You’ve been working on a nightmare brief for the last four days. It’s been a dog and so far you’ve come up with zero. You’re staring out of your office window and slowly but surely the panic begins to set in. It’s getting dark, down below you on the street outside people are going home. The meeting with your CD is booked in for 9am tomorrow and you know it’s going to be a long, long night.
Archive for the ‘Careers’ Category
Late-night genius
Friday, February 17th, 2012Who was your mentor?
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Art director, designer, copywriter, illustrator, artworker, creative director – I have a question for you. When you first started in the business, were you lucky enough to sit at the feet of an expert? Did someone give you a helping hand and teach you the ropes? Well how about you tell us about that person and give them a well-deserved pat on the back.
Wedded bliss – discovering an inspiring media hub.
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
It’s a college. No it’s not, it’s a record label. Sorry, it’s a TV studio. Hang on, no, it’s a computer games firm.
Let’s start again. Confetti is definitely a bar and meeting place. And all of the above, it seems.
Nestling in the centre of Nottingham, Confetti is quite unlike any media company I’ve ever encountered. And I’ve encountered a few. Established in 1994, the organisation launced as a well-equipped, creative technology school for college students and school leavers. It was the vision of Craig Chettle and initially worked with The People’s College of Further Education. As Craig puts it, “We wanted to create a place and an opportunity that was not available to us when we were in further education.”
Help yourself
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Merry Christmas? Times are as hard as a granite boulder, encased in steel, painted in superglue and treated with a rare carbon compound.
Broke is what we are.
Blame a multitude of politicians and stab an accusing finger in the direction of international bankers and I will be with you, brothers and sisters. Had the former been watching the latter, we may not be in this sorry situation. Add to this negligence a patchwork government hell-bent on hobbling the voluntary and public sectors and we’re staring down the wrong end of a long, bleak winter. But again, what’s to be done? In the creative industries, can we really lighten this crushing load in any meaningful way? I feel certain we can.
Uncanny. The unexpected decline of Ant and Dec.
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
The nature of success is paradoxical. It seems there is a level, close to the very top of the showbiz ladder, where the popularity, credibility and sheer momentum which thrust a performer to the pinnacle of their career, begin to reverse their polarity and sabotage the ascent.
Who’s killing copywriting?
Thursday, November 24th, 2011
Recent months have seen a swathe of articles predicting the end of the traditional, journalistic newspaper. Indeed, I have commented on the topic on Creativepool. But, as far as I’m aware, there has been no suggestion that the art of copywriting may be imperilled. Allow me to put this right.
What a pair.
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
A great philosopher once said (or perhaps it was Kylie, now I think about it), “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t”. Whoever, to my mind, it was the winning principle behind the classic, advertising agency creative team.
Take one copywriter, find an art director of a similar standard and level of experience, and introduce them to each other. Ensure they stand a reasonable chance of exchanging the odd civil word, bung them a couple of briefs and if the resulting work is on target – or at least, shows some promise – bingo! You have yourself a creative team.
Milibrand.
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
The politician as a brand. It’s a notion we instinctively recoil from and the aspect of the Blair and the New Labour project we hated most. Yet somehow it’s also as essential now as it was in 1997. If not more so.
After all, a brand is all about associated values and if there’s one hawker at society’s door, begging us to buy a clutch of values, it’s politics. Of course, this becomes particularly crucial when the voting public has fallen rather heavily out of love with you and your party. With this in mind, Ed Miliband set out to reposition the Labour party this week.
Pretty vacancies. Are recruitment consultants letting us down?
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Redundancies, renegotiations, restructuring and rotten revenues. Tough times in the creative industry. Tough times everywhere. Sorry folks, but there’s no longer any room for passengers in this business. So here’s a thought: why don’t we take a very large magnifying glass to the recruitment consultancies? Set up to match talent with opportunities, creatives with employers, I think some of these outfits have now become more of a hindrance than an asset.
Of course it’s important not to bundle all these firms together, put them in a sack and chuck them in the canal of condemnation. I won’t, but I could name a handful of recruitment agents who are consummate professionals, work hard for clients and candidates alike and take their responsibilities very seriously. But perhaps they are the exceptions. (more…)
We’re all writers now. How recession damages copywriting.
Thursday, January 26th, 2012Only fool wouldn’t come to the conclusion that the industry’s finances are sinking faster than Simon Le Bon’s yacht. Still, any seasoned freelance copywriter has seen all this before. Recession follows boom as surely as a belch follows a can of cola and things will surely come right. And they will.
(more…)
Tags: art directors, blog, blogger, copywriter, copywriters, Copywriting, freelance, freelance writer, freelancing, Magnus Shaw, recession, spelling, writers
Posted in Advertising, blog, branding, Careers, Comment, Copywriting, Creative, Current affairs, Uncategorized | No Comments »