

Eagle Owls are often disguised.

They're likely to be experienced. 

Although their feathers might be grey they will still be creatively ambitious, have a young heart and a mischievous soul.

They could be a creative director, a strategist or in television production.

They might not even be in Adland. 

They could be perched high on a mountain in another creative terrain.

Eagle Owls are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

In Adland, their numbers are declining. 

Their habitat is under threat.

Technology hunters, rapacious data harvesting and the open plan fields have created visual blight and noise pollution.

Icy winds of dull blown in from the Eastern coast of political correctness have forced many Eagle Owls to take flight to more interesting lands.

When you do find your Eagle Owl let them guide you.

For they can spot a herd of charlatans grazing in the undergrowth of complex briefs.

They sense the twitch of a nervous client eyebrow and the feint whiff of bullshit.

The Eagle Owl will foretell the distant thunder of angry consumers who will skip your ads.

They can spot the Golden Four Legged Rabbits of Opportunity which live in the undergrowth of confused briefs. 

Your Eagle Owl will navigate you past the tempting watering holes like The Losers Arms and The Frog and Failed Creative.

The ground in Adland can be less than firm.

There are hidden quicksands everywhere where great ideas are sucked out of sight never to be seen again. 

Your Eagle Owl will  make sure every bold step you take is made with confidence.

It will be hard. I can't promise you it will be easy. 

Your Eagle Owl will lead you to a steep edifice called Push It Mountain.

And you will look up at Push It Mountain and you'll say, 'Oh Fuck. Do I have to?

It's nearly 9.00pm and I want to get home to watch Love Island. 

Eventually, your Eagle Owl will lead your creative spirit to a rarefied atmosphere and whatever you produce won't feel like 

advertising.

And you'll say, 'This is fun.'

And your Eagle Owl will say , 'It is fun. And it just happens to be advertising'.

And from the top of  Push It Mountain you'll look down on at the geography of Adland and everything will be crystal clear.

And you'll say. 'Thank you.' 

And your Eagle Owl will say, 'No worries'.

You're going to have to do it all again tomorrow'.