Examples of Outdoor Advertising

To continue the reports from level 3 Creative Advertising students following their recent week in London as they engaged with some of London's best advertising agencies...

'After seeing some of their work, we moved onto the crit. The brief Neil and Stefan had set us a few days before was to get teenagers to give blood. The ideas varied wide and far. From Matt Parson’s ‘Only scum don’t give blood’ to Greg Harvey’s and Mike Mackenzie’s ‘Thank the person who saved your life.’ Neil and Stefan critiqued the work in a really relaxed and laid back atmosphere.

'After some great feedback, they showed us their solution to the brief. We then had Q&A session and shortly found ourselves back on the streets of London, depressed, having remembered that we didn’t actually work at DLKWLowe.'

To continue the reports from level 3 Creative Advertising students following their recent week of visiting some of the best advertising agencies in London...

The week before the Easter break, Lincoln's level three Creative Advertising students went to London for a full week to fully engage with the advertising industry. In total ten very different agencies were visited:-

'Iris is an international agency and at only 12 years old they are relatively new to the industry. However, they still have some impressive clients: Barclaycard, Sony Ericsson, Volkswagen, etc. The area in which they work is large and open plan with a friendly, calm atmosphere. They offer their employees many opportunities one of which is called a ‘life swap’; this is where you can swap with a creative pair from an Iris in another country for up to three months - so if you fancy trying something different they will make it possible for you.

'They also do fun little things within the agency such as chocolate fountains, nights out, and recently for the clocks being put forward; they allowed their employees to come in one hour later, so they get an extra hour in bed!

'Iris was very friendly and welcoming and you could feel the passion they have for their work as soon as you talked to someone. You also get the sense that they really want to help young creatives get into the industry and they seem very willing to help out and give you their time.'

One for the Easter holidays:

Gyles gave two 20 minute talks to the delegates. The first talk was titled 'Essentials For Effective Idea Generation' in which Gyles explored themes such as unexpected combinations; actively seeking inspiration; the necessity of failure; the working environment; collaborating with 'energisers'; and the importance of sharing ideas.

The second talk was titled 'The Value of Creative People – the relationship between the art and design graduate and business'. Gyles looked at the highly desirable transferrable skills of art and design graduates including communication, collaboration, originality, developing solutions and initiative, accompanied by a very visual and audio presentation.

Gyles was invited to talk at this event following his well received talk at the Lincolnshire Business Convention in October 2011, featuring keynote speaker Tim Smit – co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall. Hosted by BBC Lincolnshire's Melvyn Prior, the theme of the event was 'The Power of Ideas' and Gyles was one of four speakers that spoke to the 100+ delegates about invigorating and inspiring local business through innovation.

Last week we tried something a bit different (we have a bit of habit of doing that).

Ben Kay – creative director of MAL London, author and advertising blogger – asked the third year's to suggest ideas for Water Water Everywhere's next activity.

Water Water Everywhere believe that bottled water is an unnecessary strain on the environment and making tap water widely available they can ensure that everyone gets the water they need for a fraction of the cost to themselves and the planet.

So, we decided to run a one-day project. Ben (working in London) briefed the students by Skype and at the end of the day the student's uploaded their work so Ben could review it.

Ben then ran a Skype feedback session the following week and along with all the excellent advice and feedback that he gave to each student about their work, it was great to hear that he'd chosen Matt Parson's and Chloe Middleton's idea to take into production!

It's great to get the programme and the students involved in a project with such high ethical, sustainable and environmental credentials. Thank you SO MUCH Ben for all your time, enthusiasm and feedback.

And we're really looking forward to seeing the final ad.

Last week it was great to welcome back 2010 graduate Creative Advertising team Josh Dando and Steve Dodd (www.dandoanddodd.com).

Josh and Steve work at VCCP and came back to Lincoln to speak to the third and second years about moving to and living in London; portfolio advice; tactics for landing placements; what's it's like on placement and the nature of their day-to-day jobs.

We're right in the middle of Interviews for the University of Lincoln Creative Advertising programme at the moment and the standard of work on display this year is satisfyingly high.

It's not just the projects in the folio's that are impressive, the students themselves have been just as entertaining as their work and have made the whole process energetic and inspiring.

We realise that some people get a little nervous before interviews and we don't believe that you get the best out of people when they're feeling that way. That's we try to conduct things in a fun and informal way whilst still asking some searching questions.

So what are we looking for in a portfolio? It's important to remember that we don’t expect anyone to have done any advertising before they join the course (but we don’t mind if you have!). Your portfolio should show your best work (not everything that you’ve ever done) that demonstrates a wide range of media (drawing, painting, collage, photography, sculpture, design, creative writing, textiles etc.), an inquisitive open mind, creative thinking, intelligence and wit. And when we interview you we are very keen to meet students who are good at communicating verbally as well as visually.

Finding out if Lincoln University's Creative Advertising course is the right course for you is very important and so we encourage interviewees to ask the staff and student crew some questions of their own in order to help make up their minds.

So if you're reading this blog post and you happen to be coming to see us with your portfolio over the next few months then consider thinking of some questions beforehand to make the most of your time with us.

We look forward to meeting and seeing the work of the next generation of Creative Advertisers!

Professional copywriter David Sandhu paid a visit to our third years last week in order to sharpen up their copywriting skills. David has a great deal of experience in the field of professional writing and has worked across a number of areas including editorial and design as well as advertising. So with competition deadlines looming and the end of year assessments on the horizon David’s workshop was very timely for the level three copywriters. Third year Jade Sturman explains how the day went.

“David's workshop was interesting and engaging and we participated in a number of exercises throughout the day. We tried a range of writing techniques in order to help us focus on the essence of a brand and find it’s tone of voice. David also encouraged us to explore and concentrate on our ambitions as copywriters and after this we were encouraged us to share our thoughts with the group. The various exercises David set were fun as well as challenging. Overall the whole workshop was a very useful and enjoyable experience.”