Level 2 Visit to London Advertising Agencies
Last week saw the Level 2 students visit some of the highest profile advertising agencies in London; BBH, Wieden & Kennedy, DLKW Lowe and VCCP. A course that delivers ‘real world experiences’ is vitally important for the of Lincoln Creative Advertising students.
This first hand experience is mutually beneficial for both the students and the agencies. It allows the students to see the inner workings of an agency and likewise the agencies get to meet the next generation of advertisers. Like the Egyptian Plover to the Nile Crocodile…it’s a win-win situation.
This first hand experience is mutually beneficial for both the students and the agencies. It allows the students to see the inner workings of an agency and likewise the agencies get to meet the next generation of advertisers. Like the Egyptian Plover to the Nile Crocodile…it’s a win-win situation.
I'll let the students explain in their own words how the visits went, first up Ellen who visited BBH.
“Walking through the middle of Soho, and you see that little black sheep on the door. It can only be BBH.
Glass bottles of water, wall art and plastic sheep completely immerse you in the ethos of the company; when the world zigs, zag.
Walking through the floors and sections you could just feel how much everyone wanted to be there.
Walking through the floors and sections you could just feel how much everyone wanted to be there.
They have an unlimited free coffee bar, complete with pastries and foam hearts in the froth of your latte (which we took full advantage of). Oh and brownies, they had the best brownies!
Whilst there, we were shown around by Claire andMaria, part of the ‘Lincoln Mafia’.They showed us BBH’s most recent show reel, and explained the process the agency goes through when they take on a brief.
They were really great at giving us advice for when it’s our turn to try and make it in the big, scary advertising world.
They were really great at giving us advice for when it’s our turn to try and make it in the big, scary advertising world.
We also met BBH’s newest creative team, Marc andCallum. They showed us their website, and talked about their ‘Mega bus book’ which they’d put together in a 7 hour bus journey on the way to London using only stories in that days Metro.
Pretty impressive.
Pretty impressive.
The whole visit gave us an exciting glimpse into what we hope our creative futures have in store.
Another interesting aspect of bbh was “Zag”
In a world full of zigs, do you zag?
zag is a dedicated area for starting new and upcoming companies and ideas, finding their target market, to producing the best work available to go from strength to strength – a wise investment for any new company."
zag is a dedicated area for starting new and upcoming companies and ideas, finding their target market, to producing the best work available to go from strength to strength – a wise investment for any new company."
Whilst one group of students was visiting BBH another group went to DLKW Lowe. To find out more about the agency, Abigail and Ola gives us there impressions of the visit.
“DLKW Lowe was everything I imagined an advertising agency would look like. The building was huge and had really high ceilings, there were adverts that they had created all over the walls (the Morrison’s ads mainly) and a massive lightbulb hung from the ceiling as the main centre piece of the agency; showing that this is the place were great ideas happen and evolve! The atmosphere was buzzing therefore I instantly got a positive vibe! We met with an inspirational previous Lincoln Creative Advertising student called Adam who is now in a creative team at DLKW Lowe and has been there for 3 years. He told us about how he got to where he is now, what briefs he’s previously done and what briefs he’s currently doing, what the procedures are once you get a brief, what it’s like living in the busy and expensive city of London and lots more vital and helpful info! He gave a great impression of DLKW Lowe and it is definitely an agency that I aspire to work for!”
“We ventured into the heart of London to find DLKW Lowe, an advertising agency that has produced many successful campaigns. The visit was quite short but in the time that we had, we managed to prize a
lot of important information about ad land from our Tour guide/Former CA pupil, Adam Smith. He was without his partner (also a graduate from the course) But he managed to give a very informative session on his own. He spoke about the scale of their work, from from filming in different countries to late nights in the office. He also talked us through his ideas process and reinforced how hard we need to work to become the creatives we want to be. It was a very enlightening experience and a true reality check, especially since it came from the mouth of someone who had previously been in my shoes. All in all, it was a great experience.”
The second agency for the BBH group was VCCP, here are Jo and Hannah’s accounts of their visit.
“Half of the second year students were lucky enough to visit top London agency VCCP. It all started with a quick workout (a hefty five flights of stairs) to reach the top floor to have a swift but exciting tour of the agency. Our hosts for the day were ex-Lincoln Creative Advertising students, Jade Sturman and Sophie Townsend, who have been working for VCCP for over a year and are living proof that it’s all possible if you stick at it. Not only did we hear about Sophie and Jade’s experience of the advertising industry but were also joined by two of the female Creative Directors of VCCP who gave invaluable advice and told inspiring stories. It’s safe to say our very first visits to London agencies have given us a tiny glimpse of the industry and how thrilling the world of advertising is. We can’t wait to become part of it.”
And finally Charlotte, Tom and Cullen tell us how their group’s visit to Wieden & Kenedy went.
“On Friday afternoon a group of enthusiastic Creative Advertising students from The University of Lincoln found themselves in the wonderland that is Wieden+Kennedy.
We entered with an acute sense of excitement that boiled over, for most of us, at the mere sight of the reception area. The white walls were adorned with weird and wonderful items; a Honda helmet sat amongst painted wellies, multiple clocks, and mannequin heads.
We met the brilliant creative team, Philippa and Artur, who studied Creative Advertising at Lincoln too, and were led into a conference room that had a partially glass ceiling, through which you could see people walking above you. In the week leading up to our visit we had been set a fantastic Nike brief by Wieden+Kennedy’s creative teams, and were to present our solutions to them and Nike’s Creative Directors that afternoon. Presenting our work was possibly the most nerve-racking thing we’ve ever done, but it was fantastic to get feedback from people within the industry right now, and was certainly an eye opening experience.
The quality of Wieden+Kennedy’s work that we were shown was phenomenal. We were privileged enough to hear from a variety of people within the Agency, including an wonderfully eccentric and highly engaging talk from Luke Tipping (Senior Interactive Creative), and even had a talk from ECDs Iain Tate and Tony Davidson, covering how they made it to where they are today, what they look for in creative recruits, and a whole range of other fascinating insights.
Days like this make a huge difference to us young creatives. We know how competitive this industry is so the thought of discovering where we fit in it can be daunting. Emersion will always be so much more inspiring than just talking, so to visit an agency gives us a real feel for the place, for the people who work there, their work, and what they stand for. It’s incredibly motivating to go somewhere you could potentially work at one day, and we learnt as much about ourselves that Friday as we did about Wieden+Kennedy, and that’s invaluable.
So, we entered excited, and left buzzing, ready to discover and create new things (we even got free t-shirts). Bring it on Wieden+Kennedy. Bring it on.”
“The opportunity to work on a brief for Nike was one of the most exciting experiences of our creative careers. We threw everything we had into the project, and having our idea awarded winner has set us on a creative high! Having the industries’ best critique our work at W&K gave us added confidence that what we do is on the right lines and appeals to industry. A fantastic small snippet (hopefully) into our future career paths.”
This year's agency visits were all organised by former students of this course, which made it even more special. It's very rewarding to see CA graduates who are now staff at the highest profile agencies and it's a great vindication of all that we teach on the programme. A big thank you again to all our alumni who went out of their way to make this year's trip so rewarding.
Sophie & Jade Asda Christmas ad.
Jade & Sophie's Asda commercial.
Tis the season of Christmas adverts and the latest big supermarket to release a yuletide message is Asda. The new ads feature the story of Asda Christmas smiles and were created by ex-Lincoln Creative Advertising students Jade Sturman and Sophie Townsend. The girls made the commercial at the advertising agency VCCP who hold the Asda account. Here's what the girls say about the making of the ad.
'We’ve been working on and developing this campaign since the start of June, living and breathing Christmas during the entire summer, which was a little surreal to say the least. We have a great team of people at VCCP who worked hard to ensure the idea stayed as true to the original concept as possible, although inevitably changes were made along the way, we feel that everyone’s hard work has paid off and as a result have managed to come out with a campaign that everyone is proud of.
This ad sits as part of a set of ads that will play out over the Christmas period, all based on the idea of smiling. The idea, though simple, is something everyone can relate to, it light-heartedly reveals the true meanings of the different smiles seen at Christmas time and helps tie the ads together as a fully formed campaign. As Asda is a brand that doesn’t takes itself too seriously, and is considered a down to earth retailer, tonally the concept of ‘celebrating smiles with Asda’ worked really well for the brand.
We’re really happy with the work so far and are still developing and producing everyday. We just hope it gives everyone that warm, fuzzy, Christmas time feeling and of course, raises a few smiles.'
Well done girls and happy Christmas to one and all.
'We’ve been working on and developing this campaign since the start of June, living and breathing Christmas during the entire summer, which was a little surreal to say the least. We have a great team of people at VCCP who worked hard to ensure the idea stayed as true to the original concept as possible, although inevitably changes were made along the way, we feel that everyone’s hard work has paid off and as a result have managed to come out with a campaign that everyone is proud of.
This ad sits as part of a set of ads that will play out over the Christmas period, all based on the idea of smiling. The idea, though simple, is something everyone can relate to, it light-heartedly reveals the true meanings of the different smiles seen at Christmas time and helps tie the ads together as a fully formed campaign. As Asda is a brand that doesn’t takes itself too seriously, and is considered a down to earth retailer, tonally the concept of ‘celebrating smiles with Asda’ worked really well for the brand.
We’re really happy with the work so far and are still developing and producing everyday. We just hope it gives everyone that warm, fuzzy, Christmas time feeling and of course, raises a few smiles.'
Well done girls and happy Christmas to one and all.
YCN
A star students, Joe, Lucy, Gaz, Linda and Elly.
The Young Creative Network have now made the new briefs available for their latest competition and they look as interesting and challenging as ever. The YCN student awards are a great test of a students abilities and really set a benchmark of excellence for advertising and design students.
The Creative Advertising course at the University of Lincoln has been fortunate enough to do very well in this competition and last year was no exception with no fewer than eight students picking up a highly coveted YCN award. Joe Lovett, Jonathan Salm, Ellie Hogarth, Lucy Cowlin, Gaz Hunt-Sutherland, Linda Klassens, Jenni Trotter and Gabi Kirwin were all winners.
Here's what Lucy thought of the evening. 'Situated in the impressive surrounds of the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, the YCN Student Awards ceremony held on September 10th was a great occasion. Given there were eight students from level 2 and level 3 of Creative Advertising commended, it was a fantastic night for showcasing the work of Lincoln's aspiring advertisers!
With exquisite food, (far superior to the student standard) engrossing entertainment, good company and copious glasses of Prosecco, it was a brilliant way to celebrate. It soon became apparent just how highly acclaimed YCN is within our industry so it felt like a real achievement to be collecting our awards in the presence of such talented individuals!'
So whilst the current students get down to working on the new briefs we thought that it would be a good time to show some pictures of Septembers awards ceremony and remember that all of the hard work is worth it.
Human Pattern
The thing with being so focussed on Advertising is, you're so focussed on Advertising. But to be really good at it, you need to keep at least one eye on the world outside of it.
Our students come from many backgrounds, design, art, media etc. Every now and again they want to do something to keep their hand in with their craft.
That's why Carys Thomas and Olamide Soyemi wanted to take a a little of their precious spare time and, you know... put on an exhibition.
'Human pattern' had it's private view on Tuesday October 7th at the Gallery at St. Martins in Lincoln. The whole place was packed and there is no doubt that it was an enormous success, not just because of the quality of the work, but the quality of the intention - to not just paint but to exhibit.
Of course the thing with putting yourself out there is that you never know who is going to see your work and as if Carys was not busy enough she had a visitor to the exhibition who has asked for her input on a very special project. Here's Carys to tell us more:
"I've recently been given a really exciting opportunity to work with a local craftsman to design a range of stencils for the annual Christmas market in Lincoln. It'll be a really interesting chance to see how my designs translate onto different mediums but also to get a chance to design for commercial purposes and see where it goes from there!"
How cool is that?
Well done Carys and Ola, you thought big, took action and alongside everything else you have to do, you put on your first art exhibition.
Check out the work below.
Harriet has success at Aerial Awards
Steve, Harriet and Paul who created the award winning radio ad.
Ex-Lincoln Creative Advertising student Harriet Russell-Vick recently picked up an Aerial Award for a very effective piece of radio advertising for the Imperial War Museum.
The Aerial Awards showcase the best in Advertising and it is to Harriet and her partners credit that they have been recognised in this way. Harriet worked with Steve Smith and Creative director Paul Domenet at the agency Johnny Fearless to create the ad which is a poignant reminder of war and it's effect on people of all ages.
Well done Harriet and 'tune in' soon for more CA news.
A new era.
Say hello to David (he's the one in the middle).
Alongside his teaching, David has worked on a broad range of projects for a range of advertising agencies and an international client base that includes the New York Times Magazine, DKNY, Daihatsu, IKEA, The Economist, The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Huffington Post.
Some of David's work for DKNY
“I am very excited to be working alongside Mike & Justin and the talented students at Lincoln University. As a lecturer, my personal philosophy focuses on the values of play and curiosity as foundations for learning. The core of my design practice and teaching ethos is the axiom “the person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything". Awooga!
David's range of skills will be a great compliment to the existing Creative Advertising team and all of us are all really looking forward to working with him.
Err, awooga.
A Call to a Creative Adventure
So what's this creativity thing all about? Is it about coming up with ideas?
Well, yes.
Is it about experimenting and trying new things. Yes, that too.
But something that is rarely discussed that is more powerful than any of this is TAKING ACTION. Without action ideas are not realised, without action mistakes are not made and without action those mistakes are not turned on their heads and crafted into opportunity.
We do take time here to help our students to be the kind of people who feel they can get off the sofa, with an idea in one hand and a suitcase in the other and just DO.
That's why we're incredibly proud of three Second year students, Tom Watkins, Matt Holmes and Carys Thomas who did just that; Took action to get a wild idea off the ground and in the process entered into a fabulous adventure.
Here's Tom Watkins to tell us more:
"We decided we wanted to go on an adventure and so we started to work out how we could explore Iceland on a student budget.
We didn't have any more money, definitely not enough to go on the adventure we wanted.
Together, we contacted travel agencies pitching them with an idea for a 'user video', a travelogue to capture the imagination of potential visitors and a couple of Skype chats and phone calls later we actually had a few offers, but one from NordicVisitor.com was the most comprehensive, they managed to sponsor us for every activity we did in Iceland. All in return for the video, and photographs of our journey.
Even with the chaos of a volcanic eruptions and storms while we were there, they re-arranged excursions and got us a quite literally last minute notice ride on a helicopter tour. "
So, obviously, they're awesome. When they hit a problem they just found a solution, a way they could get the holiday of their dreams on their budget by figuring out what else they had to offer. True creative entrepreneurs.
Here's the video and below are some stunning pictures taken as part of the trip.
Together, we contacted travel agencies pitching them with an idea for a 'user video', a travelogue to capture the imagination of potential visitors and a couple of Skype chats and phone calls later we actually had a few offers, but one from NordicVisitor.com was the most comprehensive, they managed to sponsor us for every activity we did in Iceland. All in return for the video, and photographs of our journey.
Even with the chaos of a volcanic eruptions and storms while we were there, they re-arranged excursions and got us a quite literally last minute notice ride on a helicopter tour. "
So, obviously, they're awesome. When they hit a problem they just found a solution, a way they could get the holiday of their dreams on their budget by figuring out what else they had to offer. True creative entrepreneurs.
Here's the video and below are some stunning pictures taken as part of the trip.
Laura & Elliott Cannes Young Lion
Laura & Elliott's award winning film for Barnardo's
"We entered Cannes Young Lions a few weeks ago and had to turn around a 60 second ad for Barnardo's in 48 hours. Idea, script, shoot, edit, all by our lonesome.
To cut a long story short, we won. Best UK team.
Not many actors are interested in working in a cold church on a Saturday night with 2 hours notice. So sadly, I ended up 'starring' in it. Mwahaha.
We got briefed on Friday at 4pm.
Friday evening (until 9ish) was spent on ideas.
As was Saturday 8-12ish.
Saturday 12-4ish was spent writing the script.
Saturday 4-6ish was spent finding locations, begging, borrowing and stealing.
(In the end, we were actually just given the keys to the church by a very trusting priest. We actually got the church just by knocking on the door and he happened to be in.
Says a lot for just getting out and asking for favours instead of making calls and emails.)
Saturday 6-10ish was spent filming.
Saturday/ Sunday 10-11 was spent editing overnight.
We actually came up with the idea for the script on Friday night, it was one of our first thoughts.
After pummelling through dozens more ideas we realised it was the best by far. We could spend hours trying to top it. If we did we'd only have a few hours to film and edit, if we didn't, we'd have wasted that time completely.
And so we went with it. I guess it's the nature of a 48 hour competition, you're never 100% sure because you could have spent longer coming up with ideas, I guess you just have to trust yourself.
The same thing happened Sunday morning. We'd stayed up overnight editing and had 8 hours left until it had to be submitted.
We could have continued editing it, but with the footage we had it would have only got about 3% better. Plus we were both knackered and couldn't think straight. So we just submitted it.
I think we learned not to take competitions like that TOO seriously, as you'll always have doubts and you'll always be comparing the finished article to how good it could be if you got a proper director, proper actor and you had more time.
But you don't. So it's important to just enjoy it and cross your fingers."
To cut a long story short, we won. Best UK team.
Not many actors are interested in working in a cold church on a Saturday night with 2 hours notice. So sadly, I ended up 'starring' in it. Mwahaha.
We got briefed on Friday at 4pm.
Friday evening (until 9ish) was spent on ideas.
As was Saturday 8-12ish.
Saturday 12-4ish was spent writing the script.
Saturday 4-6ish was spent finding locations, begging, borrowing and stealing.
(In the end, we were actually just given the keys to the church by a very trusting priest. We actually got the church just by knocking on the door and he happened to be in.
Says a lot for just getting out and asking for favours instead of making calls and emails.)
Saturday 6-10ish was spent filming.
Saturday/ Sunday 10-11 was spent editing overnight.
We actually came up with the idea for the script on Friday night, it was one of our first thoughts.
After pummelling through dozens more ideas we realised it was the best by far. We could spend hours trying to top it. If we did we'd only have a few hours to film and edit, if we didn't, we'd have wasted that time completely.
And so we went with it. I guess it's the nature of a 48 hour competition, you're never 100% sure because you could have spent longer coming up with ideas, I guess you just have to trust yourself.
The same thing happened Sunday morning. We'd stayed up overnight editing and had 8 hours left until it had to be submitted.
We could have continued editing it, but with the footage we had it would have only got about 3% better. Plus we were both knackered and couldn't think straight. So we just submitted it.
I think we learned not to take competitions like that TOO seriously, as you'll always have doubts and you'll always be comparing the finished article to how good it could be if you got a proper director, proper actor and you had more time.
But you don't. So it's important to just enjoy it and cross your fingers."
D&AD success
The mythical D&AD New Blood pencil.
This year Lincoln CA students achieved four 'in book' awards and one nomination for a coveted D&AD Pencil. The successful students this year were Chloe Bishop, Christina Worman, Jade Andrews, Masha Shukkore, Stanley Bennett, Bethany Applebee and Tuomas Watkins.
All of the students involved richly deserve their success but special mention must go to Tuomas who got an 'In book' and a pencil nomination, whilst still in the first year of the course!
The awards ceremony is being held in London on 3rd of July as part of the New Blood festival so we will be keeping our fingers crossed for Tuomas and hoping to add to the trophy cabinet.
Well done to all that entered the D&AD New Blood competition, it's a great way to gain experience and makes the students much more professional, long may it continue.
Another successful London Week
Just before Easter the third year students had their 'London Week'. The year group was split in two and each group visited one agency a day. In total the cohort visited 10 agencies in 10 days.
Some of the agencies set briefs the week before and ran a crit when the students arrived. Some agencies were even more demanding and set a brief in the morning and then critiqued the work in the afternoon. A couple of the agencies gave presentations on how to get a job in advertising, showed some of their recent work & gave advice on portfolio content, industry expectations & how to successfully make the transition from University to career.
Monday saw visits to Leo Burnett & DLKW:–
Some of the agencies set briefs the week before and ran a crit when the students arrived. Some agencies were even more demanding and set a brief in the morning and then critiqued the work in the afternoon. A couple of the agencies gave presentations on how to get a job in advertising, showed some of their recent work & gave advice on portfolio content, industry expectations & how to successfully make the transition from University to career.
Monday saw visits to Leo Burnett & DLKW:–
Fresh faced and raring to go at Leo Burnett
Kieran pretending to work hard at Leo Burnett
Quick! Write lots at DLKW and look busy!
Agency: DLKW
Taking the escalator up to DLKW
Tuesday and the students visited Grey and creative recruitment agency The Talent Business:–
Lots of sugary drinks at Grey
Agency: Grey
Creative recruitment agency, The Talent Business
The Talent Business
Wednesday and it's agencies Creature and JWT:–
Agency: Creature
Cool things at Creature
In the reception at Creature
Need a break? Don't go to JWT - it's hard work.
Woah! JWT's impressive reception.
Agency: JWT!
Agency: JWT
Thursday and it's off to Inferno and Mother:–
Kieran presenting at Inferno
Sarah & Natalie presenting at Inferno
Agency: Mother
Waiting in reception at Mother
Agency: Mother
And finally, on Friday the students visited agencies Ogilvy and VCCP:–
All aboard The Mayflower meeting room at Ogilvy!
Stan and Beth arriving at VCCP
As you can see it really was quite a week!
Thank you SO much to all everyone at the agencies who helped organise the week. We simply couldn't have done it without you. The vast majority of these were past University of Lincoln Creative Advertising graduates so you see how it goes: come to Lincoln > graduate from Lincoln > get a placement (or two or three) > get a job at a top agency > keep in touch with the staff team in Lincoln > help the next generation of creative talent. You get the idea.
Next up for the third years, pull everything together that they've learned in Lincoln and London and prepare for their portfolios for final assessment. And then it's the degree show (and Private View party).
Nice.
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