Words of advice for young creatives

• Thursday, 9 April 2009
• By Catheryn York
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We have compiled a list of tips that could be useful for student or junior creatives who are compiling portfolios and looking for placements/jobs. We get inundated with requests to see junior resumes and portfolios and unfortunately there aren’t enough spare hours in the day to see everyone. But this way we can direct them easily to a bit of help.

The tips are below.

Creative placements: We do place junior creatives on a short term placement basis; usually a two-four week stint. Each year we usually only do one placement so there’s often a bit of a wait. We do these so that juniors (usually studying) get to experience life in an ad agency. If you’re interested in a creative work placement then please contact Catheryn York by email only - catheryn@tuskagency.com

OUR TIPS....

We have put together a list of things we’ve learned along the way. This is just what we think....

1. Keep it quick! Creatives looking at your book have limited time so make the most of the opportunity and only show your best work instead of everything you have ever done.

2. A good portfolio tends to have between 7-9 ad campaigns and a few other creative ideas.

3. Get to the bottom of a brand. Try to find out what makes them different to everyone else and what’s at the heart of their product and their company.

4. Demonstrate different tones of voice. How does this brand talk to people? What’s their personality?

5. Find different ways of talking to people. You don’t always need to conform to the conventional. Logos don’t have to sit in corners. Photos don’t have to be funny. And long copy is not scary.

6. Do more than just press ads. There are many other interesting ways of exploring an idea. What are the appropriate media for your idea? What medium is right for your audience? What will draw people in and surprise them? (TV, press, radio, online, viral, ambient…)

7. Expand at least one of your ideas into a big campaign and prove it’s not just a one off poster or TV ad.

8. We like to find out about you as well as seeing your portfolio. Show us the short film that you’re making on the side or your greatest holiday experience. We see tons of ads, but sometimes it’s these little funny things that sums up who you are.

9. Listen and take notes too. You’d be surprised how many people don’t!

10. If you like a particular agency, go back to them again with more work. Try to build a relationship. This will help you make more contacts, they may recommend you to their advertising friends and colleagues.
 

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