A Pub. A Pint. A Creative Party.

by Paul Lemmerick in DONOVAN WORLD

26

Jan
2012

FILED UNDER

Put on by the Advertising Club of Edmonton (ACE), a Creative Director Roundtable was held at the Black Dog Freehouse on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012.

The night featured the talented minds of five creative directors from advertising agencies around Edmonton. They each provided their own unique insights into agency life and their personal processes for success and creative excellence.

The round of questioning was led by Joyce Byrne, Associate Publisher of Venture Publishing, and ranged from (paraphrased): ”How do you relinquish control and give your creative team freedom to create? How do you direct creative?” and “Tell me the first thing that pops into your mind when I say: Helvetica? Times New Roman? Fluid?”

(Photo credit to Sheena Moore, ACE Programming Co-Chair)

Read a few of the big takeaways from each of the speakers last night. The following quotes are paraphrased (my apologies for any inconsistencies):

• “Facebook is stupid.”
• “Good designers cause trouble.”
• “I’m a true believer of conversation not presentation…during presentations.”
• (On presenting creative) “I ask the client how it makes them feel, not what they think.”
• “We’re a long way from being right all the time.”
• “If you ask me to give you award-winning work, if that’s the biggest goal of the project, I’m going to be a pain in your ass because I’m going to make you push the client and make them uncomfortable. Work that wins awards makes people uncomfortable because it pushes boundaries and it’s always different, they’ve never seen it before.”
• (Advice for students) “Do as much freelance work as you can so you can really experience and understand the designer/client relationship.”
• (On how to get over a creative block) “Get as far away from [the work] as possible. Forget about it. Your brain will keep working on it…it’ll come.”
• (Reciting a classified ad published in the early 20th century seeking a crew for an Antarctic sea voyage) “Men Wanted: for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” (Source)
• “Great advertising touches upon the truth.”

The event had a great turnout, and while there was a good amount of goofing around going on, the talk touched on a few timely and serious topics regarding the sometimes brutal nature of the ad biz. It was a rare treat to get five seasoned veterans into one room for a candid conversation.

Paul Lemmerick is a Copywriter at DONOVAN. Comments on this post or suggestions for future topics are welcome.