Latest AGENCY LIFE articles

The Road to New Ventures: Now We Have To Eat

As the old adage goes, “you have to see it to believe it.” A cliché? Quite so, and not always the case. But as we watched our agency’s visual identity come together, we couldn’t help but be energized. From a comical notion to a registered business, a faceless endeavor to a distinct and branded agency, Rain Dog Creative was becoming as real as we imagined it could be.

But that makes the process sound far smoother than it actually was.

Forbidden Love

By and large you are not the owner of the ideas you are paid to produce. You turn them in and they become the property of the agency, until the point they are presented to a client. Then they become the client’s property.

When we worked mainly on outbound media, this was not such a big deal. You were paid your wage to attack a brief, and you put together a pile of tissues that turned into a smaller stack of boards full of one-way messages. 98% of these ideas die. And it was painful, because as a professional you had trained yourself to invest a certain amount of passion – no, a certain amount of yourself in these ideas.

Diary of a Copywriter: Drama queen. Sort of.

I remember my very first job interview at my very first agency. The creative director asked if I could work under pressure. With some experience as a reporter under my belt, obviously I was one of those people who thrived under pressure. Bring it.

And he did. And I brung it right back. Brought it. Whatever. I thought I was pretty hot shit with my web banners and my landing pages. This advertising stuff was easy peasy.

Until “the project.”

The Most Valuable Assets

The old ad cliché is “the most valuable assets walk in and out of the door every day.” It’s the people behind the brushed aluminum sign in the lobby that make an agency. Of course, this is mostly a reference to the output of the agency. The work. The ideas. You can get a sense of those things, the style of the agency just by reading the award books. Or by the agency’s conspicuous absence from them.

Diary of a Copywriter: The power of one. More specifically, me.

Before I got into advertising, I was a journalist. The CBC kind and everything. I took a microphone into the rough landscape that is Prince Edward Island and reported on things like potatoes, Anne of Green Gables and a woman who made her entire home out of garbage and recycled materials.

Sometimes, I Even Write Ads

I’ve been working in the communication arts industry for about sixteen years. I began as a graphic designer and later (about 8 years ago), I moved to advertising. I have been creative for much longer than that. If I had to put it into years, I’d say about thirty-five years. I’m not exactly sure what I did for the first five years of my life so thirty-five it is. I lost my way creatively twice.

Being a mistress is more fun than being a wife

When I worked at my old agency we had the Budweiser account.

Or so we thought.

But about a year into our tenure it was announced that a certain Goodby Silverstein and Partners would be joining us on the account.

“Oh lovely!” was the thought that DID NOT cross my mind.

Diary of a Copywriter: Account People from Heaven

She stared deep into my eyes, reached her arms around me and whispered into my ear “I love you.”

Followed by “thank you for being such an amazing and efficient writer.”

Account people. They can be your worst enemy or your best friend.

Eager Beavers: Surviving an Internship at Energy BBDO

I once owned a truck called Big 10. The truck had a 450cc engine in it and from what I understand, this is a huge engine. The truck was an automatic and every time it shifted from first to second the back tires would squeal. An unavoidable occurrence no matter how gingerly you drove. No matter how slowly you accelerated. No matter how low the speed limit.

The Creative Solution Agencies Seek is Within

I can tell you one of the things that keeps you up at night once you’ve reached the “heights” of Chief Creative Officer is, “Where’s the next job going to come from if this one doesn’t work out?” Actually, now that I think about it that was probably my wife whispering to me as I tried to fall asleep. It’s not like there are many openings for that title at any random time given the average number of years a person stays ensconced in the position, considering they define the agency’s style and voice.

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