DAVID DROGA
This book is about the qualities you need to be successful in advertising, beyond being good at actually doing the job. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with every single word in here—there are so many different opinions in our industry, it would be amazing if any two individuals did agree on absolutely everything.
But what I wholeheartedly agree with is the principle that your success will be determined by a lot more than just how good you are.
For me, it’s your attitude that’s the key.
For a start, being hard-working should be a given. Always. If you’re new in an agency, you need to work hard so you stand out from the people who are already there, and so you can create your own opportunities. At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re a CD or an ECD, you need to work hard because you can’t ask people to work hard for you if you’re not prepared to work hard yourself. I don’t expect my people to work all weekend, but I do want them to work hard. The formative years are especially important—they determine your trajectory.
Above and beyond that, I believe the attitude that creatives most need is one of openness…a willingness to learn from people who have experience, people who’ve already made lots of mistakes.
Then there’s finding your voice. A lot of creatives start out trying to emulate the style of a David Abbott, or whoever. You need to have the confidence to answer a brief in the way you think is right.
Some of you reading this may be studying advertising at college. I’m a huge believer in education—in fact I’m on the board of VCU Adcenter—but the one caveat I have for ad students is to bear in mind that you are spending a lot of your time studying old work, which inevitably means you can end up trying to replicate stuff from the past, instead of looking to the future. Students need to understand how what we do has changed. We’re still storytellers, but it’s not about a story that starts and finishes within the 30 seconds of a TV ad any more. Our job now is more about instigating a story, and letting it go. We can create momentum. Our work doesn’t have to be as disposable as before.
When the time comes for the student to get their first job, attitude is crucial. When I’m looking at a young team, I’m not just looking at their work. I’m looking for talent, of course, but also enthusiasm, and restlessness. I look for people who are fascinated by the broader world, not just the world of advertising. I look for people I can teach, but who can also educate me.
And once you’re in a job, the right attitude never ceases to be important. Being in a long-established team is advantageous in that you can develop short-cuts, and a great understanding with each other, but you can also get into bad habits. When I see solutions come back from a team that over time are overly consistent—always the same tone, the same emotion—then I can tell it’s coming more from them, and not from the brief or the product, and that’s not good. I like to mix teams up, put different types of people together—designers, digital guys. Whatever it takes, you constantly need to be challenging yourself.
I would recommend every creative to consider making a country move at some point. I’ve ended up making several, and I learned so much in each country. Australia taught me that advertising can be fun. Asia taught me you can create ripples from wherever you are. London taught me craft. The Publicis global job taught me about the business side of advertising. Then there’s what you learn about the different cultures… different music….
When you eventually get to be an ECD or have your own agency, you realize that success doesn’t just come from people’s talent but by putting them in the right environment. You need to create the right environment for great work to happen. Beanbags and bright paint are not going to make the work better—it’s not about props. But people have got to feel comfortable, and a building with plenty of space and light can help achieve that.
Be ready to have your principles tested. It’s great to have principles, but not so easy to stand by them when you have people’s salaries to pay. Will you work with any client, to pay the bills? Or will you turn work down? You’ll need to know the answer to that question.
I hope you glean from this book some of the behaviors that lead to success. Because even when you have your own agency, your success will stem largely from your attitude, just as it did when you were a student.