Latest EDUCATION articles

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Days Four & Five

The sun was shining bright and the weather was hot — but not too hot — when I stepped out of the hotel to head on over to the Brandcenter this morning. The concierge warned that the weatherman called for thunderstorms this afternoon, but I was in too much of a hurry to grab an umbrella. Besides, how bad can a little rain be?

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day Three

I didn’t really need that 7 AM wake-up call from the hotel front desk this morning; instead I was awakened by the pounding of rain against my window. Yeah, this weather is truly leaving a lot to be desired. Oh well, I’m only a block away from the school, so with umbrella in hand, I headed out for Day Three of the Executive Education course.

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day Two

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed that Richmond weather has been pretty close to Montreal weather on this trip. Sure, it’s still early in the day — and early in the week, which promises to end as a scorcher — but when your mind is set on bayou-like conditions, 85 degrees seems like a bit of a let-down.

Breakfast is served at the first full day of Digital Leadership and Management Skills for Creative Directors, with plates piled high with bacon, sausage, ham, egg and cheese croissants, fruit salad and yogurt, as well as a staple of the South, iced tea. Nourishment is going to be important today, as Kelly O’Keefe, Managing Director of the VCU Brandcenter says this will be one of the busiest days of the week.

ihaveanidea @ VCU’s Executive Education for CDs, Day One

A long time ago, way back when the VCU Brandcenter was called the Adcenter and was located in a considerably less swanky building than the renowned ad school is found today, I had the great pleasure of travelling down to Richmond one summer to be a fly on the wall for one of VCU’s Executive Education programs.

Books are improving. Now skip the “advertising”

Creative directors look for different things when evaluating a candidate’s work. We all want to see demonstrations of “creativity” but each of us defines it differently.

In my case, I judge the work on how effective it would be at building a client’s business. I try to answer the questions, “Could I sell it to the client?”, and if I could, “Would it connect with the target and build the brand?”

Academia: The All-New Interactive Development Program @ The Creative Circus

The most hectic time in any agency is during a big client pitch. As the presentation creeps closer, soiled pizza boxes are stacked almost as high as discarded print outs. Empty take-out containers double as pillows for sleep-deprived agency folk. During the last few weeks in particular, empty coffee mugs are about as ubiquitous as unshaven faces. It’s under these unique circumstances that you to see individuals’ true colours.

Some thrive, while others crack. It seems only once we’re pushed beyond our limits that we really see how far we can go. In an ad school setting, the closest thing to a pitch process is portfolio review time. For Creative Circus students, this isn’t just a graduate concern, every quarter their portfolios are reviewed by a panel of judges.

School Profile: Chicago Portfolio School

Student work shouldn’t look like student work.

It’s a sentiment that everyone enrolled at the Chicago Portfolio School (CPS) can’t help but be reminded of on a daily basis. The letters that make up the motto, at least a foot in height, are reversed out of a bright blue wall that sits just opposite the elevator doors of the bustling ad school.

A Day At The Circus

A little while back, a friend of mine at The Creative Circus sent out an email about a bake sale four students were hosting. How cute, I thought, but the four-hour plane ride from Toronto to Atlanta would make it just a tad prohibitive for me to contribute. Reading further however, I discovered the students [...]

Ad School Profile: Complot

In an artsy corner of Barcelona, which is one of Europe’s most beautiful and in my opinion its most creative city, lies Complot, the ad school “for creatives by creatives”.
You can’t talk about the school without first talking about Barcelona. I personally lived there for a year, and it’s without a doubt one of those [...]

Ad School Profile: Creative Circus

A circus can best be described as a bunch of distinct loonies and animals that travel like gypsies around the world, performing and dazzling us with their incredible talents and feats. Whilst they unfortunately do not have any dancing elephants, bearded ladies, or tigers jumping through fire hoops at the Creative Circus in Atlanta, their tagline is appropriately: “A school where weird kids become employable”.