Here’s something I find strange.
A while back, an art school lecturer didn’t want me to come back to talk to the students because I was too hard on them.
I was too hard on the students.
Let’s just unpack that.
A working creative director was too hard on the advertising students.
The same students that will soon be looking for jobs from working creative directors.
Apparently these students won’t be able to handle being roughly spoken to by a creative director.
And the college lecturer doesn’t want them exposed to it.
Which leads us to several possibilities.
First, the college lecturer thinks that, unlike me, creative directors aren’t really rough.
They are all, without exception, gentle and charming.
Second, the lecturer doesn’t think the students can handle being spoken to roughly while they are students.
But they will magically be able to handle it when they graduate.
Or third, and this is I think the real reason, the college lecturer can’t handle it.
They have chosen not to be part of the rough world of advertising.
Where people get shouted at, and work gets rejected, and people get fired.
So they choose to work in the gentler world of teaching.
And they want their students to have a nice, pleasant time while they’re at college.
Just one problem.
That lecturer is not the one who’ll have to pick up the tab for this unrealistic attitude.
The students are, when they graduate.
If training has any purpose at all it must be to give students an advantage over people who haven’t trained.
Otherwise what’s the point of training?
But run like this, it gives students a disadvantage.
Nothing harsh must ever be said to them, in case it hurts their feelings or distresses them.
How much use do we think a college education like that is to anyone?
How much does that prepare anyone for the real world?
Surely the point is to prepare students for the real world, to learn what it’s going to be like, so they can handle it.
And to do all that while they’re in a safe environment.
College.
The job of training for anything, surely, is to toughen you up so you can handle the real game when it happens.
So you’ll be more able to compete, not less.
Training shouldn’t soften you up, so you relax and get complacent.
The analogy for me is that a bad college is like a greenhouse.
The little plant is kept nice and warm as long as it remains inside.
Then one day, it’s suddenly thrown out into the freezing blizzard.
No gradual acclimatisation, the plant either adjusts straight away to the cold, inhospitable environment, or it dies.
Either way it’s on its own.
It’s not the college’s problem anymore.
They can carry on in their pleasant environment with another crop of students.
Pretending life in the outside world is always nice and gentle and no one ever speaks harshly.
Which is why I don’t think a lot of colleges are run for the benefit of their students.
I think they’re run for the benefit of their lecturers.
Dave,
The lecturers are having to teach with one hand behind their back. The politics of the system holds the upper hand. It’s primed for a troubleshooter like yourself.
john p woods - 18 June 2012 10:07 am
Agree. When I finished school we were offered work placement. One of the art directors of a major Italian agency wasn’t keen to get any student on because of past experience with our school. I remember he quoted‘ they are all mozzarelle’ in Italian this means being softy and delicate.
Anyway, I somehow managed to get a place in the agency but left after only two months, I couldn’t handle it. I was not prepared for that. 15 years on and it’s still one of my biggest regrets.
monica - 18 June 2012 10:33 am
Monica,
I love that description: students are like mozarella, soft and delicate.
Dave Trott - 18 June 2012 10:43 am
An alumni even said he’s not going to hire anyone from my uni as he considered the graduates to be too spoiled. I went to advertising and had to relearn most of the part in the workplace. I think this industry vs academic thing exists outside advertising as well.
Irfan - 18 June 2012 11:40 am
It’s not the same to talk of bulls as be in the bull ring – a spanish proverb.
Jim - 18 June 2012 11:42 am
I should be grateful, then, that I have been to the right school. My very first day of work at ad agency I had to stay till 2 in the morning and I can manage to stay in the industry for 5 years now.
Ra - 18 June 2012 12:33 pm
It’s a common problem. I was lucky The senior lecturer at my college was tough as nails.
A bitter old lady, ex CD, habitually drunk after 11am and perfect for the role.
Turn up late to the afternoon lecture and boy did you get a spray.
Good times.
Peter - 18 June 2012 12:45 pm
Is the same as Advertising not being about the clients but more about those that work in Advertising? I was just wondering what the perceived wisdom was in dropping jingles, straplines, mnemonics etc in order to make ‘lovely’ little films.
john p woods - 18 June 2012 12:46 pm
You raise an interesting point John.
See this blog on Wednesday for my view on that.
Dave Trott - 18 June 2012 12:55 pm
Even more ridiculous when the lecturer’s thinking is applied to some army.
To make sure their troops don’t get injured, wooden rifles are used in bayonet fighting.
Compare this to the Israeli army where soldiers fight (under supervision) with unsheathed bayonets.
Where tripod-mounted machine guns shoot live rounds at the heels of soldiers to motivate them to clear obstalces.
Robin. - 18 June 2012 1:19 pm
I always looked at it as a morale-destroyer rather than a fire-lighter or motivator. Should students be prepared for it? Most certainly. But if your career mortality doesn’t motivate you, no amount of screaming is likely to help, and it poisons the office.
The truth, however unpleasant, can be delivered at normal volume. I often find that it is far more forceful that way as well.
Chris Seiger - 18 June 2012 2:00 pm
Students of advertising should take a 5 year sabbatical in real life after school. And only then if they’ve developed a talent for psychology and communicating can they be considered ripe for advertising employment.
Well, that’s the way I did it anyway.
Because from where I see it University breeds weakness in all but Engineering, Chemistry, Science, Medicine and applied mathematics.
(PS: I’m still available for employment).
Julian Williams - 18 June 2012 3:24 pm
PPS: Ref: Students’ 5 year sabbatical. Please add – develop a thick skin as well. Which is what they’ll get if they get the real life bit right
Julian Williams - 18 June 2012 3:29 pm
Just one final thought on your thought provoking and truthful blog.
Yea, you’ve had a bad experience in a learning institute. I mean, wouldn’t anyone of your stature want to reach the folk of the future and tell them like it really is.
And the lecturer didn’t like it. Big fucking deal.
Fact is, you got to those students and appeared more energised, more creative, more open minded than anything the lecturer could do or be.
The lecturer wanted to be you. He was trying to teach them how to be you. But only managed to get as far as “here’s how to be me”. Sadly.
You gave those students a blast. And they’re now excited. Thinking for themselves – at last!
And those students will be the creators of the future. The free thinkers.
You did good Dave. Very good.
Julian Williams - 18 June 2012 3:52 pm
Dave
One of the most useful lessons an aspiring creative should be taught is ‘How to handle rejection + not cry like a baby every time some1 takes your precious little baby and wipes the carpet with it leaving nylon burns across its 4head’ because I bet there ain’t many ad creatives working 2day, or any other day, who get 100% of their ideas thru – It’s 1 in 10 if you’re lucky/1 in 1,000,000 if u work 4 Dave Trott. Ha.
Grilla Login - 18 June 2012 3:56 pm
completely agree dave.
when i was trying to break into Edvertising in New York, i took a night class with the famously harsh and abrasive Sal DeVito at the School of Visual Arts. Sal was a crazy Italian art director from Brooklyn and he was noted for setting fire to student ads he felt insulted his delicate sensibilities.
Sal took umbrage at the first ad i did for his class. It was for Amtrak.
He searched his pockets for a lighter with which to set my ad ablaze but couldn’t find one. So instead he threw it out the window. I watched it flutter slowly down to the ground on 18th street. I remember it was snowing.
I was speechless. I felt humiliated. I wanted to choke him to death.
Instead I took revenge by having the best ad in every subsequent class and acting like it was no big deal.
Sal really woke me up. And i got a job directly from the ads i did in his class.
Good times!
vinny warren - 18 June 2012 5:30 pm
of all the talk about X, Y, Z etc generation everybody fails to call it what it actually is: a sissy generation.
it’s not just advertising students. it’s this new breed of grown-ups-to-be who are collectively incapable of facing a real world. emotionally disabled.
Riki - 18 June 2012 8:14 pm
Riki,
I think the art schools are to blame for shielding the kids so they don’t grow from rejection, they are crushed by it.
I learned the same way Vinnie did (comment 16) and it felt like boot camp in the marines.
We could handle any creative director after that.
Dave Trott - 18 June 2012 9:03 pm
Dave,
I was brought up the same way – both personally and professionally.
you learn more from your mistakes than you do from winnings.
but connivance (hope it’s the right word) is a bitch. no matter how you mask it doesn’t lead to anything good.
Riki - 18 June 2012 10:05 pm
Dave, maybe the lecturer (not very smart obviously) thought you were being harsh for your own pleasure.
We all know CDs who reject every piece ofwork. Nothing else that anyone else does is ever good enough. Such CDs can find fault at every idea.
But they are unable to say how a piece of work could be better. What’s worse, this type of CD cannot even do the work himself.
They get the job because they are good at placating clients. When clients say, make the logo bigger, they ask will 30% be OK?
Such CDs tend to be found at agencies with big, boring global clients.
Robin. - 19 June 2012 1:13 am
You can check out my student folio from 12 years ago at:
Nochanceinfuckinghell.com.au
Not that
Peter - 19 June 2012 2:01 am
Just curious,
what did you do in the lecture Dave?
If you don’t mind me asking.
Irfan - 19 June 2012 3:08 am
You didn’t ask that they switch off their mobile phones during your talk, did you Dave -That would be crossing the line between hard/cruelty.
Grilla Login - 19 June 2012 9:33 am
Even if they are crap, which they invariably are, even if they swan about, which they invariably do, the political pressure to keep students is immense. Given the opportunity to operate a three strikes and your out system believe you me the lecturers would do so. Yes, I’m sure there are lecturers out there who are riding the system but that goes for all walks of life.
The bottom line is this, the lecturers are the front line and the admin generals at the back are sending them out on a daily basis to be slaughtered by a bunch of good for nothing layabouts with attitudes the size of their over inflated egos. Hardly a cushy number, hardly a gentler world. In fact dealing with ‘enlightened individuals’ in the world of advertising is a breeze by comparison. Hell, I’d just take having a conversation with a decent human being rather than be a lecturer.
john p woods - 19 June 2012 10:12 am
And that included a your instead of you’re.
john p woods - 19 June 2012 10:14 am
One question that I’m sure must be on everyone’s minds is, ‘So why do they do it then, if the system is crap?’. Well the answer to that is the same for everything, trying to effect change from within is far easier than trying to do it from the outside. I think Lyndon Johnson put it quaintly when he said of J. Edgar Hoover, ‘It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.’
john p woods - 19 June 2012 11:31 am
John – What am I going 2 have 4 lunch? is the question occu-pie-in-my-mouth right now.
Grilla Login - 19 June 2012 11:52 am
Grilla – Seeing as it’s shooting fish in a barrel season maybe ‘the fool’ could eat one of those.
john p woods - 19 June 2012 12:40 pm
John – I’ll try’n squeeze ‘So why do they do it then, if the system is crap?’ in2 the extremely slender gap between ‘What am I going 2 have 4 lunch?’ + ‘What am I going 2 have 4 dinner?’ No promises tho. There’ll definitely be no room 4 it between ‘What am I going 2 have 4 dinner?’ +’ Wonder what’s 4 supper 2night?’ be4 u ask.
Grilla Login - 19 June 2012 2:53 pm
But Grilla didn’t you know that allegedly it’s the snack you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite?
john p woods - 19 June 2012 3:40 pm
Dave
Wood u like me to Blogsit 4 u when u go on your summer vacation?
I promise I won’t have no all-nite parties while you’re away + even if I did Rachel + John promise 2 clear up the mess be4 u get back. Vinny will be suppling the beers btw.
Grilla Login - 19 June 2012 5:54 pm
Sir, I wonder if social networks have anything to do with the lecturer’s fear of reality attitude?
Now, almost every client will put broadcast or print work on facebook, the idea being to gain as many ‘likes’ as possible.
What’s shocking is, how people automatically click ‘like’. ‘Liking’ your friend’s work, even if it’s crap means you support him. Likewise, not liking could be misconstrued.
So, folks seem to equate ‘like’ with good. And since ads talk to the public, more’likes’ means the work resonates with the masses.
The good – likeable – thing about this whole ‘like’ busines is, it might just dilute awards.
A: I got a lion for my campaign.
B: Big deal, I had a million ‘likes’ for mine.
Robin. - 19 June 2012 7:37 pm
Grilla
I ain’t cleaning up anyone’s mess let alone yours and Rachel’s. One thing is for sure I’m sure she’d make a mess out of you. I’d lay low for a while just to be on the safe side.
john p woods - 19 June 2012 8:37 pm
Robin,
A. Grats on the lion.
B. Grats on a million friends.
Both have value. It’s up to you personally which you care for more.
I just want FB to instigate a ‘Dislike’ button. YT has a down thumbs button that says asa counter balance.
Peter - 20 June 2012 12:24 am
@Peter,
Think many would ‘like” a “dislike” button. For me, what would be even better is a “good” button.
The guys conducting D&AD Workshops used to pounce on us when we said we liked an ad.
‘I don’t care if you like it or not. What I want to know is why you like or dislike it’. (And no, this wasn’t Dave or any of his ex-GGT crowd.(
Which makes a lot of sense. Plenty of ads that folks like but are not much good.
Robin. - 20 June 2012 1:35 am
They should call you “Diabolical Dave”.
Whilst all you’re trying to do is save their lives from
a Firsty World War Officer mentality:-
SFX:- Flare gun.
CAPTAIN:-”Okay chappies, at the blow of the whistle form a nice line for Jerry over the top”.
Kev - 25 June 2012 8:07 am