Saturday, 2 April 2011

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 1st 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 3rd year students at Lincoln, keep up the enthusiasm!

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