My First year working at Advertising.
I've been thinking about @advertisingweek's idea of writing about the first year we worked in advertising and decided that I would give it a try. I don't know how much I will be able to remember - but I sure know it's filled with stupid clichés, huge personal errors and lots of other stuff that students and people starting out should know... Hence the post.
So, I can remember that I started in the nineties (and let's leave it at that). I was young, stupid, overweight, somewhat lost in what I wanted to do and with no interest in working. But after a year of sheer poverty, I decided to give myself a chance to see if I could finally get a job - oh, I had to mention that I had NO self esteem and absolutely no character whatsoever. I was shy and afraid of... well, everything.
After a few interviews I finally landed my first job at a small agency as a copywriter. Trust me, I had absolutely no idea on what that title meant. None. I literally started learning at my job. I figured it little by little, bought myself some dictionaries, some proof-reading books and bingo.
I made the usual mistakes when I was starting out. Way too long body copies, headers that seemed like a paragraph, radio spots that didn't measure either 30ss or 60ss whatsoever and to make it worse, I always wanted to use that Prince or U2 song that I really liked... not understanding that it would cost a fortune and that the client's budget for production was only 3k.
Typos... galore. I hadn't found a fool proof way to... um... proof. I made shitloads of errors and got my ass chewed big time. Oh yeah. I got my ass screamed at like I was a fucking teenager hundreds of times. In those years, I felt like a total asshole, very depressed when it happened and all the times I thought... this is the time they fire my ass. Little did I know, errors are made by many factors, not just only my tired eyes. Oh well.
I had a blast. I met new people. I started going out, which my boyfriend at the time didn't like so much. I went to my first TV shoot and since I didn't know any better, I looked around for an hour or two then I went home. Yeah, I didn't stay until the end. I guess my boss was kind on me that day and knew that I was a total moron. He didn't even call me or anything. Jesus H. Christ.
We had a tight group. I learned about team work. About working my ass off. About working on Saturdays and Sundays. And as much as I hated coming to my apartment at 4am in the morning, I thought it had a meaning, a purpose. I thought I was going to change the world. I thought... one day I will be one of those creatives who everybody knows and everybody wants go get me to work for them. Can you believe that crap? Now all I want is to do my creative in peace and get home early so I can enjoy my true prize: having a quiet time at home or having drinks with my friends. Lord, how time changes you.
I also made some errors which I deeply regret (sort of). I focused way too much on my work and me and my boyfriend quit. An Art Director started hitting on me and bingo, cliché #1, I did more than proofing one day. Needless to say, he was an asshole who broke my heart and later I found that he was banging both the receptionist and myself. Talk about me shitting where I eat, big time. At the end of a huge screaming match by my end, I gave him his walking papers. 6 years later I bumped into him and he told me how sorry he was about everything he did. We're still friends, but I still call him an asshole everytime he calls. But now, I say it nicely.
I also learned how to design, how to use all the design programs. And the weird thing is? I did it because I wanted to but my boss didn't let me try to design. So every single day I sat down with any Art Director that would let me - and I watched them as they use the program, hit the command buttons... Later they let me work over the designs and even help out. Our deal was: I design the art, you tell the boss it was you. All I wanted was to learn, learn, learn and I didn't care that I didn't get the acknowledgement.
I made great friends with my first boss. He will always be a mix of a father figure with someone that unnerves the shit out of me on an equal amount. While I think he managed some things in a bad way - mainly thinking that all of us creatives were childs and were supposed to be treated like infants; I really think that he wanted us to be perfectionists at what we do, no matter what.
I was trained, in a year, to get to work early, take one hour of lunch. I was expected to produce a huge amount of jobs and not waste a single minute. Now everytime I see artists or copywriters complaining about 3 or 4 jobs in a day I smile. Rookies, I think.
Now, 16 years after, this post was written by a copywriter who designs her own stuff, lost the extra weight, got married and divorced, stripped away all traces of shyness, got her self esteem strong and powerful, built on her own business (successfully), does not have a child because she wasted too many years working (but is already working on solving that), met the most wonderful man in her life (which also was one of her Art Directors - yeah, the chick never learns)... and most of all: I learned that it's just an ad, we're not changing lives and that the real prize is that if you work hard, you'll enjoy a nice life with your friends and family - who should ALWAYS be first.
Damn. That last paragraph was very weird for me to write because I've never noticed how much I did change from that first year to now - most of all because of all the deep things I learned and changed about myself. I look back and I cannot believe that I was like that!
So... there you go. That was my first year. I honestly recommend you doing this to see how far you've gone - or you need to go. You can send yours to advertisingweek.com or post them here at our comments section. Let's see how back you can remember - if you haven't blocked it already.
Much love, Me.
PS: Click at the name of the post for advertisingweek's website or follow them on Twitter. Well, follow them after you make sure you follow us! @whyadssuck
So, I can remember that I started in the nineties (and let's leave it at that). I was young, stupid, overweight, somewhat lost in what I wanted to do and with no interest in working. But after a year of sheer poverty, I decided to give myself a chance to see if I could finally get a job - oh, I had to mention that I had NO self esteem and absolutely no character whatsoever. I was shy and afraid of... well, everything.
After a few interviews I finally landed my first job at a small agency as a copywriter. Trust me, I had absolutely no idea on what that title meant. None. I literally started learning at my job. I figured it little by little, bought myself some dictionaries, some proof-reading books and bingo.
I made the usual mistakes when I was starting out. Way too long body copies, headers that seemed like a paragraph, radio spots that didn't measure either 30ss or 60ss whatsoever and to make it worse, I always wanted to use that Prince or U2 song that I really liked... not understanding that it would cost a fortune and that the client's budget for production was only 3k.
Typos... galore. I hadn't found a fool proof way to... um... proof. I made shitloads of errors and got my ass chewed big time. Oh yeah. I got my ass screamed at like I was a fucking teenager hundreds of times. In those years, I felt like a total asshole, very depressed when it happened and all the times I thought... this is the time they fire my ass. Little did I know, errors are made by many factors, not just only my tired eyes. Oh well.
I had a blast. I met new people. I started going out, which my boyfriend at the time didn't like so much. I went to my first TV shoot and since I didn't know any better, I looked around for an hour or two then I went home. Yeah, I didn't stay until the end. I guess my boss was kind on me that day and knew that I was a total moron. He didn't even call me or anything. Jesus H. Christ.
We had a tight group. I learned about team work. About working my ass off. About working on Saturdays and Sundays. And as much as I hated coming to my apartment at 4am in the morning, I thought it had a meaning, a purpose. I thought I was going to change the world. I thought... one day I will be one of those creatives who everybody knows and everybody wants go get me to work for them. Can you believe that crap? Now all I want is to do my creative in peace and get home early so I can enjoy my true prize: having a quiet time at home or having drinks with my friends. Lord, how time changes you.
I also made some errors which I deeply regret (sort of). I focused way too much on my work and me and my boyfriend quit. An Art Director started hitting on me and bingo, cliché #1, I did more than proofing one day. Needless to say, he was an asshole who broke my heart and later I found that he was banging both the receptionist and myself. Talk about me shitting where I eat, big time. At the end of a huge screaming match by my end, I gave him his walking papers. 6 years later I bumped into him and he told me how sorry he was about everything he did. We're still friends, but I still call him an asshole everytime he calls. But now, I say it nicely.
I also learned how to design, how to use all the design programs. And the weird thing is? I did it because I wanted to but my boss didn't let me try to design. So every single day I sat down with any Art Director that would let me - and I watched them as they use the program, hit the command buttons... Later they let me work over the designs and even help out. Our deal was: I design the art, you tell the boss it was you. All I wanted was to learn, learn, learn and I didn't care that I didn't get the acknowledgement.
I made great friends with my first boss. He will always be a mix of a father figure with someone that unnerves the shit out of me on an equal amount. While I think he managed some things in a bad way - mainly thinking that all of us creatives were childs and were supposed to be treated like infants; I really think that he wanted us to be perfectionists at what we do, no matter what.
I was trained, in a year, to get to work early, take one hour of lunch. I was expected to produce a huge amount of jobs and not waste a single minute. Now everytime I see artists or copywriters complaining about 3 or 4 jobs in a day I smile. Rookies, I think.
Now, 16 years after, this post was written by a copywriter who designs her own stuff, lost the extra weight, got married and divorced, stripped away all traces of shyness, got her self esteem strong and powerful, built on her own business (successfully), does not have a child because she wasted too many years working (but is already working on solving that), met the most wonderful man in her life (which also was one of her Art Directors - yeah, the chick never learns)... and most of all: I learned that it's just an ad, we're not changing lives and that the real prize is that if you work hard, you'll enjoy a nice life with your friends and family - who should ALWAYS be first.
Damn. That last paragraph was very weird for me to write because I've never noticed how much I did change from that first year to now - most of all because of all the deep things I learned and changed about myself. I look back and I cannot believe that I was like that!
So... there you go. That was my first year. I honestly recommend you doing this to see how far you've gone - or you need to go. You can send yours to advertisingweek.com or post them here at our comments section. Let's see how back you can remember - if you haven't blocked it already.
Much love, Me.
PS: Click at the name of the post for advertisingweek's website or follow them on Twitter. Well, follow them after you make sure you follow us! @whyadssuck
