My advice to young people wanting to break into advertising.

Don't.

That's the short response. Here's the longer one.

I often get asked for advice about how to break into the advertising industry by wide-eyed hopefuls with visions of creating the next Superbowl ad.

Now don't get me wrong, I love enthusiasm and I am more than happy to hear when people want to pursue not only a creative life but a creative career.

But the first mistake is the word 'advertising', you've missed that boat, it sailed into the sunset some years back. Yes it still exists in a way, but thinking just 'advertising' will make you obsolete before your career even gets a foothold.

What you should be wanting to break into is the business of ideas and bringing those ideas to life and they should not be limited to advertising.

Be a creator and a maker.

In this day and age creative people have tools in their hands that help them become makers. So now you can create, make, and broadcast, and often that can be done on the spot and those ideas have the chance to be shared globally and seen by millions.

If you were to create just a newspaper ad, as was, and sometimes still is, the case in many advertising agencies, it will get looked at for a few seconds one day and then somewhere a puppy is being toilet trained on it the next. Don't let puppies pee on your ideas.

But let me clarify, advertising per se is not dead, as in the basic definition of what advertising is - to announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or use it. The concept of it still exists but it has evolved and I am very thankful for that, people wanting to get into the business of creating ideas for brands should be thankful too.

Creative freedom is now in your hands.

Your smartphone or a consumer level digital camera and a laptop now give you the power to create more and create often and get your creativity in front of millions of people and not just a tired office worker flipping through a newspaper on a train or a hyperactive puppy needing to relieve itself.

Today creators such as Casey Neistat can make a video in a day and broadcast it to millions. He's been doing that for a few years now, the game changed and he saw it. Brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, and others have recruited him to create messages for them. Yes a one man band and not an agency, they enlisted the help of a creator of ideas for brands, one who can also make the content. He's never worked in an ad agency one day of his life.

People on the street, not professional creatives, can take a photo on their iPhone and have it featured on a billboard in New York or elsewhere in the world. So now, instead of other creative people within creative departments being your competition, everyone with a phone potentially is. Keep that in mind.

What was then is not now.

There are still many ad agencies operating like it's 1950, or even 2010. They are so far behind the 8 ball that the table itself isn't even in sight. They still have traditional creative teams working to traditional creative briefs and delivering traditional creative solutions. And yes, it's not always the agencies who are to blame, many clients are still thinking in the past.

Many ad agencies are being scooped up by the big consultancies such as Deloitte, PwC, and others - if that is not writing on the wall I don't know what is. I don't see that as a bad thing to be honest, it is all a part of the evolution. But again it changes what an ad agency used to be.

But big is not always best in my opinion, now some of the smallest creative operations are coming up with ideas and solutions for big brands, Casey Neistat is testament to that - it doesn't get any smaller than one person.

In a typical advertising agency environment it can take weeks, often months, for an idea that involves a video or even just a photo to be unleashed on the target audience. In today's marketplace that's the equivalent of buying a lottery ticket a day after the numbers have been drawn. You snooze, you lose.

We have entered a now economy, a world where messages are immediate - the consumer waits for no-one and especially no brand. They want to engage in the moment. One look at the importance of Instagram and Facebook in the communication mix is testament to that. People can't 'Like' a television commercial in the way that is needed today, but they can 'Like' content that catches their attention and that content they are seeing is in the palm of their hands - literally.

The old ways of working in advertising was not about now, it was and with many still is more about - eventually. Eventually doesn't cut it.

Brands want and need ideas - that means there is a market for people who have ideas, and people who can create ideas that help brands grow and connect with their audience.

But it will be those who can think different, those who can embrace new ways of working, and integrate the tools on hand and constantly emerging new technology that will lead the charge and have greater creative careers. Your goal should be to be one of those people.

Ideas beyond content.

Social media based content will of course continue to replace traditional advertising but beyond that there are other ideas that can be developed for brands that go beyond this.

Maybe you create an event that becomes a movement, that movement takes hold and goes global. Maybe you find a new way to lessen plastic waste for a brand - now that would be a great idea. Maybe you develop an app that is game changing and world leading. Remember, nobody in an advertising agency has ever created any of the apps you're using today.

Ideas for brands can come in all shapes and sizes now, they no longer need to be ads.

So, if you want to break into something, break into the business of ideas and the business of bringing ideas to life - leave breaking into advertising to the history books.

Rodd Chant

I'm a Creative Director / Writer / Strategist / Thinker and a bit more. I work with clients/brands directly and with agencies and production companies. I also teach creative thinking and idea generation to groups and individuals. You can read more of my LinkedIn musings here. You can also find me on Twitter,  Instagram and on Facebook. Or drop me an email – roddchant@gmail.com

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