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O&M executive creative director Daniel Comar (centre) and his proteges, copywriter Kenneth Yu (left) and art director Johnnie Tey. |
THE problem with many fresh graduates seeking creative jobs in the local advertising industry can be described thus: they don’t know what, they don’t know why, they don’t know how.
They don’t know what they’re getting into or why they even want to be in advertising in the first place, and many simply don’t know how best to get the attention of creative directors.
That is the view of Daniel Comar, executive creative director of one of the country’s largest ad agencies, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M).
Most fresh graduates don’t have a clear idea of the career path in advertising, says Comar.
“Often, when I receive their CVs (curriculum vitae) or interview them, I find they don’t really know what they want to do. They don’t know whether they’re creative-oriented or otherwise, and if they’re creative, whether they want to be an art director or copywriter,” he says.
They don’t know why they want to get into an agency. “They feel some need to get into advertising, but to them, ‘I don’t know what, I don’t know why’,” Comar says.
Why this confusion? He says no one in the industry is doing a good job in making the students understand the career path in advertising. “Not the schools, and not the agencies, which are busy with day-to-day work. What they know about are the long hours and hard work, and that if they’re lucky, they’ll get famous. That’s all.”
Comar notes that while advertising is a creative profession, it is not for all creative people.
“There’s a lot of stress involved and you need to know how to manage it. There are people who are very creative but not when under stress. There are deadlines, and a lot of creative people don’t know how to manage deadlines,” he maintains.
Advertising worldwide is becoming more complex, he adds. Gone are the days when creative people had the luxury of spending a month to complete a project. Creatives today have to deliver results fast.
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Seeing is believing… this is the idea behind the Maxis 3G print campaign that netted Yu and Tey the MC2 Young Guns Award. (Pix provided by Ogilvy & Mather) |
“This is the part of the business that’s not so well known,” he says.
“But I’m sure there are a lot of people also who are up to the challenge. It’s a matter of finding the right people.”
There aren’t that many CVs to comb through in the first place. Comar laments that he does not receive nearly as many CVs in Malaysia as he did while working at O&M in Vietnam and his native Argentina.
“I used to get CVs almost daily. But in Malaysia, I get maybe one every week or every two weeks. I don’t get as many CVs as one would’ve expected in a really promising industry,” Comar says.
And that’s not all. Most of those applying for creative positions do not know the proper way to approach an agency.
“Most are sending emails. Every day I have a hundred email to read, so if I see another email with a huge attachment, I would just delete it.
“There are so many work priorities, so instead of reading another CV that looks like everyone else’s, I would answer a client email first. Email is the worst way to approach an ECD (executive creative director).”
Furthermore, the email senders, apart from typing the name of the recipient, do not bother to personalise the CVs by mentioning something about O&M or including ads created specifically for brands handled by O&M.
Comar notes that the way a job seeker introduces himself is also an indicator of how creative he is. “If you send an email like most people, that’s not very creative.”
“I prefer people to approach us, just to show what they can do. That can be done through a simple letter, by stopping me when I go for coffee, or via SMS. You don’t need to show real advertising work, because we don’t expect fresh graduates to have done advertising. We want to see more of your potential as a creative person rather than the actual samples of advertising work.
“Have you done anything creative like photography? Show it to me. Have you done illustrations? Show it to me. Or do you write short stories? Show it to me.
“But if you have an idea for an ad that looks like something you have seen before, don’t show it to me.”
Asked for examples of how a job seeker can grab his attention, Comar says that if the applicant is working on a project such as an art exhibition, he could send an invite to the gallery. Or he can deliver to his office a “well-displayed” work that is hard to ignore, such as a large board.
Job seekers can also meet Comar at public workshops in which he is involved. “I can see how actively they participate. They may be pushing for ideas, and they may talk to me after the workshop instead of just leaving immediately,” he says.
Comar suggests trying an indirect approach as well. “Don’t always go for the ECDs, who are very busy. Go to the creative directors, designers or anyone who is more approachable; and let them do the selling to the bosses,” he says.
“Because someone I trust is telling me to pay attention, I would pay attention.”