As ad students entering the industry it’s smart to know what kind of work belongs to which agency. I’ve met people currently in the industry who geek out and know every spot that belongs to each agency, but I’ve also met people who don’t go to Adweek, Adage, etc. on a daily basis. From this I’ve realized that you need to find a healthy balance of both:

- If you’re a creative, it’s important to know what agency and what work is winning awards. This is the kind of work you want to produce some day and what better place to pull inspiration from than at the top? You should know what’s going on in the industry and if you have an interview at an agency, you need to do your homework up until THAT day. It’d look unprofessional if you talked up a campaign they did for a client if they lost that client that day without you knowing…

- While it’s good to know what is relevant and winning awards, it will become a constant circle of the same work if you don’t pull inspiration from things outside of advertising; I like to use the example of when Tinker Hatfield began integrating animal print in Jordan shoes when no one else in the basketball shoe industry was doing it at the time. And look at him now. 

So look at award winning work, but also don’t be that overly obsessive adgeek who knows every little thing about every commercial but spends little time working on your own craft and producing work that will land you a job you can thrive in. AKA know your shit, but make some shit too. 

-Macaihah