Junior

by Thomas Kemeny

  READ A BOOK THAT’S NOT THIS ONE.

  Beyond my advice here I recommend reading some serious books on sales. I also suggest watching the best creatives in your agency in action. Some people are sell artists and it’s stunning to see them do their art. I remember sitting in a meeting with one of my creative directors and lifting my jaw off the table as he turned the client around 180° from hating an idea to signing off on it because she loved it. He understood her concerns and was able to talk it through until they realized that they both did and didn’t want the same aspects of the execution. It was magic.

  In your first few years you’re going to blow a lot of meetings. If you have quality bosses, they’ll let you. Then, slowly, you’ll notice that you are selling work that you thought had no chance. You’ll think the client is just having a good day until you see them bite someone else’s head off a minute later. It’s just you.

  CLIENTS ARE PEOPLE. LIKE, THE HUMAN KIND.

  Not just people, oftentimes very intelligent people. They’ve managed to work their way into trusted positions within a company through many years of hard work. And they don’t want it taken away from them by some hot-headed twenty-something from art school who thinks this or that would be funny. Have this in mind any time you present to them. They are not impressed with your awards from competitions they’ve never heard of (they probably have their own from competitions you’ve never heard of), they want you to tell them an insight that they didn’t know in a way that they can believe.

  In reality, clients would ease up if they had any idea how much time and thought went into every piece of communication we create. If they knew that a dozen conversations at three levels of the organization occurred before arriving at 13pt italics. Let the client into your thinking a bit and give them a tour of the process. It’s easier to buy work when you know it’s thoughtful.

  TAKE A BREATH.

  I do it before writing. I do it before walking in the CD’s office. I do it before presenting to a client. It’s simple. It works.

  TALK. SLOWLY.

  It’s nice that you’re excited about the work you’re presenting, but if you start talking a mile a minute you might come off as panicked and insecure. Take your time. No need to rush it. Let the client appreciate the work that you put so much time into. Let them hear every word so they understand you. Be loving about it. Treat your work with tenderness and familiarity, even if you just wrote it an hour ago.

  KEEP THE MEETING MOVING.

  If the meeting’s going great, keep it moving. If the meeting’s going terribly, keep it moving. The meeting is for selling work and getting clarification. If you’re not doing one of those two, hit the mute button and say, “can we keep this moving?” Or do it yourself if you’re in charge. Nothing positive can come of dead air.

  When there’s a long pause, the natural human instinct is to try and fill it. Since the client generally talks in comments, they will fill the dead air with comments.

  DON’T WAKE THE DEAD.

  If an idea has died, you don’t want the client to dwell on it. I’ve been in two-hour meetings where all we did was kill one idea. It’s dead, leave it be.

  If a client tells you they don’t like some aspect, take notes on what they don’t like, tell them you’ll look at ways to resolve it, and move on. Present it. Try to push it through once. If there’s still resistance you say “ok, we understand your concerns, let us look back at it.” There is no use lingering. They don’t like it. Step away and re-examine the idea to see if there’s a delicate way to fix it to the client’s liking and yours. It’s amazing how small the compromises are that they expect from you if you’re willing to listen to their concerns. But that’s for you to do on your time, not during the meeting. If you turn it into a pissing match right there, they’ll win. They have the money.

  ONCE IT’S SOLD, STOP SELLING.

  This is the flipside of not selling work enough. I’ve seen this too many times and I’ve done this personally an uncomfortable number of times. You’re in a presentation, the client loves what you’re putting out there. They even tell you so. It’s sold!

  Then, you keep going…

  You tell them about this brilliant intricacy of the idea that they might’ve missed. They agree. The subtlety of the gradient you used. They love it. Then of how great the photographer is that you referenced. Then, before you know it, the client has decided that they don’t love it anymore because they didn’t realize that you were referencing a photographer who was popular in the 80s and it doesn’t feel modern enough for what they are going for. You just oversold the idea.

  SING TOGETHER.

  You know when DJs switch songs in the middle of a phrase and it doesn’t quite work with the next song but they act like it does? That’s what it sounds like when two creatives are trying to sell an idea. Pick a person BEFORE the meeting who will lead the call. Then, the other person only comes in when directly asked a question or in dire circumstances where only they can save the call.

  POLLY WANTS TO SELL CRACKERS.

  Try not to parrot other presenters in the meeting. People love to put in their reframing and rephrasing of what was just said because they’re certain their way is more eloquent. Especially if they’re trying to convince the client of a point. It’s been said, why be redundant? It slows the meeting, undermines the credibility of your partners, and makes you sound like an ass. It also gives a second chance for the client to find something to object to.

  PUT A LITTLE THEATER INTO IT.

  Give the client a show they can’t forget and maybe they won’t forget you. They know you’re not just talking as friends, they know you’re there to sell them an ad. Why not lay into it? Be super heartfelt. Be funny and charming. Be playful and childlike. If it’s about the work then you’re just there for show. Your meeting will go better if they like the channel.

  BE “SMART.”

  There’s a lesson I learned from a creative director early in my career that has served me well. Don’t use the word “cool” to describe an idea. Use the word “smart” instead. This semantic switch can have a huge effect. Why? Because when you tell a client an idea is “cool” a voice in their head answers, “you know what’d be cool? If you moved some fucking product!”

  MAKE ROOM FOR MAYBE.

  Try to sneak your favorite idea in as an option to keep on the table. You don’t have to get the client to commit to doing it, just to letting you explore it more. It gives a bit more time for them to warm to it and for you to customize it to match the client’s needs. Even the craziest ideas look less shocking the second time around.

  DRINK TRUTH SERUM.

  Slick salesmen aren’t slick salesmen. The best way to talk to a client is with truth.

  I was in an important client meeting and gave some BS reason why we didn’t add a tagline to a billboard (something about it being confusing on the same ad with another line). The client accepted the reasoning and we flipped to the next ad in the campaign. It had the tagline on it. The client asked why this one was any different. I started to say a reason, stopped myself and said, “sorry, I made that up. We just thought it was ugly.” The client laughed and we sold the work.

  If you think a line would be ugly, why would you say it doesn’t work strategically? Just tell them it’d be ugly. Right around this time the account team will try and jump in and save the meeting because they’re afraid the client will be shocked with how blunt you are. Chances are the client will be thrilled that somebody told them what they think. If they want it changed, they’ll change it anyway.

  MAKE MISTAKES.

  I want these two words art directed by somebody who knows how to art direct and placed above my desk in huge letters. This whole book is about the right way to do advertising, but making mistakes is more important to the process. Please let yourself screw up. Allow yourself to do work that seems wrong, obscure, or questionable. And if you do bad work on accident, let it go. It’s pointless to beat yourself up over doing bad work, becau
se everybody does bad work sometimes. I could show you ads I’ve done that would make you burn the rest of this book. I’ve learned that the important thing isn’t to be flaw-less, it’s to keep going.

  DON’T WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DECIDE IT’S TIME FOR YOUR CAREER TO START.

  If you aren’t getting briefs, make them up. If you get a shitty brief, find the most twisted possible way to interpret it. Or rewrite it. If you get assigned the small part, add the big part yourself.

  There’s a standard progression at every company and it’s not a path you want to go down. It’s a path through the crack neighborhood of mediocrity. Nobody is happy and there’s lots of busy work.

  In some ways your first day at an agency is when you have the most opportunity. Nobody has bogged you down with the work that pays the bills.

  TAKE THIS AS YOUR OFFICIAL PERMISSION TO FUCK SHIT UP.

  One weekend my AD and I had a random idea for a brand that we had never worked on. We did a simple little comp and brought it to Jeff Goodby. He said “That’s funny. Do it.” And so we did.

  If we’d gone the proper route, we would’ve had two planners, two levels of account people, and two creative directors who’d have to approve it before Jeff would see it. It was off-strategy, unrelated to the campaign, and unbriefed. What do you think the chances are it would’ve made it up the chain?

  If you want to create groundbreaking ads that you weren’t assigned, aim high. The partners want you to present work without invitation, and they can sell it too. You might bruise a few egos along the way, but this is a route that for sure works.

  THERE’S NO AWARD-WINNING AGENCY.

  Bricks don’t make ads, the people do. Superstar agencies hire you because they like your work. Then they give you a crappy assignment and wait for you to sprinkle your fairy dust. Making memorable work is your problem, not theirs.

  Even at the best agencies in the world, there are only a handful of choice assignments per year.

  There was a time when I complained about not getting assigned what I wanted, but there are people who whine way better than I do. Senior whiners. At a great shop there’s a long line of talented people and not enough fun work to go around. I can count the number of amazing briefs I’ve been assigned on one hand, even if you cut three of my fingers off.

  WEASEL IN ANY WAY YOU CAN.

  Get in. Figure the rest out later. This applies to both agencies and projects. It doesn’t matter how low you come in, look at who you’re working for and what brand you’re working on more than the specific assignment or place. My first full-sized, big-budget, huge opportunity website I got to work on because I did an auto-show brochure. When the website came around I was the only one who knew enough about the car to do it.

  Point being, one assignment grows into the next, grows into the next, grows into the next. Nail that first one and it’ll grow into bigger and better opportunities. Screw it up and it’ll grow into a crappy time-suck. Either way, each new assignment is just one track; if it fizzles out, start a new one.

  THOSE THOUSANDS OF TINY GRAINS OF SAND MAKE A CASTLE.

  When your CDs are working on highly scrutinized TV spots, they couldn’t care less about your teensy little project. Same with the client since it’s a small budget and their boss isn’t paying attention either.

  This is perfect. Nobody is looking. This is your chance to do what you want to do. Show off why they hired you. If you care when others are scrambling, they’ll let you take the reins. Then it’ll grow so big that they can’t control it and it’s too late, mwahahaha!

  Most awards are won on projects that nobody expected to be impressive. The little ones are the best ones. Nurture them.

  LEARNING IS PART OF YOUR ROLE.

  It’s hard not to feel dejected when a CD doesn’t like an ad you did. Especially when they’re right. Isn’t it nice to know that the people above you are more talented? They know you’re just starting off on your journey, they’re not thinking you’re an idiot. They want you to learn because they want to have another creative they can trust. Take the lesson. Leave the frustration.

  SOME BRIEFS

  YOU CAN’T SALVAGE.

  I hate saying this, I do, but some briefs are just bad. It has less to do with the piece of paper with the brief on it and more to do with the people managing the work. If the Associate Creative Director keeps you from talking to the CDs, if the account teams keep you from getting feedback directly, if the work is filtered through 14 layers of people, you won’t have the same chance to get work through. Push against the wall and see if it budges. If it doesn’t, try to go around it.

  If there’s no hope, do the work with as much grace and speed as possible. You know the joke of the two guys running from a bear and one says, “you know this is futile, we can’t outrun a bear,” and the other says “I don’t have to outrun the bear, just you.” It’s kind of like that. Do your work just slightly better than the team before you and you can keep the bear away. You won’t be fired for doing better work, and you won’t kill yourself on a lost cause either.

  ROI IS AN ACRONYM FOR NOTHING.

  As a starting creative your raises come almost exclusively on the fame of your work. If you do work that gets attention and wins awards you get better projects. If you don’t, you won’t. If you increase your clients’ sales, it doesn’t affect your salary one dollar. Your success is not tied to the brand’s early on. It’s silly, but that’s just the truth.

  Why then should you care about doing work that increases profits? Because that’s your job. Who wants to live in a world where a surgeon is rich and famous for their technique but kills all of their patients?

  PUSH THE IDEA UNTIL IT HURTS. YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE.

  If one direction changes, move in the other with full steam. If the idea is approved, immediately push it beyond what was approved. If it’s in production, try and capture an alternate option.

  Imagine you’re a shark and if you stop moving you’ll die. It’s not far from the truth.

  RIPE FRUIT ROTS.

  As soon as your idea gets some traction, get it sold and out the door. Move immediately into production. Sign people on that week if you can. Get a director quickly. The less time between start and finish the better your idea will be in the end. The longer it takes the more chances it has to either die or be “improved” by someone or other.

  NOBODY KNOWS OR CARES WHO YOU ARE.

  When you first come into a big-shot agency there will be a lot of trickle-down work for you to do. It won’t be thinking about big campaign ideas or writing the next Super Bowl spot. It will be doing the 5-second button that starts with “brought to you by…”

  Everyone has big ideas. They hired you because you have big ideas. They also hired your award-winning boss who’s been doing ads for 20 years because he/she has big ideas. Thus he/she will be the one thinking of big ideas for you to work on. What is requested of you for now is craft. Look at your title, does it say copywriter? Art director? Shockingly, that’s what you’re expected to know how to do.

  WAVE A TINY FLAG FOR YOUR SMALL VICTORY.

  Charles comes back from Cannes and is getting praise and high-fives from just about everyone in the office. The Pope makes a special surprise visit to congratulate him. You, on the other hand, are working on a banner. You want the subhead to say, “It’s all about the quality” instead of “It’s all about the quality of the products we make.”

  Your battle seems stupid. Small. In-significant.

  Fight the fight. Make the ad just a little better. Then, once that line is where you want it, work on the next line. Every day, every moment you’re on it, make it a little better. Savor those small wins. Celebrate even if it’s by yourself. If you can find one part in every ad you do that makes you giggle, you will find that rarest joy: the ability to be happy with your job.

  One of my favorite writings I’ve done is the legal copy on a banner ad. It’s friggin’ hilarious, but nobody other than me and maybe one lawyer will ever see
it. It still makes me proud.

  CHANCES ARE YOU’RE NOT THE BEST.

  Not worrying about how impressive you are is freeing. In the industry there is only one Jeff Goodby, one Susan Hoffman, one David Droga. There are only a dozen or so name-brand creative directors in the whole world. Statistically the chances of being one of them is slim. If you are one of them, you’ll rise no matter what. The most talented people I know have no idea how talented they are, they just do their work. It’s better to think about how to make the work better than to try and convince people, including yourself, of how great you are.

  YOU ARE BETTER THAN YOU’RE CAPABLE OF BEING.

  An agency partner once joked that if it weren’t for people depending on him he would just sit on his couch drinking beer all day.

  If you let the people around you lift you, influence you, inspire you then you will find yourself doing work you didn’t know you could do. Put the ego aside and let the team infect your work.

  PRESS IS ALWAYS A BETTER MEASURE THAN AWARDS.

  Award shows are proof that focus groups, even with bright individuals, have little ability to judge work. The truth is, any one brilliant creative director saying they like my ad means more than a brilliant creative director and a handful of people I don’t know coming to a consensus that my ad is worthy. If you’re looking for a measure of success outside of the agency, see how many people write and talk about your ad. If nobody does, no judge in the world can give it value.