A month ago we were in need of an intern. We sighed. Finding talented and dependable interns is hard. Like, math-hard. But we put the call out on facebook and twitter and braced ourselves for misspelled emails, way-too-formal cover letters and painfully awkward interviews.
Then we found Karen. Unicorns! Lollipops! Unicorns with lollipops! Karen made it easy to hire Karen. By following these 4 easy steps, you can be hired like Karen. (Not at our shop right now, obviously, but you know, someday, by someone.)
1) Karen became a fan. Yep. She found out about us by attending 80/35. And she reached out by liking us on facebook. Everyone knows ad people have ego issues so we appreciated that she not only bumped up our likecount but also that she commented on our work and interacted with us on a regular basis.
2) She stopped in-get this-prior to needing an internship. A year before she asked for employment, Karen was in town for a weekend and asked for a tour of the place. We talked about her goals and our factory. She seemed pleasant. We gave her buttons. We said, 'That Karen seems like a smart lady."
3) She sent a real live thank you note. Not an email. Not a tweet. After her brief factory tour Karen handcrafted a custom thank you note to demonstrate that she appreciated our time. Endearing. Personal. Memorable.
4) She brought her sketchbook. When we put out the call for an intern Karen responded. During her interview we were impressed by her portfolio of finished work. But we mostly loved that she had the confidence to show her entire sketchbook as well, crammed full of ideas, resource materials and revisions. This gave us a first-hand look at how she approached an idea and worked through it.
How do you find great talent? What methods do you use to evaluate whether someone will be a good designer or copywriter?
I always look forward to the first two weekends of the NFL playoffs. Two games on Saturday. Two games on Sunday. That's a lot of football. And a lot of advertising.
This time of year, advertisers are especially fond of football tie-ins. Credit Southwest Airlines for managing to take a cliché-referees calling penalties in real life- and making it seem fresh. By focusing on their customers' pain in paying bag fees to other airlines, the strategy is so sound that it doesn't matter too much if the execution is just okay.
Without that clever twist, two spots for Pepsi Max fall flat. The Pepsi Max truck driver gives inspirational speeches to stadium vendors and the New York Jets for no apparent reason other than the brand's desire to tie-in to football. In a bit of karma, the Jets spot is particularly ill timed with that team's well-publicized late season collapse and locker room chaos.
The prize for worst commercial of the weekend though has to go to State Farm for their second Double Check Discount spot featuring Aaron Rodgers. That's right, they followed up their annoying first spot, with its ridiculously tenuous tie to football, with an even more nonsensical spot. That's almost enough to make you wish for a return of political ads. Almost.
Seriously. Stop. Agencies and design shops, please. When you
discount your work and offer your expertise for free, you cheapen and
invalidate an entire industry of professionals who bring real ideas and
executions to clients. You may as well tell your potential client that your
work has no value. Oh, wait.
Of course, other people can design cheaper or write cheaper or
logo cheaper. But odds are that the cheap design looks-wait for it-cheap. And
the copy feels generic. And the logo is something you've probably seen before. And
none of it makes sense with what the company is or what they want to stand for
because it wasn't thoughtful-it was cheap.
http://yourlogomakesmebarf.com/
Here's an idea: instead of discounting your work, what about
adding value? What about bringing ideas or inspiration to clients that others
aren't offering to earn your rate and your title? What about asking questions
no one asked them before? What about creating an event for your client to own?
What about coming up with a new way to interact with their customers?
Next time you think about discounting your rates or offering
work for free think about what you hope to gain. Your potential client probably
won't want to pay for the next project. They won't value your work. And your
creative team will be unmotivated since you undervalued their skills.
The upside? This potential client will tell everyone he
knows where to go for free work.
(*Note: This does not apply to non-profits your agency is
passionate about. Please continue to donate your time and skills to underfunded
organizations that truly need and appreciate your help.)