Showing posts with label Mother. Show all posts
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.
Mother agency visit
Their Mother's would be proud of them.
'It was only 3 hours after leaving Anomaly before we were waiting outside Mother, a building contrasting both in size and style to where we were earlier. The buildings situated 5 minutes away from the train station, but in the time between the two, we passed 1 giant rat, about 45 trainers hanging from a telephone wire and about 100 hipsters, it was awesome. As we walked into the reception area of Mother we were greeted by the slogan “Graffiti is advertising to me” in massive font above the elevators, this pretty much summed up Mother’s creative and youthful style.
An elephant is about to sit on Jonny.
Mother’s policy is about “doing work that makes your mother proud”, and to emphasise this every employee has a picture of their mother up on the wall in the corner of the foyer. As I sat there, admiring the obvious ambition and creative feel of the place, I realised how good it would feel to see my mother up on that wall, and how proud that would make me feel.
However, my daydreaming was soon interrupted as we were shown into their meeting room, the only room in the whole agency with a door. This was not the most interesting aspect of the room though. There was a massive elephants arse coming out of the wall apparently for two reasons, acoustics, and “to kill the elephant in the room” so that people feel more comfortable speaking.
Jonny and Georgie playing with their friend.
We were then lucky enough to be given a presentation by two creative directors Martin and Kyle, as well as Ben Heap. The guys told us all about Mother and its work, all of which I recognized and appreciated. It was not long before I got the sense that this was an amazing place to work. They described how they have events almost every night; they take part in their own projects and they work together around a massive table, like a big family. To me it seemed like a place where everyone is appreciated and you can truly be yourself. It was not long before question time. They answered a variety of questions, some told us about the importance of pairing up with someone that challenges you and also highlighted the necessity of creative pairs in the industry, now, and for the foreseeable future, and one answer in particular disappointed second year Simon, “No, the agency isn’t like Mad Men.”
Unfortunately, it was not long before our time in London was up. But I can tell you, after that day, I wont be gone for long.'
Second years visit Anomaly
The only way is up for Anomaly
Part of the philosophy you will find at Anomaly
No sausages
Upon entering the agencies building we were greeted by a wall of creative quotes, scamped from top to bottom. This was a good start; it already seemed like an interesting place to work. Upon having a few minutes to enjoy the creative wall, we were ushered into tight lifts and taken to the agencies floor.
As the doors of the lift opened, we were greeted by a bright, warming red glow radiating from the hallway, which was painted strikingly, to say the least. We were then led into a boardroom to start the presentation.
The presentation started with Ben Moore telling us all about the company and its strategies. He told us how they really tried to be the “anomaly” of all of the agencies, providing a service completely different and surprising. Through a business like approach, and strong opinions on the direction that the industry is heading, they are a relatively new agency in the UK trying to make big waves, with bigger clients. The presentation carried on, and it was quite interesting, with him showing us the agencies best work, including work for Budweiser and Adidas. But for me, the more interesting part came when we got to speak to the creative pairPaul Mann and CA graduate Mike Cuthell. They are both freelance creative who were very open with us, providing first hand experience of the ups and downs and completely new perspectives on the industry. They reassured us that getting the job is possible, and that it is truly worth it. One particular reoccurring theme of the agency that really made me think was their questioning of the importance of the creative partnership roles. They suggested that the industry would evolve into a place that makes partnerships redundant. However, we soon came to realise that, different agencies have different philosophies when we visited Mother in the afternoon.'
London Week - Mother
Continuing the reports of the third year's London Week, here's a student review of the recent visit to Mother.
Mother - Will Blackburn
Mother love. On 20th March, Lincoln Creative Advertisers visited Mother London to work within a top London agency. Mother welcomed us with tea, coffee and a slide show of the agency’s history, previous work and current clients. Caroline Heap, Creative Director explained to us that Mother employees abide by three rules.
Mother love. On 20th March, Lincoln Creative Advertisers visited Mother London to work within a top London agency. Mother welcomed us with tea, coffee and a slide show of the agency’s history, previous work and current clients. Caroline Heap, Creative Director explained to us that Mother employees abide by three rules.
> Do the best work we possibly can.
> Have fun.
> Make a living.
Do things that will make your mother proud is an agency motto. Mother prides itself on the collaborative efforts of all its sons and daughters. A tool they use to achieve this is using one giant table in the centre of the room; this throws different expertise into the mix that is the creative department at Mother. Accounts, strategists, creatives, finance and directors all sit in no particular order around this table. The dotted effect of various specialists is an attempt to bring down the walls between departments, all for the greater good of the creative process.
After the presentation strategist Bruno Frankel handed us a day brief. This brief was for a Stella Artois Christmas campaign. We were given roughly four and half-hours to come up with campaigns for a crit later on in the afternoon. This gave us a chance to explore the agency a little bit more. A creative environment of graffiti, giant plastic animals and the famous wall full of framed photographs of employees’ mums.
The crit was set up in a conference room that maintained Mothers core ideology... the giant table. They kindly supplied us with beer and crisps (they did their research). The crit was held by Bruno, Ben Heap and was accompanied by a pair of creatives called Ana Balarin and Hermeti Balarin. The crit was very insightful and gave us a real taste of what to expect in agencies. The creatives of Mother liked the variety of ideas put forward in the crit by us all.
Mother knows best.
Philippa and Artur at Cream 2012
Creative team Philippa Beaumont and Artur Faria graduated from the programme last year and are currently on placement at some of the best ad agencies in London. They were recently shortlisted to be finalists in CREAM 2012 – the annual competition organised by creative recruitment agency The Talent Business and judged by Creative Directors from some of the World's best advertising agencies.
Philippa writes....
“This year we were one of the lucky 20 to be selected for from over 150 worldwide applicants for CREAM 2012.
“The prize? A night of mingling and networking with some of the judges and other creative decision makers from the industry.
“This year’s host agency was Mother and not only are Mother industry leaders but they also know how to put on a good party. Our current hangovers from the mid week office party last night, are proof of this.
“The prize? A night of mingling and networking with some of the judges and other creative decision makers from the industry.
“This year’s host agency was Mother and not only are Mother industry leaders but they also know how to put on a good party. Our current hangovers from the mid week office party last night, are proof of this.
“The 20 finalists, a mix of teams and individuals, we’re invited to Mother to have lunch with some of the agency. We even got a chance to chat with one of the founding partners, Mark Waites. Then we had the afternoon to prepare for the event. Mother decided to solve the old age problem of creatives using events like these to catch up with old mates over free drinks. Mother sourced 20 unique and individual bars, which were to be manned by the winners, the idea being that you got a book crit and they got a drink.
Phil & Artur behind their bar.
A busy, busy night at Mother.
“The finalists were each given a theme for their bar and we were tasked with making it look as cool as possible. Everyone put a lot of effort in so they all looked brilliant on the night, we even decapitated a teddy bear for ours! The event itself started at 7pm and the entire bottom floor of Mother was turned into a pub called ‘The Mother’s Arms’, it even came with two busty barmaids in the shape of the Mother receptionists:–
The Mother receptionists become barmaids for the night!
“The night was a resounding success and was definitely the best CREAM to date. It was proof that this industry is one of the best for supporting young talent. We are currently lucky enough to be on placement at the host Mother, which is one of the fore runners in nourishing new talent. A fun night to celebrate a lot of hard work.”
The Mother receptionists become barmaids for the night!
“The night was an amazing opportunity! Our portfolio got critiqued by creatives from agencies such as BBH, DKLW LOWE, RKCR Y+R and, of course, Mother. We made several great contacts and even got potential placements, as did all the other teams there. It was great that there was 20 of us that got to share this huge opportunity. CREAM is a great award to have in your book – one that has in the past led to placements and even jobs. Some teams even flew from Sweden and Brazil to be there on the night!
Ad agency London week for level 3 - part 2
To continue the reports from level 3 Creative Advertising students following their recent week of visiting some of the best advertising agencies in London...
And here's student Mel Webb reporting back from AMV BBDO:-
'This was a very challenging brief, however in the crit at the end of the day Jim and Andy said they were impressed with our insights and strategic thinking. This is something we heard frequently during the week ... Go Lincoln!
...student Maria Sousa tells us about Mother:-
The group at Mother
'On the Tuesday during London Week, we visited prestigious ad agency Mother. We arrived first thing in the morning, eager and ready to get stuck in and soak up all the Mother-Magic we could.
'We were greeted by Craig Ainsley and Dan Broadwood, who then briefed us on our task for the day: to advertise tea to teenagers. We then worked on the brief in our teams all day and had them ready to be critiqued in the afternoon. Dan and Craig were extremely helpful and discussed each of our ideas, giving us all advice that would certainly improve our work.
'All in all, the trip to Mother was an injection of wonderful inspiration and motivation, and a lesson to us all about what it really means to push an idea further.'
And here's student Mel Webb reporting back from AMV BBDO:-
The group outside AMV BBDO
'We entered the very impressive AMV BBDO. We were greeted by Andy and Jim, a senior creative team, who welcomed us into the 'Snug' which we were kindly given to work in all day. They set us a brief, asking us to work on EDF Energy, something they had personally been working on for a year.
'They asked us to create a big idea for the energy company – something which would make people like them. They advised us to consider who we were talking to within households. How you could get people to switch and to think about creating a warm, comforting tone?
'This was a very challenging brief, however in the crit at the end of the day Jim and Andy said they were impressed with our insights and strategic thinking. This is something we heard frequently during the week ... Go Lincoln!
Lincoln students take over the 'Snug' at AMV BBDO for the day
'After the crit, Andy and Jim showed us their own work as well as kindly staying into the evening to give us some fantastic advice on how to make it in Adland. A brilliant end to an interesting, challenging and incredibly motivating day.'
Senior creative team Andy & Jim give feedback on the day's work
Listening to advice and criticism
More reports of the level 3 London week tomorrow...
London ad agency visits
We recently took the Level 2 students to visit four high profile and very contrasting advertising agencies in London. We always try to make the level 2 agency trip encompass as wide a range of agencies as possible and we certainly managed to live up to that aim this year.
First up in the morning for group A was a trip to the biggest agency of them all: AMV BBDO. Level two strudent Liam Nicholson explains how the visit went:
'We were greeted in the boardroom by two very polite creatives Milo Campbell and Sonny Adorjan. They spoke to us about their intriguing journey into advertising and inspired us with a screening of an AMV BBDO show-reel and 'The Process' (aka designing the stop sign) which gives a humorous insight into the client/creative relationship. As well as showing us some of their work, Sonny and Milo also spoke about the type of integrated campaigns and digital work, which creative directors like to see in a student portfolio. The highlight of the visit however, was when Paul Brazier, the executive creative director at AMV BBDO and former president of D&AD, enlightened us on the creative process and gave us advice on how to make it in Adland, all in his brilliant Brummie accent.'
Getting the chance to meet someone as high profile as Paul doesn't come around too often and the advice that he gave to the students was all the more well received because of it. AMV is a large and impressive place to visit and was a great motivation for everyone.
Whilst Group A were visiting AMV, Group B were being hosted by creative giants, Mother. Level 2 student Sophie Macdonald explains how the visit went:
'We had the amazing opportunity to visit Mother London and considering the reputation that Mother London has, it was no surprise to walk into what looked like an art gallery.'
'After seeing Mother's unconventional and fantastic ground floor we were then shown upstairs where we were introduced to the famous 250ft concrete desk. We sat down with Dan, Craig and Ben who gave us lots of advice concerning portfolio's and the hard work that needs to be put in, they also showed us some great work and ran a very insightful Q and A session to round off our visit.'
So that was the morning taken care of and it was now time for Group A to visit one of the newer agencies in London - Creature.
Level 2 student Lily Peters explains more:
'On our agency visit trip to London, we were fortunate enough to meet with Stu Outhwaite, previously C.D at Mother and now a partner of fledging agency Creature. Creature is a vibrant, creatively focused agency and Stu shared key information on how to enter the Ad world, driving home the fact that networking and contacts are essential in order to get your foot in the door. Creature had an incredibly friendly vibe and Ruud Kool - a Lincoln graduate - was able to join us and shed a more recent light on life as a post-grad Creative.'
'Having the opportunity to be within an agency environment and meeting Stu was highly motivational for us all. Creature has a very exciting feel to it and it was wonderful to visit such a new agency and meet with a successful creative who had once been in our shoes.'
The group that had previously visited Mother also visited industry heavyweight JWT in the afternoon.
Sophie Macdonald tells us more:
'As we entered the reception at JWT the walls were covered with bicycles which made the agency feel like a very cool place to work.'
'We were greeted by Senior Creative Miles Bingham who provided us with huge amounts of advice and information about the industry and went on to show us some of the adverts that he had worked on. He also gave us advice on what would happen during a work placement at an agency and what to do when dealing with big clients.'
'Miles gave us an idea of how an ad comes to life with the 'hard slog' that goes into it. He was very passionate about the work that he had produced and about working in advertising. He gave us an honest and uplifting talk about the ups and downs in the industry and at the end of his presentation he gave us his email in case we needed future help and advice.'
Phew. Quite an exhausting but very rewarding trip.
A very big THANK YOU to all of the agencies and individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to see us. Visiting an ad agency is always inspirational as well as educational and this trip proved to be no different. Here's to the next one.
First up in the morning for group A was a trip to the biggest agency of them all: AMV BBDO. Level two strudent Liam Nicholson explains how the visit went:
'We were greeted in the boardroom by two very polite creatives Milo Campbell and Sonny Adorjan. They spoke to us about their intriguing journey into advertising and inspired us with a screening of an AMV BBDO show-reel and 'The Process' (aka designing the stop sign) which gives a humorous insight into the client/creative relationship. As well as showing us some of their work, Sonny and Milo also spoke about the type of integrated campaigns and digital work, which creative directors like to see in a student portfolio. The highlight of the visit however, was when Paul Brazier, the executive creative director at AMV BBDO and former president of D&AD, enlightened us on the creative process and gave us advice on how to make it in Adland, all in his brilliant Brummie accent.'
Stood outside AMV BBDO, having just met ad legend Paul Brazier
Getting the chance to meet someone as high profile as Paul doesn't come around too often and the advice that he gave to the students was all the more well received because of it. AMV is a large and impressive place to visit and was a great motivation for everyone.
Whilst Group A were visiting AMV, Group B were being hosted by creative giants, Mother. Level 2 student Sophie Macdonald explains how the visit went:
'We had the amazing opportunity to visit Mother London and considering the reputation that Mother London has, it was no surprise to walk into what looked like an art gallery.'
Inside the offices of Mother.
'After seeing Mother's unconventional and fantastic ground floor we were then shown upstairs where we were introduced to the famous 250ft concrete desk. We sat down with Dan, Craig and Ben who gave us lots of advice concerning portfolio's and the hard work that needs to be put in, they also showed us some great work and ran a very insightful Q and A session to round off our visit.'
Get me the number of Mother's interior decorator.
So that was the morning taken care of and it was now time for Group A to visit one of the newer agencies in London - Creature.
Level 2 student Lily Peters explains more:
'On our agency visit trip to London, we were fortunate enough to meet with Stu Outhwaite, previously C.D at Mother and now a partner of fledging agency Creature. Creature is a vibrant, creatively focused agency and Stu shared key information on how to enter the Ad world, driving home the fact that networking and contacts are essential in order to get your foot in the door. Creature had an incredibly friendly vibe and Ruud Kool - a Lincoln graduate - was able to join us and shed a more recent light on life as a post-grad Creative.'
'Having the opportunity to be within an agency environment and meeting Stu was highly motivational for us all. Creature has a very exciting feel to it and it was wonderful to visit such a new agency and meet with a successful creative who had once been in our shoes.'
The group that had previously visited Mother also visited industry heavyweight JWT in the afternoon.
Sophie Macdonald tells us more:
'As we entered the reception at JWT the walls were covered with bicycles which made the agency feel like a very cool place to work.'
'We were greeted by Senior Creative Miles Bingham who provided us with huge amounts of advice and information about the industry and went on to show us some of the adverts that he had worked on. He also gave us advice on what would happen during a work placement at an agency and what to do when dealing with big clients.'
'Miles gave us an idea of how an ad comes to life with the 'hard slog' that goes into it. He was very passionate about the work that he had produced and about working in advertising. He gave us an honest and uplifting talk about the ups and downs in the industry and at the end of his presentation he gave us his email in case we needed future help and advice.'
Phew. Quite an exhausting but very rewarding trip.
A very big THANK YOU to all of the agencies and individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to see us. Visiting an ad agency is always inspirational as well as educational and this trip proved to be no different. Here's to the next one.
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