Book crits in London Round 2

So this was much more recent, after 5 days in London, we returned on Tuesday, with a lot of work to do! The difficulty is finding the balance between working on our London book and our University book, yes sadly they differ tremendously! Evidently course requirements are not the same as industry requirements.
Core similarities, big ideas, great execution, interesting, different and clear communication.
So London town feedback?
Different book, different people. To name drop, one Graham Fink. Yes a fantastic name to see, but we had a little bit of luck that helped us get our feet in his door. Good old Comic Relief teamed up with Creative Review and Graham Fink, with the opportunity to win a 30 minute book crit with Fink himself! 'Wow, what an opportunity that would be' Anna and I thought, might as well enter, just on the off chance. Maybe our luck was in, evidently so!

So many opinions already cast upon the man, having done our research, Anna and I again, were pleasantly surprised with how nice he was. (Well in comparison to what we'd be imagining from reviews, not saying he's a pussycat...although he did have a fake cat curled up on his sofa, which took me by surprise!)
Anyway lessons from meeting the ECD of M&C Saatchi... offer up adverts with clear facts and benefits about each product you're advertising. Strive for something he hasn't seen before, much easier said than done. Know your stuff about him and Dave Trott. He loves Dave Trott. Obviously his own hero within the industry. Read up on his blog, he probably will mention it. Don't be disheartened by bad feedback, just come back stronger and persevere. Our most positive feedback ranged from 'interesting' to 'now you've explained it I don't mind it' to 'no'.
Such a fantastic and surreal experience to have gone through so early into our career, but we'd definitely want to do it again.

We saw various other teams on our visit, all slightly less daunting than Fink, not surprisingly. Again it's just fantastic to get a feel for all the different agencies, they all give off completely different vibes and it really is about personal preference and personalities in the end, some agencies, we're not too keen on, will be others favourites. Which is what I personally think is one of the best parts of advertising, if you want it enough, there really is something for everyone.

So if anyone we've seen in London so far is reading this, I'm sure we will have thanked you already, or at least I hope we have... but to show our appreciation for the time you set aside to see us, thank you so much, and you haven't heard the last from us!

B

Book Crits in London Round 1

So a while back now, Anna and I began the journey of book crits with the lovely London folk. We were pleasantly surprised by how welcoming and willful they were to help improve our book. We learnt some valuable lessons, fast!
Always expect it to last longer than 30 minutes.
Always allow for travelling time.
Always allow for the chance of getting lost.
Always write notes that you will be able to decipher at a later date.
Don't accidentally mention some great work an agency have done, to the wrong agency... (my bad!)

and of course many more lessens about how to communicate best with our audiences and how to make our portfolio as impressive as possible.

It was a fantastic first experience of being on the inside of the advertising industry and we began to form a few favourite agencies in our minds. But with lots more to visit, we weren't putting all our eggs in one basket!

Oddly enough we began to hope for brutal book crits as we were learning more from these. The more constructive criticism the more we felt enthused to improve. It was definitely inspiring to talk through our ideas with various different creatives, getting many diverse perspectives on campaigns we'd come to a stand still on.

Summary of Books Crits Round 1:
- Refreshing to have so many creative minds talking to us about our ideas and giving us valuable feedback.
- Hardest part of book crits, is knowing which opinions to take more seriously. Everyone's opinions was slightly different...

When the YCC guys came to visit Lincoln...

Mike Cuthell and Paul Mann came to visit the third year students of Creative Advertising at University of Lincoln last week (Friday 1^st April). It was a great opportunity for us to learn more about the advertising industry from the London-bound creatives. Having met both Mike and Paul previously, my partner and I were looking forward to their visit, ready to absorb their wise words!

The guys took us through some of the work they have created in their careers so far and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of becoming part of the London advertising world. It was great to talk to creatives who were in our shoes just a few years ago, advising us on how to tackle the difficulties of making it in London when placements and jobs are so difficult to come by. 

It was inspiring to see some of Mike’s work that’s already gone live and to know, that could be us in just a couple of years time. Paul talked us through how creatives go about pitching their work to clients, with his recent pitch deck for Dove Spa, demonstrating how one big thought can become an integrated campaign.

Of course they then talked to us about the Young Creative Council, and how rapidly it is growing. My partner and I, having already contacted various YCC creatives have found the website extremely valuable. It is fantastic to know that there are so many creatives willing to help out the newbies! From our experiences so far we have found the YCC a brilliant lifeline for creatives making the transition from university to placements and I hope we can be part of it, once we have landed our first job!

Paul and Mike talked us through some of the resources the YCC offer including single creatives, Bang Bang briefs and the Unite events. The Lincoln course has a few singles who want to meet partners and the single creatives seems like the perfect resource, so it was refreshing to know that this is yet another service that the YCC provides.

Following the success of the Unite events, several teams will definitely be applying for Unite 3. The guys told us all about their previous Unite events and how they managed to provide various placements and jobs for some of the lucky creatives. Now, as Unite 3 is fast approaching, teams from Lincoln are applying for 1 of the exclusive 25 places, Anna and I obviously wanting to do everything possible to take one of these valuable spots!

The guys seemed to have plenty of time for us as a course, which was lovely; it meant we had the opportunity to ask plenty of questions, about their careers, placements, costs of living in London, where to live, how best to go about getting placements and how to turn those placements into paid jobs.

It was refreshing to get such an honest account of how the industry operates and it has spurred us on even more, counting the days till we move down to London!

So thank you very much for coming up to see all the 3^rd year students at Lincoln, keep up the enthusiasm!