The Unreasonable Man

For a while, prior to the trip, I was stressing out about the typical “I’m about to graduate college” thoughts: “Will I find an internship/job?”, “Will I wake up being happy with the work I’m doing?,” “where will i be living?”-you can fill in the blanks with more. This stress was causing me to overthink in certain situations, like applying and interviewing for a job, and really forget the things that make me happy and make me, me. 

But that all changed midweek, after a chat over a beer with a friend and good mentor, Jazo Moises. Jazo reminded me that if i’m applying to something and have the opportunity to be interviewed, the place obviously knows I am a qualified candidate and they just want to talk and get to know the REAL me, to see if i’m a fit for the vision of their culture. Hearing this brought a huge weight off of my shoulders. For a while, I honestly felt like because of this stress I was putting on myself, I was changing who I was and what I want to do, to adapt and fit the mold of a place I was inquiring about.

This epiphany moment came sort of full circle to me at the end of the week, while I was waiting to speak with a friend at Anomaly. There, In the waiting room, I saw a quote by George Bernard Shaw (pictured below). This quote spoke to me on so many levels and once again reminded me the importance of always being me and doing me, or else what I really want to do in my life may never be accomplished. 

-Noah Wilskey 

This place is huge.

Make something you love. Make something together. Understand why you like or dislike things. Never do the same thing twice. Fail gracefully. Ask why. Ask why again. Be not feel. Make general observations about everything all the time. These were some huge takeaways from Huge.

-Justin Hartney

Tips from HUGE

HUGE gave us some great tips for being successful in this industry and gave us a lot of thought provoking ideas for how to improve on our disciplines. They outlined interesting ways to think and how to use everyday life activities to your advantage.  Here’s a few that stood out to me:

1.) Make general observations about everything, all of the time.

2.) Understand why you dislike something and figure out how to make it better.

3.) Focus on what you can control and forget about what you can’t.

4.) Never do the same thing twice.

5.) Embrace failure and understand that you’ll be wrong most of the time.

6.) Show empathy and be good at collaborating with others.

7.) Think about where you can be, not where you are now.

-Spencer Phillipson 

Haiku Poetry From Me to You

Wieden+Kennedy was kind enough to to spend time creating three separate prompts for our student teams to tackle. The final prompt was to talk about our moment of impact. Whether it was an insight we received, people we talked with, or something we saw on the subway, they wanted to hear about it. Our group went with expressing our takeaways through some haiku poetry. Here are two of mine:

Create what others

call work, but we know better.

We add to culture.

Many can write well.

Only some can match a brand,

And make someone feel.

- Jason Lane

Accept Rejection

This industry can tear you apart if you allow it to. Don’t take things personally and keep fighting.  There will be times when you feel like you’re constantly flailing, but if you don’t make mistakes you’ll never become the best that you can be.  Brent Choi, the Chief Creative Officer at JWT, was a perfect example of this.  He failed multiple times before realizing his true potential and told us to harness failure in order to grow stronger from it.  The only thing blocking yourself from success is yourself and hard work beats talent every time.  

Keep pushing forward!

-Spencer Phillipson 

Don’t let a good idea die.

I saw that note in my friends notebook and thought it was a good idea to write it down. An idea I had later in the day for the Wieden challenge was to ask kids what they thought of NYC. Our team doubted that we could find kids willing to talk to us and pose for a picture, so we gave ourselves a short time frame to accomplish this task. My teammate and I talked to four different kids and their parents only to hear “No.” from all of them. Before we gave up, my teammate went up to one more mother with two kids. Not only was she excited to help us, her kids were eager to talk with us. Patrick’s favorite part of the city was the water. There is always something to appreciate in NYC.

-Justin Hartney

Fake it until you make it.

Day 1 ended with a visit to a production house two thirds the size of our hotel rooms. The size of an office does not limit the potential of good work that can be produced. The team of five that made up Starr Media works with companies like Adidas, Nike, and Tommy Hilfiger. Finally that cliché “Fake it until you make it” made sense to me. No way these guys held client meetings in their tiny office. Who the hell would want to hire a group of guys in an office overflowing with pelican cases. The brain power is what matters here, and these guys had plenty of it. My biggest takeaway from this visit it that specializing in a specific craft and being decent at everything else will keep you employed.

-Justin Hartney

Find Your Culture

As I spent time absorbing the sea of information from the various agencies I visited, I realized how important culture really is.  Each company’s beliefs are vastly different from the next, and it’s not an easy task to decide where you might fit in.  The world of advertising encompasses a vast amount of unique perspectives and each of them brings something special to the table.  However, you must decide how you fit in as an individual.  These spaces are more than just agencies, they are communities, and the community that fits you should feel like family.  

-Spencer Phillipson

Cite Your Sources

This past week exposed me to enough wisdom to last several lifetimes. Now begins the process of curating and storing these gems of inspiration so I can pull them back out when I need them.

I recently used a piece of advice an alumn gave me about a year ago, so I decided to reach back out and give credit where credit was due. I wasn’t trying to ask for a portfolio review or a favor; I just wanted him to know how much his ideas had helped me. When I saw how stoked he was to witness the results of his guidance, I realized how important it is to cite your sources. When I inevitably use the wisdom from this trip, I’ll be sure to let people know how their words have inspired action.

Hannah Lewman 05.15.17