Breaking In

WS: What impresses you when you’re looking at a student book, and what do you think impresses creative directors?

GT: It will always be the concept and ideas that matter first and foremost. Expanding on that, I am now looking at books with campaigns that may originate from a digital or viral medium. Every portfolio should have campaigns that include digital work, and it’s a plus if the students have enough knowledge to build the site. All books now need to be viewable online and should be easy to navigate.

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WS: Any thoughts on résumés?

GT: Yes. Résumés are very important to me. It’s normally what I will look at first. It is inexcusable to have a typo, so students should triple-check it before sending it out. Also, your résumé should fit on one page and it should be very easy to digest the information. Student awards and internships are important to add. Also, make sure your site is designed so that if someone wants to download or print it, it is easy to do so.

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Check out some great work from Raj Kamble.

WS: And for writers, do you need to see copy? Do you want to see evidence that they can write?

RK: Yeah. I think people are writing less and less. And I think it’s sad because copy is important. But I don’t believe in long copy or short copy. I believe in the idea. If the idea requires writing short copy, write short copy. If the idea requires writing long copy, write long copy. So it depends on the idea. If a young guy comes and shows me he can write amazing copy and that product requires copy, I’d be really happy because that shows he can do an amazing job in the future. And, with a guy who can write long copy, there’s a very good chance that he can write short copy too. So if someone has a long-copy ad in his portfolio, I will read that copy to judge him. It is very tough to judge a writer based on one or two lines. So, if you’re a writer and you have long copy, I think it’s a great idea. But again, don’t write long copy for the sake of writing long copy. Write it if your idea requires long copy.

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WS: And do you have any other advice for someone just starting out in the industry?

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Raj Kamble is Chief Creative Officer & Managing Partner at BBH Mumbai.

Gillette: World’s Biggest Shave

No Spot festival: Animatic

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Check out some great work from Philip Bonnery.

WS: What do you look for in a student book? And what impresses you?

PB: You’re looking for new, fresh ideas. It sounds a bit cliché, but that’s it: innovative work. Stuff you haven’t seen before. Portfolios are pretty tight nowadays. I’ve seen students from ad schools with really good books. Most of them do internships so they get to work like any other full-time teams, some even get awards from doing a three-month internship.

WS: Do you think just a book of sketches is okay if the ideas are good? 

PB: Perhaps as a teaser portfolio piece to get agencies’ attention and stand out from the crowd. But when reviewing books, agencies will want to see finished ads as they want to know you can execute all the work, especially for art directors. Yes, in essence you need to come up with great ideas, but agencies want to see finished pieces the same way clients want to see finished pieces.

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Philip Bonnery is a freelance Art Director and Creative Director in Miami.

Hummer

Google Demo Slam

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Check out some great work from Alvaro Sotomayor.

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WS: Do you like to see finished work that’s been laid out on a computer or are sketches okay for you?

AS: I like to really look for personal stuff—personal diaries, drawings, or photography—it just shows more character. You need to remember that the basis on which you are going to get hired is 50 percent skills and 50 percent how you fit with the culture of the company.

WS: Is it different for writers and art directors? For art directors, do you want to see some design ability on a computer?

AS: I look for bravery overall in ideas as well as in design. But for art directors, I look closer for a sense in space, color, and type. Photography is so overused that I really react to other expressive crafts like illustration.

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Alvaro Sotomayor is a Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, Instructor at Miami Ad School, and Founder of The Kennedys, a 6-month apprenticeship program at W+K Amsterdam.

Heineken

Levi’s

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HB: …I think the best way to get in is to be really hungry. You have to be. So start out by going to as many things as you possibly can. I don’t like to “shmooze” at all, but I recommend it. Get all the trades [publications], really know the business. Just learn. And then make lists of all the agencies while you’re still in school. Just start figuring out who you like and why you like them and make notes about it. If you see an ad, and you think it’s great, write down that ad, even if you’re not graduating for two years. Write it down, write who did it, why you loved it, and why it inspired you. And maybe when you graduate, send a letter thanking them for inspiring you and more.

I once had a candidate who did something which I think is truly conceptual with branding herself. She created a wallet and made a fake license and credit card of the creative director and dropped it in the bathroom of the agency.

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If you missed it, check out some great work from Neil D’Souza.

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WS: What do you think of showing work that is not advertising?

ND: Everything that makes you creative is relevant. And a good creative director will recognize your “multifaceted-ness” for what it is: the ability to see creative ideas everywhere. It’s a prized gift. You just have to look at the non-advertising interests of the best creative people and you’ll realize that they all have this gift for seeing creativity in everything. And it shows in their work.

WS: Do you have any other advice for a student or junior trying to get into the business, either in putting together a book or how to actually start looking for jobs?

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Neil D’Souza is Creative Director at The Partnership, Dubai.

Better Life Appliances

Al Ain Water

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