something i miss about miami. the yellow sauce. i haven't a clue what it is, but fried yuca never tasted so good. 

agency exposure extravaganza 2k8

in total, we visited 10 agencies: pHD, Lowe, Draftfcb, TBWA/Chiat/Day, BBDO, Euro RSCG, Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, Y&R, Deutsch and Wieden + Kennedy. 

the planning departments had wildly different attitudes and styles, which i think made us all get really introspective and think, "what will really benefit me in my first planning role?" 

for some of us it's the planning role in the agency, the philosophy. for some of us it's the label, is it a badge agency that will set me up for a hot career? for some of us it's having a hands-on mentor that will guide and bring us up in the department. for some of us it's whatever we can get to start paying off these loans. 

but more than anything, i think that it allowed us to see how we could fit in somewhere. this is both good and bad: you want to feel as if you can craft yourself and your personality to any experience, be a well-adjusted individual who can overcome the toughest situation. but that is not always right or brave. it's a matter of feeling some kind of weird, metaphysical sense of well-being and belongingness to a department, a group of people, that you will both celebrate and suffer with for days, months, maybe years. and from what i've heard from my friends, there were a couple places we each thought could benefit our personalities and needs as juniors.

but regardless, we definitely looked the part: 

so maybe john and i don't really look the part here.

one bit of information from kate at tbwa: when interviewing for jobs, arrive a little too early. while waiting in the lobby, take note of the interaction amongst those passing in the hallway.  are they friendly? cold? interactive? can you sense a good energy from this place?

job search week 1

this is my first day of being truly unemployed. i can't rely on school anymore to occupy my time, but the past week has been great for meeting planners, seeing agencies and distinguishing the tone between planning departments.  i have a rundown of the week and will post all of this soon. (i need to get photos first- my camera broke. ugh.)

miami is a treasure chest

 
on lincoln road, a bin full of dolls' heads.

 
and other appendages.

 
gelato that is so pretty i almost hesitate to stuff my face with it.

get used to this chair

because you will be sweating in it like the rest of us did.  classes are structured so that 2 planners work with a creative team composed of an art director and copywriter, who then fully execute a campaign assigned the week prior.  that means:

research + creative brief + briefing + multiple creative executions fully rendered = about 5-6 days.  

each wednesday 40 of us met in this room and sat in these chairs to present our strategies and creative. it was a tremendous amount of fun, but intense with a healthy dose of friendly competition. everyone in my class was about helping each other out, collaborative thinking and praising others' work.  there was no covering notebooks if other teams walked by. 

a lead planner at y&r miami critiqued the planners' strategies each week while a creative director from another agency gave feedback to the creatives.  the pressure was on every week to deliver something different, wild yet relevant, pretty, well-done and most importantly, on strategy.  i called this class 'baptism by fire.' 

first observation: miami is colorful.

even the school.  i remember shuffling my way to the lobby of the Miami Ad School. i'm not typically a nervous person, but starting a program that would hopefully set me up for a career i wanted since i entered advertising, plus enduring the constant pinch of my left shoe (my left foot is bigger) which was purchased with private loan money (not responsible), plus meeting 19 other ambitious (presumably competitive) classmates made me anxious. 

but the lobby made me feel comfortable and it wasn't only the bright color palette. it was the showcase of student work playing on flatscreens on the wall, the casual bleacher seating in the center of the room with computer power outlets overhead, the multiple clocks that kept time for each Miami Ad campus around the globe and, most of all, the unleashed dog panting in the corner. the lobby was kind of like a nice, unassuming synopsis of the school: it breathes creativity, encourages social exchange, knows the importance of what's going on internationally and the place absolutely loves animals.

 

just extending a greeting/salutation for those who don't know me. i'm kelly and i am a bible belt fugitive. i graduated with a degree in advertising and french from the university of south carolina, moved to new york to work in a big, big, fat, fat agency and then decided to move to south beach to complete the Miami Ad School Bootcamp for Account Planners.  i am freshly out of the Bootcamp and am now on a job search. 

this is to recount my time in miami and to help other junior planners out when it comes to finding jobs, agencies, and etc. hope this helps.  write me!