Non-Ads You Will Have to Work On

Here’s a secret you won’t learn in portfolio school:

Not everything your boss will ask you to work on will be ads. You will also have to write and/or art direct the following:
  • Mood boards
  • Mood videos
  • Campaign set-ups (paragraph-length explanations of why the agency pursued the campaign it's presenting
  • Web copy (not the exciting stuff - the gunk on the side bars)
  • Explanations of how an ambient media or interactive piece will work
  • Brochures and leaflets
  • PowerPoint slides for your CEO (I wish this were a joke or a one-time experience)
  • Award show entry forms
  • Award show entry videos
  • Agency brand videos
  • Emails to client/agency audiences
  • Treatments to sell your work to directors
  • Casting specs
  • Direction for other vendors: editors, music people, SFX (especially when working remotely to edit, or do music etc...more about being crystal clear than crafting it, but important nonetheless)
  • Pitch leave-behinds
  • Manifestos
You will never practice crafting this stuff in portfolio school. Nor should you. But even the most creative shops and the most creative creatives have these items cross their desk.

But there's a very simple way to make this less of a headache: Know how to write. Be able to art direct in your sleep. Know your craft and this stuff becomes easy.

The more you practice your craft the easier it will be to get this stuff off of your desk, so you can focus that talent on opportunities.