New and Improved
This week we received a boatload of new first years, all eager to prove they have what it takes to make it in Adland (the industry, not the advertising related theme park, with such rides as the Barclays Waterslide et al.).
As usual we put them through their paces with a round of form filling and photographs followed by the greatest pub quiz of all time, complete with miming, choirs and a little bit of Pictionary to boot.
From this point on the fun does not stop but the focus is turned dramatically towards rewiring their brains in the way only we know how.
Stay tuned: eager, hungry, energetic young minds have checked in for training.
Winston Fletcher (1937-2012)
At the end of last year we were delighted to welcome a legend in the ad business to the University. He lulled us with tales from the industry and his personal 'Best Ever Ads'. He was a great speaker on the qualities of British advertising and spoke fondly of how, for long periods of the 20th Century, we were envied across the world for our smart strategic thinking and understanding of the people we were speaking to.
Sadly, Winston passed away earlier this month.
This is a great loss to the industry and there is no doubt that he will be missed. He effected the careers of a great deal of household adland names and there is a wonderful article on the Campaign website with testimonials from friends and former colleagues. You can view that here. The Telegraph also produced a thorough obituary which can be read here.
For now though, here is Annie Richardson, Senior Lecturer, reflecting on the day the great Winston Fletcher came to visit.
"On March 15th Professor Winston Fletcher CBE, a leading figure in the advertising industry and author of ‘Powers of Persuasion: the History of British Advertising 1951 – 2000’ (2008) came to give us an inspiring lecture on British Advertising in the second half of the twentieth century. He did that thing which we ‘Brits’ often find difficult: examined the particularities of British cultural identities. He showed how the development of commercial television inBritain Britain overtook the US
Thanks Annie and, of course, Thank You to Winston for giving an inspiring talk and offering so much to an industry our students are working so hard to join.
You will be missed.
Sadly, Winston passed away earlier this month.
This is a great loss to the industry and there is no doubt that he will be missed. He effected the careers of a great deal of household adland names and there is a wonderful article on the Campaign website with testimonials from friends and former colleagues. You can view that here. The Telegraph also produced a thorough obituary which can be read here.
For now though, here is Annie Richardson, Senior Lecturer, reflecting on the day the great Winston Fletcher came to visit.
"On March 15th Professor Winston Fletcher CBE, a leading figure in the advertising industry and author of ‘Powers of Persuasion: the History of British Advertising 1951 – 2000’ (2008) came to give us an inspiring lecture on British Advertising in the second half of the twentieth century. He did that thing which we ‘Brits’ often find difficult: examined the particularities of British cultural identities. He showed how the development of commercial television in
Thanks Annie and, of course, Thank You to Winston for giving an inspiring talk and offering so much to an industry our students are working so hard to join.
You will be missed.
Nick & Matt selected for GRT awards
Some more awards news!
This year's graduates Nicky Perry & Matt Parsons have been announced as finalists for the Graeme Robertson Trust awards. Over to Nicky to tell you all about it:-
'OK, so many of you may never have heard of the Graeme Robertson Trust, but Graeme was one of Direct Marketing’s top pioneers. The trust works with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to act as a launchpad for creative careers, offering young talent the 'chance' they need. The trust runs an annual award competition, that's free to enter and this year it had a very sporting theme. You can read the original brief here.
'Matthew Parsons and myself teamed up to enter the competition and gave ourselves a week to complete the work. Using skills we had developed on the BA (Hons) Creative Advertising programme, we got on with interrogating the brief and finding possible solutions.
'We found the brief quite challenging: it asked for multiple medias; a competition aspect; advertising, online, direct mail and wanted participation from one million families. The brief also seemed to rely upon an advanced interest in the AVIVA UK Athletics Trial Event from the public, something Matt and I were unsure whether one million families actually had.
'On 10th July we found out that we had been shortlisted and were invited to attend a portfolio event held at Publicis in London. We were asked to bring along our portfolio, unfortunately as both Matt and myself had only recently separated with past creative partners we had only old work, so we decided it would be better to create a new portfolio: brand new briefs, brand new products, all of our own. However, we had only two days in which to do it! We knuckled down and got the work done, completing our portfolio with only a couple of hours to spare!
'The morning event was very fast paced – we had book crits with four top advertising minds in a short space of time and got a lot of help with our new book. We were both pleasantly surprised how many campaigns were liked considering how quickly we had turned them around. Then on 20th July, we were informed and congratulated on being finalists of this year's competition and we were invited to the DMA Awards on December 4th where the winner will be announced.
'All in all, we have learnt to keep your ear to the ground for upcoming competitions and opportunities, and enter anything and everything you can! Because you never know...!'
Congratulations Nicky & Matt on getting so far in this highly-regarded and long running national competition (and many thanks Nicky for this write-up). We'll all be keeping our fingers crossed for you at the awards night. Good luck!
This year's graduates Nicky Perry & Matt Parsons have been announced as finalists for the Graeme Robertson Trust awards. Over to Nicky to tell you all about it:-
'OK, so many of you may never have heard of the Graeme Robertson Trust, but Graeme was one of Direct Marketing’s top pioneers. The trust works with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to act as a launchpad for creative careers, offering young talent the 'chance' they need. The trust runs an annual award competition, that's free to enter and this year it had a very sporting theme. You can read the original brief here.
'Matthew Parsons and myself teamed up to enter the competition and gave ourselves a week to complete the work. Using skills we had developed on the BA (Hons) Creative Advertising programme, we got on with interrogating the brief and finding possible solutions.
'We found the brief quite challenging: it asked for multiple medias; a competition aspect; advertising, online, direct mail and wanted participation from one million families. The brief also seemed to rely upon an advanced interest in the AVIVA UK Athletics Trial Event from the public, something Matt and I were unsure whether one million families actually had.
'To cut a long story short we created work based on the insight that when supporting athletes at the Olympics we cheer on our country's athletes, however at this event ALL the athletes are British so you wouldn't know who to support. The idea was to introduce the public to the contenders in the sport, by getting the public to support athletes from their local areas: using the concept of regional rivalry in the UK. In other words, support your local team!
Here's the final work that we produced:-
Here's the final work that we produced:-
'On 10th July we found out that we had been shortlisted and were invited to attend a portfolio event held at Publicis in London. We were asked to bring along our portfolio, unfortunately as both Matt and myself had only recently separated with past creative partners we had only old work, so we decided it would be better to create a new portfolio: brand new briefs, brand new products, all of our own. However, we had only two days in which to do it! We knuckled down and got the work done, completing our portfolio with only a couple of hours to spare!
'The morning event was very fast paced – we had book crits with four top advertising minds in a short space of time and got a lot of help with our new book. We were both pleasantly surprised how many campaigns were liked considering how quickly we had turned them around. Then on 20th July, we were informed and congratulated on being finalists of this year's competition and we were invited to the DMA Awards on December 4th where the winner will be announced.
'All in all, we have learnt to keep your ear to the ground for upcoming competitions and opportunities, and enter anything and everything you can! Because you never know...!'
Congratulations Nicky & Matt on getting so far in this highly-regarded and long running national competition (and many thanks Nicky for this write-up). We'll all be keeping our fingers crossed for you at the awards night. Good luck!
Class of 2012 Graduation
Last Wednesday saw the University of Lincoln Creative Advertising students attend the 2012 Graduation Ceremony in Lincoln's historic Cathedral. The event is always a great display of pomp and ceremony with odd shaped hats and colourful robes in abundance. The proceedings were conducted in time honoured fashion and were a fitting celebration of three years hard work and dedication.
It's always good to catch up with the graduates in September and it was very satisfying to hear how successful they are being in their quest for a career in advertising. Work placements at prestigious ad agencies like AMVBBDO, Grey and VCCP are commonplace whilst other students are based at up and coming new agencies like the corner.
Whilst the graduates may have left Lincoln, the Creative Advertising programme always maintains strong links with our ex-students and it is with great interest that we watch their careers develop, so well done to all of the graduates and here's to the future.
Suddenly it started raining hats.
It's always good to catch up with the graduates in September and it was very satisfying to hear how successful they are being in their quest for a career in advertising. Work placements at prestigious ad agencies like AMVBBDO, Grey and VCCP are commonplace whilst other students are based at up and coming new agencies like the corner.
Whilst the graduates may have left Lincoln, the Creative Advertising programme always maintains strong links with our ex-students and it is with great interest that we watch their careers develop, so well done to all of the graduates and here's to the future.
Graduate TV campaign goes live.
University of Lincoln Creative Advertising graduates Brooke Cutmore and Ruud Kool have been very busy over the last few months creating a TV campaign for Moo.com. The pair, who work at Creature London have collaborated with animators to create a visually arresting campaign which is currently on air across the UK, we'll let Ruud explain more in his own words.
"So far, we've made four ads for Moo.com, as you might have seen two of them are already on air in the UK. The other two are soon to air in the United States.
The idea for the ads was to let influential entrepreneurs tell their story, and encourage others to start something remarkable themselves. All people featured in the ads did actually start their business through Moo.com, as they had their first business cards printed by the company. So the truth is that Moo.com was there in the beginning.
In the process of making the ads, we spent hours and hours in the studio, interviewing a number of interesting entrepreneurs both here in the UK and in the States. We asked them about how they started out, how they came up with their big idea, what the ups and downs where in the process, and most importantly, what advice they'd give other budding entrepreneurs. We ended up with hours of talking, that we reduced to 25 second sound bites. Which we then animated.
We worked with a French director/animator called Steven Briand. He originally created the video below which was a key inspiration for the art direction of the ads.
Keep an eye on moo.com/remarkable to catch the two American ads when they go live!"
"So far, we've made four ads for Moo.com, as you might have seen two of them are already on air in the UK. The other two are soon to air in the United States.
The idea for the ads was to let influential entrepreneurs tell their story, and encourage others to start something remarkable themselves. All people featured in the ads did actually start their business through Moo.com, as they had their first business cards printed by the company. So the truth is that Moo.com was there in the beginning.
Part of Brooke and Ruud's campaign for Moo.com
We worked with a French director/animator called Steven Briand. He originally created the video below which was a key inspiration for the art direction of the ads.
Keep an eye on moo.com/remarkable to catch the two American ads when they go live!"
More competition success
The Young Creative Network competition results were announced recently and we're very glad to say that second year students, Liam Nicholson and Vicki Thompson won in their category for The Industry Trust. The brief asked the students to persuade movie lovers to stop watching pirated films and watch the real thing instead.
The judges thought that the pair of them got this very tricky brief just right, so hearty congratulations to Liam and Vicki. They have been invited to the YCN Student Awards Ceremony at Shoreditch Town Hall, London in early September were they can collect their gong and mingle with their fellow winners.
We'll bring you pictures of the awards evening when Liam and Vicki step up on to the stage in September but in the meantime, well done.
D&AD Success
Congratulations to Claire Stokes and Christina Smith on winning a highly coveted D&AD Yellow Pencil. D&AD is one of the most prestigious international awards in advertising and to be recognised in this way is testament to the effort that the girls put into their work.
The awards ceremony was held at Old Spitalfields Market in East London and the awards were presented by D&AD President Rosie Arnold and D&AD Chairman Tim Lindsay. The ceremony was an exciting and fun packed evening for all involved and was an event that the girls will remember for a long time.
Christina and Claire looking very happy indeed.
Hundreds of students from around the world enter into the competition and the standard of work is extremely high so to win amongst such company shows just how well they have done. The girls won the Digital Advertising category and the client for this years competition was Spotify. Claire and Christina came up with an idea that neatly tied together the strengths of Spotify and Facebook to create a campaign that rewarded music fans for their dedication.
Time to clear some room on the mantlepiece.
Claire & Christina's winning work.
The awards ceremony was held at Old Spitalfields Market in East London and the awards were presented by D&AD President Rosie Arnold and D&AD Chairman Tim Lindsay. The ceremony was an exciting and fun packed evening for all involved and was an event that the girls will remember for a long time.
The awards ceremony in Spitalfields Market.
The girls also featured highly in another D&AD competition category, this time for the Aviva brief and were recognised as best in year for their work. To feature once in a competition as tough as this is quite an achievement but to feature in two categories is almost unheard of, so a double congratulation is in order. Because the girls did so well they have been invited to join the D&AD Graduate Academy where they will attend seminars, lectures and workshops with leading industry figures as well as gaining work experience at some of the best agencies in London.
As you may remember students from the University of Lincoln Creative Advertising programme were also successful in last year's awards in the Integrated category. To reach this level of achievement students require dedication and analytical thinking as well as a touch of inspiration, so well done girls and here's to next years competition.
D&AD New Blood 2012
It's that time of year again when the course makes its way down to London in order to exhibit at the D&AD New Blood exhibition. The show is a gathering of the best talent from all of the design Colleges and Universities from across the country. This year it was a three day long event, kicking off with a Private View on Tuesday night that was attended by the great and the good from the design and advertising industry. This was a great opportunity for the staff and students to rub shoulders with potential employers and forge links for the future.
Before...
...and after
D&AD New Blood has so much great work up on show that you have to plan effectively in order to make an eye catching and effective stand. It was therefore very flattering that D&AD singled out the University of Lincoln Creative Advertising exhibit as an example of good practice. A quick video interview with Gyles Lingwood gave the organisers some pointers on how to put together a good stand.
Lincoln shows how it should be done.
Justin Tagg busy networking.
D&AD New Blood is an intense and tiring few days but works very effectively as a springboard for the graduates into the London advertising agency scene. With industry people mingling with the students as well as workshops and events that are designed to inspire and educate it all ads up to aching feet but inspired minds.
CA End of Year Show 2012
It's that time of the year again when our Third Year students on the Creative Advertising Programme get to show off their work to friends and family. Last years show was widely regarded to be the best one yet and if it is possible I think we may have topped it this year.
So, stand by for a series of pictures from this years show and some wonderful examples of this year's student work.
As usual we began with a screening of the student's Self Promo film work (see below) before heading over for our private view of the advertising work in TPH.
The bar was stocked full of drinks and being manned by 2nd year students who all knew that this time next year it will be their work on show!
We had a full house of enthusiastic parents and, as Senior Lecturer Mike Belton put it in his speech, not students but 'Fellow Advertising professionals'. The show was opened by Programme Leader Gyles Lingwood and there was a general sense of pride and excitement, knowing that the students gathered for their degree show had already begun plotting their first moves out into the industry.
It is fair to say that one sentiment rings true about all students at this stage of their education on the Creative Advertising programme. They're not just smart, tenacious professionals. They're also lovely people, the kind you'd be happy spending some time with and trust they'll do a great job.
We know that whatever they do next they are all capable of making an impact on the industry and a difference to the world around them.
Senior Lecturer Mike Belton, beer in on hand, neatly typed speech in the other.
A neat mix of CA Students, their friends and family.
The bar staff on standby as the crowds begin to arrive.
Take a look at a few of the pieces of work from this year's show, from posters to Self Promotional films.
Every year Creative Advertising students from the University of Lincoln produce a self promotional film. There are a few reasons for this; it helps them to stand out, it can communicate something about their creative values or personality or set out a specific direction they want to take in their career.
This year there have been some wonderful examples of short video work that truly represents the characters of the students involved. So, sit back, relax and enjoy a selection of the films from this year's students.
Sam Daly and Rob Greaves
Janey Burgon
Matt Parsons and Chloe Middleton
Jade Sturman
Laura Clark and Elliott Starr
Philippa Beaumont and Artur Faria
Jack Patarou and Kelly Bugg
So, another year group has completed their journey on the Creative Advertising programme but we will continue to follow their progress with interest as they set off to make their impact on the industry.
And let's hope they think of us -
- whilst we set about rebuilding the studio for the arrival of a brand new first year and our returning second and third years!
Where are they now? Ash Billinghay.
Ex Creative Advertising student, Ash Billinghay graduated from the programme last year and is now a copywriter at top digital agency Lean Mean Fighting Machine. We'll let Ash explain in his own words how he got the job at such an influential agency.
“Throughout my degree I always thought I would end up as a copywriter in a creative team and together we’d swan off to London and do placements galore, like everyone said we were meant to. However come the end of the third year I found myself without an art director and without much motivation to go and try it on my own. In my head this was a problem because everything I’d done for the last few years was to get to a point where I could call myself a creative, and now this point seemed to be escaping me. I had to come up with a plan B, which isn’t something I tend to do very often. My plan B was to do a Masters degree and hope that extra experience would stand me in good stead for another pop at the advertising world in the future.
“I got onto that Masters (I bribed a lot of people) and also started applying for lots of placements and jobs around Lincoln. One of these applications came through, and for the next 3 months I found myself working as a copywriter at a design agency. Unfortunately this design agency didn’t really have a lot of copy that needed writing, but it definitely made a decent mark on my CV and helped open doors for me to other opportunities.
“After the placement ended I went freelance and worked for a few local businesses writing copy for websites and brochures before a long term contract came up at The Collection, a museum and art gallery at the top of the city. I was their Marketing and Audience Development Officer, which meant I ran their social media networks and organised PR, marketing and advertising online. It was a very good experience for me, working in the cultural sector which I had always been interested in, and I worked with some lovely people who all came from very interesting and diverse backgrounds. I learnt a lot while I was there and made some good friends and contacts.
“At the same time I was obviously still doing my MA and part of this involved me producing my own book. I did this and self published on the Amazon Kindle network as well as getting it put into print. This was really quite exciting for me, seeing something I had worked so hard on come to fruition, and again meant I spoke to and met a lot of interesting people who could help me on my path to my future career goals.”
“It was while I was sat revelling in the book’s success (I sold 12 copies. Only 3 of which were to members of my family) that I saw a vacancy come up on my Twitter feed. I was always on the look out for more freelance work and hadn’t really considered taking on anything full time until my MA was over, but this vacancy was with an ad agency in London doing a very similar job to the one I had been doing for The Collection. It was an opportunity too good to miss and one I didn’t think I was going to have after coming out of uni as a single, but I went through the application process just to see if it was possible.
“Two interviews later and here I am, sat in the office of Lean Mean Fighting Machine typing up these words. I’ve been here 3 months now after moving down to London in March and it’s been possibly the busiest 3 months of my entire life. I work for some pretty big names including Foster’s, Strongbow, Vimto and Unilever and am still yet to be tired of seeing something I have worked on exist in the real world.
“When university finished I was really quite frightened that I would be left behind and end up a withered old man with lots of cats and only a tale to tell of how I once did a degree in advertising.
“That still might happen, but for now it’s not going too badly. While being in a team is definitely something I wish I had tried harder to achieve, going the single route can lead to some good places too.”
“Throughout my degree I always thought I would end up as a copywriter in a creative team and together we’d swan off to London and do placements galore, like everyone said we were meant to. However come the end of the third year I found myself without an art director and without much motivation to go and try it on my own. In my head this was a problem because everything I’d done for the last few years was to get to a point where I could call myself a creative, and now this point seemed to be escaping me. I had to come up with a plan B, which isn’t something I tend to do very often. My plan B was to do a Masters degree and hope that extra experience would stand me in good stead for another pop at the advertising world in the future.
“I got onto that Masters (I bribed a lot of people) and also started applying for lots of placements and jobs around Lincoln. One of these applications came through, and for the next 3 months I found myself working as a copywriter at a design agency. Unfortunately this design agency didn’t really have a lot of copy that needed writing, but it definitely made a decent mark on my CV and helped open doors for me to other opportunities.
“After the placement ended I went freelance and worked for a few local businesses writing copy for websites and brochures before a long term contract came up at The Collection, a museum and art gallery at the top of the city. I was their Marketing and Audience Development Officer, which meant I ran their social media networks and organised PR, marketing and advertising online. It was a very good experience for me, working in the cultural sector which I had always been interested in, and I worked with some lovely people who all came from very interesting and diverse backgrounds. I learnt a lot while I was there and made some good friends and contacts.
“At the same time I was obviously still doing my MA and part of this involved me producing my own book. I did this and self published on the Amazon Kindle network as well as getting it put into print. This was really quite exciting for me, seeing something I had worked so hard on come to fruition, and again meant I spoke to and met a lot of interesting people who could help me on my path to my future career goals.”
Lean Mean Fighting Machine’s office, empty of people.
“It was while I was sat revelling in the book’s success (I sold 12 copies. Only 3 of which were to members of my family) that I saw a vacancy come up on my Twitter feed. I was always on the look out for more freelance work and hadn’t really considered taking on anything full time until my MA was over, but this vacancy was with an ad agency in London doing a very similar job to the one I had been doing for The Collection. It was an opportunity too good to miss and one I didn’t think I was going to have after coming out of uni as a single, but I went through the application process just to see if it was possible.
“Two interviews later and here I am, sat in the office of Lean Mean Fighting Machine typing up these words. I’ve been here 3 months now after moving down to London in March and it’s been possibly the busiest 3 months of my entire life. I work for some pretty big names including Foster’s, Strongbow, Vimto and Unilever and am still yet to be tired of seeing something I have worked on exist in the real world.
“When university finished I was really quite frightened that I would be left behind and end up a withered old man with lots of cats and only a tale to tell of how I once did a degree in advertising.
“That still might happen, but for now it’s not going too badly. While being in a team is definitely something I wish I had tried harder to achieve, going the single route can lead to some good places too.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
