building creative generalists

I’ve just spent the last week at the University of Oregon. Working with undergraduate students and faculty at the advertising programme at the school of journalism. I was being an ‘executive in residence’.

The U of O is in Eugene, though it might make more sense to say the U of O is Eugene. It’s a lovely place. They spend a lot of time telling you about all the bits of Eugene that inspired various things on The Simpsons. (see above) And both the kids and the faculty were really nice and really welcoming. Smart kids too (is that too patronising?) Really engaged, enthusiastic and imaginative.

It’s very intimidating to arrive somewhere and come face to face with a large graphic of your name, with a collection of your 'sayings' like you’re a third world despot. Nice of them to make the effort though. (It’s also slightly embarrasing to be caught taking pictures of a graphic about yourself to put on your blog. That probably defines self-involved.)

Anyway, to the point.

It’s a long time since I’ve spent much time in an educational environment and it made me think about all sorts of things.

The students at the U of O are organised into a little volunteer ad agency called Allen Hall Advertising. They do pretty decent work for real clients and it must be an invaluable way to learn. They let me sit on an AHA meeting but it wasn’t long before I found myself starting to shatter their young dreams.

Because, in creating AHA, they’d very accurately recreated the infrastructure and heirachies of JWT in 1986. (Not specifically, but you know what I mean.) They were operating in a way that even big dumb agencies are trying to stop doing. They were preparing themselves for a world of work that doesn’t exist any more, or at least, won’t exist soon. I suggested, probably thoughtlessly, that they not worry about who was an ACD or an account person and start thinking about creative business problems they’d like to solve and start solving them. In small multi-disciplinary teams. Quickly.

And it soon becomes apparent that this issue goes a lot broader. Their course is designed to churn out mini-art directors, mini-account people, mini-planners for a world that increasingly just wants creative generalists. We have no idea what the world of work will be like or 5 or 10 years, but I suspect it won’t be like JWT in the 80s.

(Though I guess the lucky thing about advertising is it’s quite a flexible activity anyway so it’s not like they’re learning anything that won’t be useful. They’re not studying to be steam engineers or top hat makers, but it’s not so much about the skills they learn, it’s how they learn to apply them.)

Anyway.

The faculty at the U of O are smart enough to have figured this out and they’re working against the institutional friction to create something appropriate for the 21st century (I suspect they got me in to cause this sort of trouble, maybe even to write a post like this) but it’s going to be a struggle. We’re heading for a multi-disciplinary world and that butts right up against a university business model. If I were preparing myself for my job right now I’d do classes in film editing, poetry, statistics, anthropology, business administration, copyright law, psychology, drama, the history of art, design, coffee appreciation and a thousand other things. Colleges don’t want you doing that, that destroys all their efficiencies, but it’s what they’re going to have to work out.

(Good signs include a course that they're going to teach about Curiosity, that sounds like something I’d like to have done.)

I suggested the best thing they could do is get in touch with Steve at Creative Generalist and get his advice so Steve, you might be getting a call.

But everyone keep your eye on the U of O, with some good luck and some hard work they might transform themselves from a pretty decent ad school into a supplier of high-class creative generalists.

Interestingly, as well as having visited the U of O last week, I’m also on the board of VCU adcenter and I’ve been exchanging emails with people there about a similar dilemma. They’ve been watching the world change too and have created a new track called ‘Creative Brand Management’- this is a response to the idea that traditional MBAs are really poorly equipped to handle the increasingly creative requirements of the modern business world - having ideas, managing creative projects, working with aesthetic decisions, etc. In essence these are the brand managers, communications managers etc of the future. I guess they’re like regular marketing students but they’re more used to collaboration with creative people etc.

This seems like a smart idea to me but obviously it’s quite a new idea and most client organisations have never heard of adcenter so they’re looking for help and ideas in helping these people get out into the world. Where can they get internships? How should they market themselves? All that sort of stuff. One of the students is thinking about all this and emailed me with questions. Sadly my one year as a client doesn’t really equip me to answer them very well, so I said I’d try and help by putting some of the questions up  here.

If anyone has any views or suggestions I’d very grateful if you’d post them in the comments. These are the questions:

1. For the CBMs, part of the struggle is the relative anonymity of the Adcenter in the client world. From a typical client perspective, what do you think is the most attractive way to describe the educational process as it differs from traditional B-schools? Should this "sell" work its way onto a student's resume, or is there another way to make these points to an employer who may have zero prior knowledge? What types of materials should complement our resume as a track-information provider (i.e., a thorough Web site, a downloadable brochure, etc.)?

2. What, specifically, do you look for in the resume of someone who will work on your brand team? Do you expect a portfolio in addition to a resume? If so, what should be included?

3. We want to ensure that the title "Creative Brand Managers" isn't too limiting. Ideally, as graduates from this program, we will be equipped to manage a brand in myriad roles, including communication manager, marketing manager, project manager, brand analyst, among many others. Is the term "Creative Brand Manager" misleading to a recruiter? How explicit should we be with the title? What types of positions would you hire a student with a masters in "Creative Brand Management" for?

4. What are the skills mandatory from a new hire to work on anything that touches your brand? What are some ideal skills you'd like to see but rarely do?

5. In closing, how can we go about having companies find us in the future? What can we do to spread the word about this one-of-a-kind program?

So that's it. Any suggestions or thoughts very welcome.

Comments

[Ben]

Your name on a Tube roundel. You gotta love that.

[Alex]

Apropos of nothing at all, I just heard you on the BBC - not sure what programme it was; must have been a repeat. Anyway, just thought I'd say that I thought you did well - equable but interesting. I had a bit of a hey-I-read-his-blog moment, which doesn't happen often. Quite a good moment, actually.

[barry a. smith]

I have been frequenting your blog for about a month and I'm learning a great deal from you. I've enjoyed your traveling lessons on YouTube as well. Thank you.

[russell]

thanks barry, you're very kind

[georgeeparker]

Russell
What's wrong with preparing students to work at JWT 1986, when JWT 2006 hasn't really changed in the last 20 years? OK, not in terms of interior design, as we have seen numerous pictures of management in boiler suits wielding sledghammers as they procede to "Knock down the walls!" But in terms of methodology, little changes. Yes BDA's continually pay lip service to whatever is the flavour du jour, before quickly moving on to the next big thing. As the business is increasingly run by the bean counters of the four conglomerates, all public companies, all intent on making next quarters numbers, we will end up working in a giant Draft/FCB where the "Global Creative Director" is proud to point out that the reason they won the Wall-Mart account was because they offered the best ROI. As the CFO of a BDA once said when asked if he was excited about winning a big new account that offered the possibilty to produce great work... "Fuck the work, what about the money?"
Cheers/George

[David Armano]

"(Good signs include a course that they're going to teach about Curiosity, that sounds like something I’d like to have done.)"

Great post, though I find it kind of sad that we now have to learn about curiosity in college.

[deb]

Thanks for reminding us why we wanted you here in the first place...turn heads, make people reimagine. It's hard to do with curriculum and courses and the like, but it's doable when you have bright people in to shake it up. You shook.
We'll post a status report to you and your fans. Let's see what we can do, then sustain. And I think the sign stays on the steps for a while...

[mark]

Great post and great course idea. To answer some of your questions, I think the biggest barrier selling in Adcenter is that many of the managers are MBA's themselves and go back to recruit at their old schools. It's kind of like the Milk Round (under-grad recruitment in the UK). Some other ways in might be to target the HR person in charge of MBA recruitment first, find an ex ad exec who's gone client side, or simply avoid traditional MBA recruiting grounds entirely. Frankly, the latter may be a good option: big US companies (expecially FMCG ones) may not be ready for creative brand managers because that job is still as much a financial management one as a truly strategic job.

[mike]

I think a couple of those brand manager kids placed in the finals of the Innovation Challenge beating out over 400 teams from the best MBA schools in the country.

I would def leverage that and the best advice I can give is to find clients that understand how the industry is changing and are willing to take risks because those are the people that you will want to work for anyways coming out of school.

And to answer your last question, they shouldn't be looking for you, you should be seeking them out. Get them excited about the new track that you are in. Start networking now, it will help when you graduate.

[Lauren]

i believe a good planner (or a good creative generalist) must have a natural sense of curiosity. i'm not sure if it should be taught to you, but if you're not curious, you shouldn't be in the business.

[zach]

I may just be a third-year art student at UO (simple caveman), but this seems to be an accurate analogy to what's going on:

Ad Industry is to X as Detroit is to Honda.

I suspect (based on very little) that the current industry really is supporting itself on things like alma mata hiring and 1986 methodology. Two questions emerge: What is X? How much more time is left before the bubble pops?

I think X will be an fine art student who has the capacity to run a budget, be on time, shower people with positive attitude and ideas, and handle (or bypass) paperwork. X will manifest as 3 or 4-person firm/groups that make tons of money for small clients by being more culturally curious than Ogilvy himself, generating thousands of ideas per minute, and getting them made just as fast.

I don't know when the bubble pops. Maybe soon, maybe not for another 20 years.

So says this little voice.

[RT]

I think the bubble is about to burst.

[Ben]

Detroit is a good analogy.

Every week the Economist has another story about how much money Detroit is losing.

People still want cars, just not the way Detroit wants them to want them.

People still want ads...

[mikej]

I think the whole changing of the industry is interesting. I have stolen an article from Fast Company that talks about the change in technology and a particular formula that I think can be utilised across everything
http://thingsdonotchangewechange.blogspot.com/2006/10/change-function.html

The decrease in money being made in Detroit. Is what they deem 'Crisis Point'. I guess we are still waiting on that crisis point in the ad industry as clients still pay us for the old way.

Russ, love your thoughts on creative generalists and also how that works within marketing teams. Maybe one way to market adcenter is to look at a few of the brands / companies from within Adam Morgans 'Pirate Inside'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Inside-Building-Challenger-Organizations/dp/0470860820/sr=8-1/qid=1162999678/ref=pd_ka_1/026-0520966-3912449?ie=UTF8&s=books

as these are companies or groups within these companies utilise this mentality. They also have examples that have worked and people within the industry look up to them. Get them involved with events and talking about the tactics learnt at the adcenter. Maybe even get one to say 'I wish I had gone there. Wouldve made the first few years easier'

[chris ashworth]

Just scanning though this one, and having just come from a client advertising across lots of media, and creating its own content, the CBM idea is a great fit for new biz models.
To answer a few questions...
I used to love having kids come in on work experience/internships, because they've got no baggage. This project is preparing students without baggage who've got opinions - a killer combination to shake you from your rut.
Selling the CBM therefore has to focus on what they can offer;
Young people who give you an insight into their world and help you measure your performance in targeting people like them.
Which client wouldn't want an eloquent, low cost opinion former on tap to throw things at for a few months.