Ad Job Wall

Has had a little makeover. A new logo and hopefully in the near future, a new website.

I'm looking to give it a massive makeover. And turn it into something a lot bigger than it currently is. But there's a downside. It needs a lot of ground work doing by people that have a business head and I also need a web developer for a custom build. Both require money or funding, which I'm currently in short supply of.

Since it launched in November, Ad Job Wall has grow to having over 500+ eyeballs on Twitter and Facebook. Not bad, when you think how many ad students there are in the country.

It targets only the intern, placement and junior job market, which I guess puts it in a niche market. And I'm not looking to be like the traditional recruitment agencies that take a large cut when they place people in employment. I have an idea to make it different but also offer the agencies the best possible choice of applicants. But I can't do it all myself.

So, what am I looking for?

More agencies, a clever person or another industry organisation (along with the lovely folk from the YCC) to jump onboard to help boost and build on the profile that Ad Job Wall is gaining. Is that much to ask?

Interested? Drop me email.

Joe Jordan

Gennaro 'Rhino' Gattuso head butted Joe Jordan.

Harry Redknapp said: "Gattuso had a flare-up with Joe Jordan. I don't know why. He obviously hadn't done his homework. He could've picked a fight with somebody else. Putting his head into Joe's face, it was crazy. He lost his head."

And Twitter said:

daveraybould: Giraffes were created when Joe Jordan uppercutted a horse. #joejordanfacts

Bentleysbird: Superman wears Joe Jordan pyjamas #JoeJordanFacts

tottenblog: In a living room there are 257 things joe jordan can kill you with, including the room itself #joejordanfacts

AndiLap: There is no such thing as evolution, just a list of animals Joe Jordan allows to live #joejordanfacts

TheGirobabies: Chuck Norris has poster of Joe Jordan on his wall #joejordanfacts

Phleanix: When batman is in trouble, gotham city put-up the the Joe jordan signal #joejordanfacts

GavinDRitchie: Joe Jordan can win connect 4 in 3 moves. #joejordanfacts

LaborneRacing: Joe Jordan tells the sun when to rise and when to set #joejordanfacts

bigwillyking: Joe Jordan once walked the London Marathon in 17 seconds. #JoeJordanFacts

chrismaddy84: Death once had a near Joe Jordan experience #joejordanfacts

TheMassacre2001: In the beginning, Joe Jordan turned on the light. The rest is history. #joejordanfacts

JezOfDeath: Joe Jordan doesn't need Twitter... He is already following you. #joejordanfacts

And for many more, just click here.

Day V Lately

Now everyone can find Day V Lately's track. And they don't even have to use Yell to find it. It's on iTunes (in the charts), YouTube and there's even a 10 minute remix on SoundCloud.




And I found out J R Hartley's book is worth a few quid too. But I did all that without using Yell, is that a good or a bad thing?

Creative portfolios

What do people look for in a portfolio?

The other week, this question was posed by @YCCLondon to a numbers of creatives. And they brought up some interesting answers.

@infernoagency: good ideas in interesting channels. Don't do headline/picture/logo approach.yawn. And don't worry if it's a bit rough.

@polliecreatives: Strategic thinking. Crazy shit. Personality. Lots of all 3.

@Sergethew: I'd say dip it in some PVA, then in some glitter, make it shiny! It's well known Creative Directors are descended from Magpies.

@emily_churches: YOU make a good portfolio. People buy into the person before they even consider the idea. Be likable.

@LBiLondon: one that blows the wind up your skirt!

@lendmeyoureyes: you only need two words: good ideas.

@andymarkpeel: Raw ideas, energy, a grasp of how things work and lots of weird shit that's not necessarily adverts.

@Wheres_My_Owl: I would say consistency an confidence. But equally make an impression being creative isn't all about advertising!

@Hellocreatives: Be selective, show the kind of work you want to do, don't just throw in everything from Uni. And 90% of any job is personality.

@Floheiss: ideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasidea

@sophielovestea: I think being interesting, talented and enthusiastic is all that matters in the end?

@dbedwood: show you can write a good poster, show you can write in many tones of voice, show you try not to copy, show your balls.

@W2Optimism: Original, engaging ideas. Fresh thinking. Craft, story-telling and intelligence.

@Creative_Boom: Showcasing most recent work with clear navigation of About and Contact pages. Nothing too fussy! Let the content do the talking

@tommyjames: The question is flawed. What you're really asking is “How can I make my portfolio look more like everyone else’s, more like what’s expected?”

So ask the question, get the advice...and then do the complete opposite.

But the best point was:

@iamwilf: it's different for everyone, for me it's simplicity in the ideas and a bit of utility in there to boot!

It's amazing how many people mentioned 'you' being the difference. Very few said your book should look good. Nearly everyone wanted ideas, because they can teach you craft but not how to think.

Isaacs on Twitter

You're actually kidding right?

Isaacs, a hotel based in Cork decided it would publicise its lovely cheap B&B offers in the same post as offering their condolences for the plane crash at Cork Airport.

Not cool.

Social Media Loyalty Card

This is the future. Fact.

Snap for Business has created a loyalty card that rewards you for telling people your purchases you've just made via your social networks.

This 'patent pending' platform enables businesses to automatically reward customers with points, badges, discounts and more for simply socially sharing your in-store activity on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. It's that simple.

The diagram below shows how it works.

If you'd like to form an orderly queue this way please.

Real work vs Spec work

I came to London with a book of ads that have run. And a few things that have never made it past the top drawer.

But now, after two weeks having meetings, my book has completely changed. Why? Because everyone wants to see how creative you are. Not how you fare with client restrictions or budgets.

I wouldn’t have three years experience if I couldn’t make an ad. So instead, I’m now creating spec work with big ideas that go beyond anything a brief could ever let me create.

At my stage, I always thought showing off work I’ve done was the best idea, which it would be if I’d created the meerkat or the latest Nike ad. But I haven’t.

So after seeking advice in the form of three very well respected and highly creative people, I’ve come to terms that my book of ads isn’t want creatives want. And that spec work was, and still is, the way forward.

The down side is though, now I know how to make an ad, a nice strap and clever visual just won’t do. These need to be bigger ideas. Ones that have a clear goal in mind. It’s like I’m the planner and creative on the job. But I don’t mind that, it just means it takes twice as long to find that little gem hidden away. And then make it.

Dribbble promotion

On the current theme of selling yourself better than others... I introduce to you Harry Roberts, a 20 year old web developer who's looking for freelance work. And by the looks of things, he's pretty good at what he does.

He runs csswizardry.com, which look slick and has gained himself a few thousand Twitter followers off the back of it. But, what impresses me more, is his dribbble page.

Plus, when you roll over each image, it gives you a nice bit of copy to read.

What's nice about this is that he's chosen a site that designers use on a daily basis. And where he can also showcase some of his work, which is pretty much his target market.

The good ol' fashioned A4 paper resumé may soon be a thing of the past by creativity's standards. Watch this space.

CVs

I’ve been having to write a CV recently. Usually my portfolio is my ticket to an interview, a meeting or a placement. So this is a new territory to me. And one that I’ve realised there’s a world of opportunity.

My CV has a fairly standard look about it. A brief summary about what I’ve done, where I’ve been and what I’m about. Then the technical stuff appears, which is all neatly designed. Nothing special I might add, but enough to show I care about design and that a plain word doc just won’t do.

Well, some designers have decided to take a different approach. There are a few creative CVs I’ve seen in the last few years that have caught my attention. And three of them were very recently.

First there was Ed Hamilton who decided to make his CV in Google maps. One useful thing was that he’s travelled the world, meaning the pins look rather impressive before even being clicked on.

Everything from places of work to education, it’s all on there. And all neatly adapted to the medium.

Graeme Anthony decided to create his CV on YouTube. The perfect way to get your CV to go viral. And it helps that it's very well done. I also love the idea of techies or film makers creating a fantastic looking CV in AfterEffects and letting their skills speak for themselves.



But the most recent interesting CVs have taken the form of infographics. The great thing about these are that they’re very visual, which is very useful if, like these two, you’re a graphic designer.

What’s also nice about these is that they look completely different to each other. They’ve put their own mark creatively on their CV meaning I’m almost not looking at their CV, I want to see their work.

But that’s not all...

Ways of getting your CV out there are taking on a whole new level too. From using Google Adwords to Facebook adverts, the clever people are trying different ways to get noticed.

Of course you need to back up the seeding with some solid facts, but they’re thinking has them ahead of anyone sending in just a standard CV on spec.

For me, I use Twitter, my blog and every other social network you can (nearly) think of to feed out my content. And to me, this are my living and breathing CV. Everything I’ve done, said or thought about is in here somewhere. You just have to go looking.

Pink Pony Birthday Party

What happens when you task an advertising agency (in this case John St.) to organise a kids' birthday party.



I love the piss-take sentiment, it hits the nail on the head.

Link via @conradrobson

Please Donate

No, I'm not asking you for money. But Rafael Rozendaal is.

He's an online artist. Basically meaning he thinks up something, builds it, then sells you the domain name and all of the stuff on it.

Though I'm guessing he won't be selling his pleasedonate.biz site. I love the idea. So simple. And probably quite effective!

To demonstrate how well he's doing, take this site for instance.

It's called pleaselike.com and it's as simple as a Facebook button on a page. It's currently got 9,037 'likes'. Not bad for a blank page. But I guess that's art for you. A talking point.

Rapier's website

On Sunday night, the new Rapier website went live. None of this smashing champagne against the battleship lark. But instead, it's quietly caught the eye of a few people, including me.

I love agencies that try something different with their website. After all, it shows off their own creativity when there are no boundaries, limitations or rules. Either it's dull, old, broken, quirky, continually updated with content or down right clever. And all should have some, or all, of the last three in them.

I've decided that Rapier's site, definitely falls into the quirky category.

So what have they done? Well, the website is hosted using six webcams, each with a different piece of information on it. On the homepage you're greeted with the idea. It's a live website. Literally.
 
These six webcams are moved on a daily basis so that you can discover another part of the building. But if you actually want to check out their work, you'll have to follow their links away from the site to either Flickr or YouTube.

I love the idea, by practicality wise, the TV ads section isn't the best. And I'm sure if the site it decided to spend a day in Johnny and Angus' office, they my mute the sound after a while!

 

What is a nice touch though, is the date and time. A simple wrist watch and a torn bit of newspaper. Can I get away with the word 'charming' to describe that?

  Oh, and for all the sceptics about iPhone compatibility, they thought of that too.

Good work.

Job hunting/moving (multi-tasking)

Apologies for the lack of blogging over the last week. It appears trying to find work, have interviews, work on my book, update Ad Job Wall, move south AND find things to share isn't as easy as I thought.

I'm now officially a Londoner again. I'm still looking for that full-time role. I'm currently freelancing on a couple of jobs, which are pretty cool. And, I've come to realise a few things over the last week that have been invaluable to me, which I'll pass on in due course.

But for now...

Read the post above. I've found something interesting.