Proving Yourself

As a junior, especially at a large agency, it can be hard to find opportunities to show everyone what you’re capable of and get on the radar of the people who give out the good assignments. Here are a few paths to getting noticed:

  1. Write radio. Not many people care that much about radio. That’s a good thing for you. It’s one of the rare mediums where you can write an entire campaign, often get it approved without rounds of presentation, then work directly with the talent on production. Some of my favorite campaigns from early in my career were radio campaigns. It’s a writer’s playground. And art directors, you can get in there too.
  2. Offer to work on the most painful client. Every agency has at least one client that is a total pain, for whatever reason. See if you can take on more responsibility with that client. When I first became ACD, I took one of the most difficult clients we had and the agency was happy to let me have it. I learned a ton being thrown in the fire.
  3. Pitches. Get on the pitches. One of the best places to get noticed are those terrible jump-ball pitches where a dozen teams are throwing ideas on the wall. Often, you’ll get late nights, but late nights with creative directors in the room. Throw ideas into the mix and be willing to help out with whatever’s needed.
  4. Manage the interns. A great way to try out creative direction is to take an intern under your wing (or more than one). Years ago, I started the intern program at my agency and brought on six talented students. People would comment on the “small army” that followed me around. In the end, I probably learned more from them than they did from me.

You can do more than tweet.

I see this a lot:

  1. Something politically significant happens. A mass shooting. A controversial executive order. A lawmaker gets thrown into the spotlight for dubious behavior.
  2. Copywriters and art directors take to social media with their profound/salient/insightful/funny comments.
  3. Nothing much happens.
  4. Repeat.

As copywriters and art directors, we have power to do a lot more. We’re in the business of persuading. We know how to communicate effectively. We have resources in media and technology the average citizen doesn’t. We use our talents and skills every day to help our clients. But rarely for the causes we really believe in.

Let me give you two dated, but still excellent examples of creatives who did more than tweet their opinions.

In 2008, when John McCain was running against Barack Obama, my friend Steve Yee did not like the idea of McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, being a heartbeat away from the presidency. So he and some friends created a simple site called to show their vision of what a Palin Administration would be like. It was simple and it was hilarious. Did it sway voters? Maybe. Who can say? But it was featured in Time and The Washington Post and Creativity and The Telegraph. Those are pretty big bullhorns for a cause you believe in.


In 2009, my friend, mentor, and first creative director, Kevin Lynch, didn’t like the idea of the Olympics coming to Chicago. And he knew most other Chicagoans agreed with him. So he created Another simple, hilarious site. You can read more about it here and here. I remember Kevin telling me they launched the site sometime in the morning, and by lunch he was fielding calls from CNN.


So the next time you find yourself wishing you could make a difference, remember: You’re in advertising. Of course you can.

Repetition as proof. Repetition as proof!

I’m not a fan of mindless formulas. But here’s one that works really well in TV (because it’s not mindless):

  1. State the premise.
  2. Show example after example that proves that premise.
  3. Show how that relates to the product.

Watch this brilliant spot by Lance Accord.

Here’s how this formula works:

  1. We understand that Molly is a brilliant inventor.
  2. Scene after scene we see proof that she’s a brilliant inventor.
  3. This is the kind of brilliance GE values and employs.

Here’s another one (full disclosure, I was the writer on this spot).

This is the formula at work with Henry:

  1. Henry stains carpets.
  2. Henry spills all kinds of things on carpets.
  3. LifeProof carpet is strong enough to stand up to someone like Henry.

Last one.

  1. Squares are boring.
  2. Squares are everywhere.
  3. The VW Beetle is anything but boring.

I’m not saying this is the only way to make a good TV spot. But it is one way. These are the things you need to keep in mind:

  1. I kind of went a little numbers crazy in this post. But the theme is repetition, so there you are.
  2. The proof can’t just be the same idea repeated over and over. There has to be something unique about each scenario. Molly has to invent cooler and more interesting things. Henry’s spills have to get more and more diabolical. Even those squares have to have a little surprise in them like the loading pallet or the sponge in the sink.
  3. The proof solidifies the strategy. These spots work because they’re strategic.

The Secret Under 30 Reel

When you go in for a job interview, you should already be familiar with the agency’s work. You know what Super Bowl spots they’ve produced, what innovations they’ve been making in social media, what campaigns have put them on the map.

But when you’re interviewing, ask this question:

“What kind of work have your creatives under 30 been producing?”

The agency probably doesn’t have an official under 30 reel. But you should still ask the question.

Because 45-year-old seasoned creatives are usually the ones who get the plum assignments. They produce the TV spots that run during the Oscars and the NCAA Championship games. They do the groundbreaking social work. They’re the ones who get written up in Adweek the most often.

Part of that is because they have a ton of experience that helps them work better and faster. Part of that is because they’ve paid their dues at the agency and in the industry.


But ask an agency, “Can I see some of the work your under 30 creatives have produced?” and you’ll get an idea of the kind of opportunities that particular agency has in store for you.

First Impressions

Ads have to work fast. Almost light speed.

They have to be simultaneously clear and intriguing.


This is equally true for ads in student portfolios.




I want to see your creative.

I don’t have time to read your explanations.





Don’t Wing It

Some creatives prefer to walk into a client meeting and wing it. They know the work so well, they can just talk about it. They want to keep things casual. They don’t want to sound rehearsed or practiced. They want to sound real.

But here’s the thing:

You should rehearse.

Michael Jordan was famous for staying long after practice to work on his free throws. Peyton Manning was known for watching more tapes of opposing teams than anyone else in the league. If Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning think it’s worth their time to practice, so should you.

Know what you’re going to say to a client. Know how you’re going to say it. Know why you’re going to say it.

That doesn’t happen without practice.

Using Other People’s Ads to Set Up Your Ideas

When creatives present their ideas – either to clients or internally – we sometimes show a video clip as a point of reference. It might be to establish a mood, a look, a technique, anything.

But here’s my warning:

Don’t ever use someone else’s ad to set up your idea.

Think about it. Do you really want to set up your idea by showing a really awesome Nike ad? Or a Jeep spot? Or an Apple commercial?

Whether you mean to or not, you’re basically saying, “Our idea isn’t 100% original. But here’s a really cool ad we wish we’d done and want to rip off.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re presenting ideas for butter and you’re using a car commercial as a reference. It’s still telegraphs “not fresh” to the entire room. It says, “We want to be at least as good as this ad…but no better.”

Go ahead and use a documentary segment to establish a tone. Use a YouTube video to give a sense of energy. A film clip to help explain a technique. Do whatever you can to help the people in the room catch a vision of your idea.

But no matter how strong the temptation, don’t use someone else’s ad to show what you want your ad to be like.

Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird

Read whatever you can get your hands on. It’ll make you a better creative, whether you’re a writer, art director, designer, UX guru, creative technologist, whatever. But don’t limit yourself to “ad books.” Learn to communicate in ways that aren’t covered in the Advertising sub-shelves of the Business section at Barnes & Noble.

Pick up a copy of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. A beautiful and inspiring piece. I don’t want to call it a how-to. But it will help you how-to: communicate, question, wonder, ponder, reconsider, and get to work.



Your Choice

When you have a brilliant idea and your client kills it, you have two choices:

  1. Come back with something even better.
  2. Give them what they’re expecting and just move on.

If you choose 1, and your client kills that idea, you have two choices:

  1. Come back with something even better.
  2. Give them what they’re expecting and just move on.

If you choose 1 again, and once more, your client kills that idea, you’re still left with two choices:

  1. Come back with something even better.
  2. Give them what they’re expecting and just move on.

The difference between great creatives and mediocre creatives is the ability to choose 1 again and again.

And I’d argue that more often than not, it’s also the difference between happy creatives and unhappy creatives.

The Egg Assignment


This is one of the assignments I like to give to my copywriting students.

You’ve probably seen one of these before. It’s an egg.

I want you to write something on an egg that makes me want to eat it.

Take any angle you want.

Go to the store and buy an egg and write the thing on it and bring it to class. You might want to use a hard‐boiled egg.

These are due in Monday’s class. I will give you a pass/fail grade on it. If you fail, you can try again in any other class. If you pass, you can be finished, or you can try to come up with a better egg. Or you can give your idea to a struggling classmate.

You get to keep your eggs.

At the start of class, I would have the students, one at a time, set their eggs in the middle of the table. I would read whatever was on the egg. I would judge the egg based on one simple factor: did I want to eat that egg? I wouldn’t think about it very much.

Some eggs were very clever. Some tried to be funny. Some gave a functional benefit—protein or healthy snack.

Sometimes the message made a difference. I might feel like I could use a healthy snack. Sometimes I would chuckle but not want to eat the egg. Sometimes I would pick the first egg simply because I was hungry. Sometimes I would pick no eggs because I wasn’t hungry.

It was frustrating for the students, because it was like their creative idea only sometimes made a difference in whether or not they passed or failed that day. Which was exactly the point.

There are dozens of factors that go into whether or not a consumer buys the product you’re trying to sell. Your creative idea is usually pretty low on the list. Way below whether or not the consumer happens to be hungry at that moment. So remember that. You have to be relevant. You have to be persuasive. You also have to be lucky.