Grads working as as AD/CW teams in the ad industry... looking back at your degree, what was missing from your course that you wish you had?
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- @Carl Halford Amazing. Very, very valuable for students trying to create in a very, very fragmented media landscape
- @Elliott Starr Amazing. Thank you so much. This must be a happy accident as i'm putting together a module - creative problem solving - that aims to hit this bang on; we can solve any problem, but finding the right problem therein lies the challenge. Appreciate the links, too *insert thumbs up emoji*
- @Alex Bec Absolutely! We're lucky enough to be connected with some of the biggest advertisng agencies in the UK who we often use to give students the "real talk" when it comes to career advice. Our students are definitely not hidden from the realities of adland!
- @Carl Halford sure, so, for what it's worth coming from me. Creatives are problem solvers. No new news there. We use ideas to solve problems for brands, to build bridges between the brand and the person it wants to talk to, wants to buy into them, and buy from them.The great thing about creatives is that they love solving problems and given time, they will find a creative way to solve any problem a brand gives them. The dangerous thing about creatives is that they love solving problems and given time, they will find a creative way to solve any problem a brand gives them.But it doesn't matter how beautiful the solution is if it's solving the wrong problem. So much of what our industry makes that is creatively lauded, but commercially lackluster, can usually be linked back to the mistake of solving the wrong problem.I'm sure I'm not the only person who has sat in meetings where we are given the cultural, customer, and competitor context for a client, and I start feeling like I see a way through for them, a bridge that could solve all of this, only to be told that what they want to make is 'X'.'X' is usually totally wrong for the brand problem, and is usually symptomatic of putting execution not only ahead of solution, but ahead of problem.The problem, like most brand problems, lives at the intersection of culture, customer, competitors, and then, our client.I experienced this time and again at the beginning of my career and didn't have the language for raising my concerns without sounding like just another frustrated creative.When I discovered Critical Thinking and First Principles, it gave me the language I needed, for discussing, professionally, why what was being proposed would quite likely, commercially, fail.I'm not an expert on First Principles, but my back-of-a-napkin explanation is to sweat a problem until you get it to a place that is undividable and undeniable. Then, you try to build a solution from there. Toyota's 5 Why's is a simple, accessible tool here, for example.(See the quotes on step 2 of this link:https://medium.com/the-mission/elon-musks-3-step-first-principles-thinking-how-to-think-and-solve-difficult-problems-like-a-ba1e73a9f6c0)I also go into more detail, in relation to advertising, here:https://medium.com/want-a-creative-job/patterns-in-the-portfolios-of-aspiring-creatives-whats-good-what-s-bad-what-s-missing-9e05dcc81d42
- Hi Carl - great question.I dont work strictly as a team, but feel strongly all courses need some quality, up-to-date and well informed career guidance!Alex
- @Elliott Starr Thanks for your reply, Elliott. Could you expand more on your thoughs about critical thinking and first principles?
- @ɐɹoᗡ ɐuu∀ ˥ Thaks for your reply! We've received varying feedback about this over the years and have heard pros and cons for teams Vs no teams.
- Hi Carl,I would say in general the traiditional AD / CW model is not performing well given the current creative landcsape so I would highly recommend to get away from it. As a creative students should learn skills that can be applied in a more varied range of team structures on the top of a diverse skill set.
- A unit on critical thinking. And a unit on First Principles. Came across them myself after university and wish I had known them sooner.
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