Since you've got your assignment from my class, a handful of campaigns to be fleshed out and comped up, plus your Royal Rumble for this weekend, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed. If you honestly, sincerely, whole-heartedly want to get a job in advertising, get used to the feeling. Learn to thrive on it.Here's another email from Ernie Schenck. When I received this, I was were you are, juggling so many assignments I didn't know which ones to pursue and which to drop. Here's what he had to say:
Greg--
I think you're absolutely doing the right thing taking on as many projects as you can. There is no question that the more shots you give yourself, the better your chances of some of them making it through into daylight. Great work is really a study in survival. There are so many pitfalls. Agency bureaucracy. Small minded clients. Hundreds. Terrible analogy I suppose but it's a bit like sperm. There's millions of these guys swimming up stream, you know, but only a few have a shot in hell if making it all the way. That's why it's so important that every opportunity you get, you make it great, you make it fantastic.
As for myself, I used to handle 6 maybe 8 clients at a time. That was a long time ago. Now, I prefer to focus on no more than two or three projects at once. But you should absolutely be doing what you're doing. And have a great Thanksgiving yourself.
Ernie Schenck
By the way, if you haven't read Luke Sullivan's "Hey, Whipple! Squeeze This!" you've got a nice little break coming up. Don't let yourself enter the second quarter not having read it.
If you have read it, I'd recommend Ernie's book "The Houdini Solution." I'd pay particular attention to Chapter 10.