Stuff

We've been busy listening to how people have developed, learned and grown during their careers. As a result, we've collated a set of essays which we hope you'll enjoy.

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The creative economy creates 2.62 million jobs, making 1 in every 12 UK jobs creative! Creative Pioneers is an award winning campaign to find the next generation of advertising, creative and digital talent. Last week, they hosted a launch event in association with the IPA and UK Music so I went along to find out more about this great programme.

The creative industry employs 1,000 graduates a year; Creative Pioneers plan to match this. They’ve just received £400,000 of government funding which allows for 800 more apprenticeships. This will not only improve opportunities for young people but it will also improve the diversity of the industry. In 2013, an IPA Agency Census found that just 11.2% of employees are non-white, as you can see in the infographic below. According to the 2011 census, 12.8% of the UK is non-white. Hopefully, with the support of great agencies, Creative Pioneers can close this gap so that the demographics of the creative industry better reflect the demographics of the UK.

Advertising week 23rd
creativepioneers.co.uk/Jobs-London
Bad Feminist - Roxanne Gay

The design consultancy, Pentagram hosted Marion Deuchars’s talk on what she does, and why she does it.

Marion works with major design and advertising agencies, publishes illustrated children's books and has created a much-loved style of hand-lettering. Whether it’s client work for the likes of The Royal Mail and The Imperial War Museum, or inspiring youngsters with her Let’s Make Great Art books, Marion’s impact on the creative scene continues to be wide-ranging.

In Marion’s talk she expressed the importance of play, and how it and her children inspire her. When children see a piece of paper they see something that could happen, whereas adults just see an object. As a child we learn how to draw before we learn to read or write. As we grow up we naturally move to realism and battle with perfection. So much so at age 11, 9/10 children stop drawing for pleasure. By that point they know if they are good or not at making things look realistic. Her illustrations play on this process and often her work is a copy of her children's doodles.

For further reading The shape of content- Ben Slahn

MarionDeuchars.com

Monday evening was the anti-premier for Free Speech, Fear Free. The documentary is produced by Direct-H and created by nineteen year old, Tarquin Ramsay. It describes the central role freedom has in our lives, and how we must fight and struggle to nurture and retain it.

Through the use of interviews with high profile experts, cases and life stories it explores what freedom of speech means. Interviewees involved in the project included Julian Assange, Natalia Kaliada, Julia Farrington and Jude Law.

As part of the anti-premier they asked the audience two questions that will be included in the final cut of the documentary.

• What causes would you use your right of free speech for?
• For what acts of free speech are you willing to go to prison for, or ultimately give your life?

I found this question impossible to answer. Even the discussion of what free speech is, is subjective. Let alone what you would and wouldn’t stand for. I believe there should be freedom within conversation. The ability to respond, ignore, listen or fight someone else’s opinion, and consequently have the freedom to add your own.

“Our ability to communicate is important because from it derives everything that we think about as civilized in a civilization, every law, every regulation, every constitution and in fact every other right derives from the practice of communicating with each other.” - Julian Assange

For further information and reading the Free speech, fear free promotion trailer and website. Also Lawrence Lessig, the Net’s most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the "ASCAP cartel" in his argument for reviving our creative culture.

Last Tuesday Creative Social represented ‘Reasons to be cheerful’. A line up of inspiring speakers discussed what’s making them happy inside and outside of the industry, how they are putting a smile on their clients' faces and which campaigns and trends they are getting excited about this year.

Speakers included:

• Speaker 1: Rob Moseley, Nonsense (@RobNonsense)
• Speaker 2: Emma Perkins, Lowe Open (@em_thinksaydo)
• Speaker 3: Thea Hamren, Mr President (@Theaelisabet)
• Speaker 4: Pip Jamieson, The Dots (@Pip_Jamieson)
• Speaker 5: Joakim Borgstrom, BBH (@joakimborgstrom)
• Speaker 6: Simon Gill, DigitasLBi (@skinnybouffant)

Mind map overview from CS Presents by @Natalka_Design

My favourite speaker was Emma Perkins. Emma spoke about how she found happiness after becoming redundant. “If there isn’t a silver lining, sew one in.” she said. Emma found that by losing yourself in what you love, you can find happiness. Whether it be decorating cakes or making a BBQ out of a filing cabinet! Redundancy gave her time and time allowed her to fall in love with creativity again.

“Happiness is not something ready made, it comes from your own actions”- The Dali Lama

I’ll leave you with some words of advice from Emma, “at the end of every day write down three things that you are grateful for”. This action is easy to do and its benefits have been scientifically proven. In tests, people who tried it each night for just one week were happier and less depressed one month, three months and six months later.

S-G & Partners have suggestions for further reading on happiness. Steph’s suggestion is The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. Charlotte recommends ‘Happy’, a documentary directed by Roko Belic, which is currently available on Netflix. Happy takes viewers on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes them happy.

iris worldwide and Ben Essen (Head of Planning, iris) will be hosting the next APG speed mentoring session for young planners. It takes place next Thursday 26th February at 6.30pm.

If you’re up for putting some planning luminaries on the spot, please have a look here for more information: Read more

Since I can remember we have always been told how important it is to make sure you present and give the right impression in an interview.

It's always been crucial that as the person going forward for the job, you showcase and demonstrate all your experience. You must make good eye contact, give brilliant examples of your work & ask questions that show your intelligence. You must walk out of that room leaving a lasting impression for the right reasons.

None of this has changed since I have been working. It's a prerequisite.

There is however an expectancy that the person coming for a job, is desperate to work for you. Think again.

Agencies must sell themselves too. Sadly not enough emphasis is put on this.

I believe that it's always been important for the agency to sell itself. However, today it is even more important.

There are certain agencies that maybe haven't had to try too hard, those that people have flocked towards i.e BBH, Droga5, W+K, AKQA etc. Times have changed and everyone needs to be thinking about how they make their agency or job the most exciting opportunity at that point in time. Even if you think you are at the elevated position of Droga5, I can assure you that you're further down the pecking order than you may think.

Talent has even more options today and doesn't need to work for a top 10, never mind top 20 advertising agency to get a fix of creative juice. Think about the following places people are heading to and then maybe you'll realise that to attract the best talent, you need to fight:

Brands: Google, Twitter, Burberry, Diageo, HSBC, Nike, Apple, Facebook, Linkedin etc plus every online brand that is launching.

Start-ups/Indies:

• Lucky Generals
• Sunshine
• Creature
• The Corner

Different types of agency:

• Maker
• Method
• Bow & Arrow
• Red Scout
• Oliver

Media owners:

• Channel5
• C4
• Sky
• Virgin Media

A sweeping generalisation, as there are some that realise they're up against it, but agencies have become complacent.

The idea and expectation that people want to join your grad scheme or be that Account man or planner who will bite your arm off for the offer you make, is floored.

As an industry we need to all get better at making sure we position and frame the opportunity to ensure we're retaining, but also attracting the best talent into our industry.

Some tips:

• Have a shop window that Mr Selfridge would be proud of. Your website can make or break someone even speaking to you.
• Remember we’re here to make brilliant creative work & this should always be at the top of the agenda.
• A detailed and engaging brief (ideally written)
• An interview team that can:
• sell the agency
• frame and explain the role
• ask the right questions about the individual
• answer questions that are thrown at them
• spot talent for the agency even if it is not 100% right for the brief
• leave a lasting, warm and inspiring impression
• A culture that attracts everyone, whether you're a graduate or parent.
• Training for both work & then investment in personal projects.
• Oh and a headhunter that can fight your corner! It's a shameless push of our service, but finding the right headhunter to find you the right talent does help.

Together we must all work to ensure we don't let those that have made our industry great, migrate and head elsewhere.

M&C Saatchi is taking an enterprising approach in its quest for the Paddy Power account. Read more

Thank you to all those we have worked with last year and we look forward to more exciting conversations in 2015!

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Make 2015 your best year yet. Watch

Over the last month London Strategy Unit have blogged about what the future of strategy is and how the department looks. Here is blog 3 of 3 from the guys. Read more

We couldn’t resist sharing this. We’ll stick to our knitting doing headhunting and allow the experts to do the ‘intellectual diagrams’. In this case, not so intellectual! Ouch.

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Our friends at Decoded are excited about the idea of Growth Hacking, a tactic birthed in the world of start-ups that has helped companies like AirBnB scale quickly while delivering amazing customer experiences. Read more

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An evolution of the JWT Intelligence’s flagship 100 Things to Watch, The Future 100 features a new look and format… Read more

Blog 2 of 3 from London Strategy Unit takes us forwards another step towards what the Planning department should look like in the future. In our words, what the Planning Blueprint should be. Read more

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When it comes to training young people, Starbucks outspends the ad industry. Let's reverse the talent spiral.

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Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire

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The Conquest of Indifference, W+K Amsterdam, Martin Weigel

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Madmen v Mavens

As consultants we often find ourselves discussing and debating what a planning department looks like and what is the optimum shape, size and make up.

Most recently Steph and I have been discussing the role planning plays within the industry and where it sits specifically in an agency. The big question is what does the department look like in the future and what type of planners do you fuel your agency with.

To ensure that we get the best view possible we have sat down with our friends at London Strategy Unit to get their point of view.

Over the course of the next three weeks they will be sharing their thoughts which we believe will lead us to something that you could call a blueprint for both agencies and brands.

We look forward to discussing it all further with those interested.

Simon & Steph

It's been a busy couple of weeks! From Amsterdam client briefings to a day at Decoded, we have been listening and taking the time to meet some of the industries most talented folk.

Amsterdam was refreshing. It wasn't the first trip there, but we were reminded about the creative vibe of the city. There is a wonderful pace and feeling around the canals that sparks creativity and we weren't disappointed when stepping in to W+K. It is clear that this agency has an unhurried and measured cool to the place, without trying too hard. It’s a place where creativity and talent come first, business second.

To work in a city that is cosmopolitan and cultured and yet small enough to get around quickly while living well, seems very appealing. Especially if you’re up for working in an agency that prides itself on doing the best work of your career with 17 other nationalities under one roof.

Four days later we were at Decoded. Enlightening.

During the day they say, it's about standing on the shoulders of giants. With our coding skills, we really did need to in order to build our first web app. From the history of the first programmer in 1843, to learning how to open <p> and close </p> a paragraph when writing code, the day was fascinating. Of course you're not going to walk away and suddenly decide to have a change of career path, but it gives you that bit of insight and confidence to really question and experiment.

I love the approach the Decoded team take to this course. Their aim is not to suddenly send a group of 10 people out into the world to write code, but instead it’s about showing you which lego blocks you need to start to have a digital conversation in todays world. For example, did you really know that there are this many cables in the world sending data and information to one another: submarinecablemap.com

The best developers out there are brilliant because they break things down to be extremely simple to then communicate to a computer. We could all learn something from this approach.

For me, these two days did everything I expected. It created a back log of work but also freed up space in my head to think about things, learn and to try and be the disco ball that was quoted in our Amsterdam agency briefing.

Simon & Steph

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Kate Bruges, Co-Director of Talent JWT London, spoke at the IPA Talent Adaptathon. The IPA event tackled how to recruit & retain talent... Read more

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Why doesn’t anybody write thank you any more? I know this is a grumpy-old-kit territory... Read more

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This week’s London School of Economics Open Talk is hosted by Peter Thiel (@peterthiel) - an entrepreneur and investor. It’s all about How to Build the Future. Read more

Dare's Alex Smith kicks off the agency's series with a look at how focusing on fundamentals can make all the difference. Read more

As the agency talent wars rage, Karmarama Group CEO Ben Bilboul talks us through his agency’s arsenal. Read more

Watch

Those that understand where best in class work is produced and where it truly is their mission to do the best work of their lives will know where this entrance is. You could say that only the best in the industry get to work here and it was a pleasure to be invited in to talk business.

Overtime petitions have been a common form of protest. In the 18th Century there was the People’s Charter of 1838 and more recently we have seen the power a petition can hold when one was sought to free Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment by the former apartheid government of South Africa.

These petitions had no legal effect, but the signatures of millions of people on the petitions represented a moral force that may have helped free Mandela and end apartheid.

Today we see scalable petitions taking place more commonly with the use of the #. Who would have believed one simple symbol, the hashtag, could hold such power and could impact governments and organisations globally.

#findoursailors & #dontstopsearching has been the latest gathering of hashtag users to change the direction of a global outcry. Although the search was sadly unsuccessful we do know that without a raised voice the US Coast Guard wouldn’t have continued their search and in truth have started the search again. The ‘power of people’.

Sadly the social media rallying cry that has generated global attention for #bringbackourgirls is probably too late to really have an impact on the crisis. What it has done though is raise awareness globally of the atrocities Boko Haram are undertaking behind closed doors. It has started a movement and one would hope, those responsible for such actions will be brought to justice.

Like those that put pen to paper for Mandela, neither of these hashtags have a legal bearing in their use. However it does show us the power and positivity of social media and how it can scale and generate a global gathering to support a cause in today’s society. Long may they continue and with more to follow, let’s hope the # can generate action, reward and success for those using it in the right way.