privilege + the creative class
“At the end of the day, we have the incredible privilege to offer an informed opinion on something and get paid for that.”
A few months ago, after a class visit from 72andSunny’s Alex Morrison, I wrote about the privilege of the advertising industry. This profession isn’t easy, but it offers an incredible opportunity to shape culture, communicate and learn.
Listening to 72andSunny CCO Glenn Cole discuss “the creative class” on Friday morning, that lesson took on a more complex meaning.
What is the creative class? It’s the fast-growing and powerful group of professionals who deal in ideas. Advertising, design, and technology are culturally and economically powerful industries. They’re also overwhelmingly white.
As Glenn told our group, “the access to the creative class is where it’s broken.” Opportunities like this past week of agency visits aren’t available to everyone.
It was incredible to hear that 72andSunny is committed to improving that access problem and that throughout New York, agencies are pushing at the conventions of advertising to better its cultural impact. It’s an exciting time to be entering the agency world.
As I do, I’ll remember my responsibility not to mistreat the privilege of this industry, nor to forget the privilege that got me here.
Rachel Benner. 05.14.2017.
Asking
I came to New York seeking answers. I wanted to know how the ad industry works, where the magic comes from, how people get involved. I got some answers. Great ones by smart people. But what I learned above all else was how to ask better questions.
I landed in the city armed with my usual collection of prompts: What are you reading right now? What advice helped you early in your career? What do you wish you had done differently?
Don’t get me wrong, these questions can lead to interesting answers. But this week I practiced the art of responsive questions tailored to the unique cultures and processes of different agencies. The responses I got blew me away. I heard new wisdom. I got answers I couldn’t find in any of the advertising books on my shelves. By asking questions I didn’t expect to ask, I learned things I never realized I didn’t know.
Hannah Lewman 05.14.17
Keep it simple.
If I were to choose one professional takeaway from the past week, it would be this. At R/GA, creative directors reminded all of our pitching teams to do the minimum required to share ideas, especially in a presentation format. If you include too many unnecessary details, you lose your audience.
The same goes for a strategist briefing creatives. Later in the week at 360i and 72andSunny, I had two different conversations about the importance of a straightforward, strong direction. Research is complicated, but the ability to distill it into a single strategic direction is the real challenge.
As a student, this is difficult. Academia rewards pages of subheads, diagrams and theoretical explanations. You have to tell your reader that you know what you’re doing. Not the case in advertising. Here, you’re judged by your ability to show your direction and move the team forward – simply.
Rachel Benner. 05.13.2017
How lucky we are to spend a week in one of the most amazing cities in the world.
How lucky we are to have dedicated, generous professors and instructors to make it happen.
How lucky we are that incredible agencies open their doors to us.
How lucky we are to hear such wisdom.
How lucky we are to be dealing in ideas, to be studying for an industry fueled by creativity.
How lucky.
Hannah Lewman 05.14.17
Comfortable
If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that you need to feel comfortable with yourself. This isn’t some deeper philosophical issue. It comes down to a need to truly understand what makes you the person you are.
If you aren’t comfortable being alone with yourself, there’s no way you will be comfortable adapting to new situations. This trip was the first time I was in New York alone, and learning to trust my instincts for direction and to enjoy wandering with just my own thoughts was a comforting process. It felt weird at first to be alone in a large crowd of people, but over time became something very enjoyable.
It’s one thing to walk by yourself to class in small Eugene, Oregon, but a whole new concept to walk by yourself in Manhattan. There’s nothing wrong with company, and we all enjoy doing things with friends, but one skill many people in our generation seem to lack is the sense of self. It’s something that can’t be found on social media, and can’t be bought. It must be earned over time, and visiting New York certainly expedited the process for me.
Andrew Greenblatt 5.14.17.
IN MEMORIAM.
I didn’t think visiting the 9/11 memorial would affect me this much. As I trailed my fingers over the engraved names of the many lives cut short, I couldn’t help but recall where I was at that moment. I was six years old when the attacks happened. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mom when the phone started to ring. At the time, I was too young to comprehend the magnitude of the events, but I understood from the immediacy of my mom’s tears that something terrible had happened. That much I knew. From the tone of her cries, in that moment I thought, “Dad must be dead.” What else could cause her this much distress? I remember her running to turn on the television, only to view in horror as the second plane hurtled towards the towers. I couldn’t grasp it at the time, but in looking back I recognize that it was in this moment that my innocence was lost. Call me naive, (I was; erm, am), but before that day I had truly believed that ALL people strove to be a source of light and love in the darkness of the world. I had never seen something so… horrible. In that moment, my young eyes were opened to the savagery of mankind. In that moment of terror, the world changed. And I changed too.
Aiden Long
5.12.17