March 21, 2024 • 26 mins
A look back at the Admigos conversations with Professor Mike Devlin along with his students Cooper Murphy and Caitlin Turner share their experiences with the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC)You can check out the 2023 team here: https://www.aaftxstate.com/nsac2023:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/a-chat-with-nsac-national-122501778/Erika Rodriguez:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/returning-admigo-erika-rodriguez-ad-120638015/Rose Garza:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/rose-garza-marketing-manager-at-jones-dilworth-110515592/
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/a-chat-with-nsac-national-122501778/Erika Rodriguez:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/returning-admigo-erika-rodriguez-ad-120638015/Rose Garza:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1248-ad-2-houston-presents-the-107690410/episode/rose-garza-marketing-manager-at-jones-dilworth-110515592/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Just the confidence that gives you toenter in with a force. You know,
they really, like Caitlin was saying, our professors want you to do
well and they really just want tosee you thrive and help you out.
Amigos and welcome to the at TOHouston Amigos podcast, a podcast for young
(00:21):
professionals in the marketing and avatacks inindustry who are learning to navigate their early
careers. I am agreeed to falconiyour hosts today. I am joined today
by my co host Alexander Hullou,current president of bat TO Houston, and
as always our producer Jaco Dunton.Today on this show we have three very
(00:41):
special guests in all particular owners.They are Mike Devlin, professor at Texas
State University and the NSAC advice advisorfor the school. Cooper Murphy Programs Chair
for at TO Houston and also aformer INSECT team member, is the our
director. And Kaitlin Turner, amarketing manager with HP and also an INSEAC
(01:07):
alumni. Thank you so much allthree of you guys for joining us today,
Thanks for having thank you for havingYeah. Absolutely and of course we
talked about this in the podcast before, but Alex is also a former insect
participant from a few years ago.So today, as you might have guessed,
the topic is in Sack. TheNational Student Advertising Competition. This is
(01:30):
a very prestigious competition that aif that'severy year. Unfortunately I was never able
to participate in it, but Ihave a room full of guests who did.
So if you guys could take asecond and talk a little bit about
what INSEAC is, you know,and how how students take that. So
(01:51):
the National Student Advertising Competition, it'ssponsored by the Afical Advertising Federation. It's
the largest and one that's speeing thestudents advertising competitions in the country. Each
year, we get the national clientsand all schools participate and they work from
the same brief and they work forthe same client. And about one hundred
(02:12):
schools each year participate. And thenthe way it breaks down for those of
you who aren't familiar with it,we're all broken our districts. Obviously,
we represent the District ten, whichis the largest district in the country as
well, that includes school Training,Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and
each school competes against one another withintheir district. There if you win first
(02:34):
in year district, you advance toa semi final where all district winners and
there's twelve or fourteen I forget there. It's changed. Some of them are
mega districts, so they have twothey have two teams that go up,
so you know theywhere from fourteen tosixteen teams then have their maturitis that buy
a new set of judges, andthen from the top eight advance to nationals
(02:55):
where they'll get to compete against oneanother with the new set of judges for
the clients. Typically the judges atthat point are all client judges. You
know, they announced the winner.So it's a great process. It's a
long process that we usually start inDecember and you know, a few advanced
you've been run all the way twillJune. So it's a long and involved
process for these guys. Yeah,that definitely sounds like it, but it
(03:20):
sounds like a very good opportunity forany students. Yes, especially when you're
an up becoming advertising professional trying tomake your way and your impact into the
industry. We typically don't know whereto start, and Ensich really access that
gateway or that bridge for up andcoming for advertising professionals. To really leave
their mark at least get a tasteof what's it all about. So in
(03:45):
this year, obviously, well Iwas there in Saint Louis to see your
presentation and I'm sure our viewers herewould love to learn a little bit more
about the client that you guys hadto the privilege to create the campaign for
and a little bit more about thedirection you guys took on it. So
either Kaylan Cooper, if you guysmaybe want to give a brief about that,
(04:05):
that would be fantastic. So Iserved as our executive creative director this
year, and our client was Indeed. So they are a job search website
where people can go and search forjobs and they're all there in one pool,
and our target was gen Z peoplewho are ready to look for jobs.
(04:27):
It was interesting because a lot ofus were also in that target,
but that also helped us with reallyhaving that debt feeling and being able to
explore our research not only through asecondhand approach, but also birthand so one
of the biggest things that our strategyteam uncovered was this root idea of fear
(04:50):
and the job search feeling scary.It's the sphere of the unknown. We
wanted to explore that, but weknew that we needed to resonate with gen
Z, and gen Z more thanany other generation, is really good at
avoiding advertising. They're oftentimes not excitedabout it unless it doesn't feel like advertising.
(05:13):
So we took it a really absurdtwist and we went back to some
childhood roots of creating fun characters.We had these little features called scamps,
which represents fear when you don't knowwhat it is, and then you see
it and it's a fun little puppet. It is exciting to use the scamps
just because a lot of times,like Caitlin said, we all have these
(05:34):
irrational fears around the jobs church,you know, we're not sure what to
expect or what we're going into,and that was what a lot of us
space when we were approached with thisclient. But once we came up with
this rude idea of having these shadow, mysterious figures deeply just being these puppet
type figures, it helped us,in a way boil it down and make
(05:57):
it easy. And once we startedgoing with that, our minds were just
racing with all sorts of ideas thatwe could take these puppets well and I'll
just to add to that. Youknow what I is the advisor. You
know, I've seen a lot ofteams come through and they'll presented their creative
to the team, and you know, they'll be a little push back,
a little buying right away. Iwill say this too, was a unique
time because when they first came upand pitched, we're going to do these
(06:18):
puppets, I along with most ofthe other people on the team all rolled
the odds. We're like, we'renot doing puppets. Guys, like,
this is not going to work.And we tould them to go back and
keep working on it and to muchof the you know, just to show
that when you have a really goodcreative idea and you believe in it,
you know how much do you wantto fight for but also refine it.
And you know what they did isthey went back and they refined it again,
(06:41):
and they started giving these puppets personalityand really tied them back to the
brand, like in a strategic way, so they weren't just spokes people,
but they were by by proxy,armies of the brand that you kind of
got to pershonified. And they cameback again and they pitched, we're going
to do these puppets, and Ithink, guys, we're not doing puppets
like you. And then they showedeveryone and we looked they were like,
(07:01):
oh, you know what this mightwork. So you know, I think
it was it wasn't just puppets.I think you guys just shown itself short
little but it was you know,it was really both people. YEA had
its fun and there's a lot ofways that they could been these and you
know, I saw some of theother teams. You know, they also
used characters and to try to communicate. But again, the key here is
(07:25):
the pot touch. Such a viralpersonnel. You could tell they really dug
into who these puppets were, sothey weren't they They felt authentic and it
felt joy over the watch. Soit was it was a good experience watching
them grow on that whole creative frontthat they got. Yeah, and those
literal personifications that were amplified through thosecharacters really made a great impression. You
know, with each of each personaof the scamps, you've had illuminating shadows
(07:50):
kind of creating like a monstrous figurepersuh, displaying this irrational fear that these
students had before they were introduced toall the benefits of indeed and those that
particular component in your campaign really stoodout a lot, and it really created
a great dynamic impression on young professionals, especially the students that were there.
(08:13):
I really I remember when I wasat the room listening to the presentation of
the team, with Caitlin being onstage as well, a lot of people
were laughing at some of the adswith if I recall, Cooper, you
were one of the voices of thecharacters. Is that right? Caitlin and
I both were actually right. Igot the opportunity to voice our cranky old
man Frank. He had a littlebit of a little rap to his voice.
(08:35):
He was a little rough, butyou know, he wanted to find
human insight, job hunted. AndCaitlyn, Yeah, Whitney was our it
girl. She's the one that's fourhard selters deep in the bathroom and he
is ready to hype you up whenyou are not feeling your best self.
That's so fun. I think it'sawesome that you guys get to kind of
(08:58):
do some you know, this isn'tthis This isn't like a real well,
I mean second pain, but likeit doesn't go live right but you get
to understand what the processes of developinga campaign, figuring out what the message
is going to be, and allof that before you even get to the
professional world, right, which isnot something that you usually get, you
(09:22):
know, for someone who's young,maybe a few years into way you speak,
So, how can they work towardsmoving up? Right? How can
they workforce getting promoted? Uh?Towards uh, you know, moving up
in the rank, so to speak. Something I've noticed I am part of,
like our hiring team, so Iget to interview different people from different
(09:43):
positions, and at our company,we like to like, how do you
interview with different roles that you're goingto actually work with? So if we're,
for example, hiring for the analyticsteam, you will meet with someone
from the client service team, You'llmeet with someone from maybe our SEO or
INBOWND team. Like, you'll meetwith different people, and that's really for
you to get insight. I'm like, how do I work with said people?
(10:05):
Are you know what type of collaborationwhile I be doing, which I
think is really helpful. But thenumber one thing that I'm always looking for
is when people are answering questions.And I think this goes into when you're
looking to get a role, butalso when you're working within your role,
how are you taking initiatives right?So I might ask you a question about
a client problem, or you mightbe currently working within your role and you
(10:28):
have a client problem. Are youwaiting for your manager to sit there and
tell you what to do or areyou really prepping through and walking through scenarios
in ways that you think you cantackle it. I think one of the
biggest things that's really helped me besuccessful in my career is I've always taken
this philosophy of if I'm going toask my boss for help, I'm not
going to go in there without sometype of plan in my head. And
(10:50):
so I might tell my boss like, Hey, I have this client.
They're really upset. They want of, you know, seven thousand dollars credits,
and I'm like, you know,here's situation that happens. Here's what
I think we should do, right. So I'm not just going to my
boss and be like, so whatdo I do? Like do I do?
I just give it to them?Like what can you do it?
Can? I? Like, youknow, I'm not really just looking for
them to lean in, But I'mgoing here's what I think. I kind
(11:13):
of sat down with this, Ithought about it. You know, I
remember, you know, my coworkerwent through this two months ago with this
client. I took the initiative togo ask other people who've been through this
scenario, and then I've come backto my manager with here's what I think
could work. And I've noticed thatas I've done that, what it's done
(11:33):
for my management team is they nowhave a new level of trust with me.
Of Okay, Eric is not justgoing to come to me with a
problem, but she's gonna tell me, like, I have this roadblock,
here's the roadblock, here's what Ithink I need to unblock the road.
And then what I'm looking for mymanager to do is because typically the people
that are managing you have more experiencethan you. Right, Sometimes it's not
(11:56):
about like age difference. Like,for example, my the person that I
work with that's on my team,her and I are literally the same age
I think for like seven months apart, but I have like six additional years
of work experience within the industry thanshe does. Yeah, and so that
adds to our dynamic. Right,It's not that I don't trust her to
(12:16):
handle problems. She's the same ageas me. I'm not she's not some
she's smart. Like I know thatwe're born the same year, ninety three.
Babies are smart, We're good,right. At the same time,
I'm like, you might not knowhow to handle this, Yes, ninety
three, you gotta make sure.But at the same time, she might
not have had enough experience going throughsome of the problems that I have or
(12:39):
some of the successes that I have. So what I'm what she's looking for
for me is is this the rightway to handle it based off of your
experience right, less of her comingto me being like, I don't know
what to do. I haven't thoughtabout it, but I really do think
that, Like, if you're lookingto move up, one of the biggest
things that a lot of managers arelooking for is am I handholding you through
(13:01):
every scenario, even duplicate scenarios.So you know, did you credit a
client last month for seven thousand dollarsand now a different client is asking you
for a two thousand dollars credit?Are you coming back to me and being
like, what do I do?Or did you learn from what we talked
about in the last time we hadthis conversation, right, and are you
taking that initiative to say, hey, I looked at this, I walked
(13:22):
through it, et cetera. Andan initiative dims into a lot of things.
If your boss is like, hey, I want you to start on
this project and you decide not tostart because you never got instruction, I'll
give you an example. I knowGoogle Analytics a little bit better than maybe
some of my coworkers based off myprevious position, and so a lot of
the times I'm like, maybe youdon't know it, maybe you want to
(13:43):
know it because you have a clientwho's going to be heavily in Google Analytics.
Are you taking the initiative to dosome training, take some training courses,
watch some YouTube videos in your downtime, right, Like, are you
taking that initiative to train yourself upor to learn about something, or to
go and ask someone questions about somethingso that when you were put in that
(14:07):
scenario and then that situation, Idon't have to worry about like, hey,
how much do you know? Ican you know? You can answer
that question confidently with oh yeah,Actually I took some training courses because I
wasn't familiar and that's okay to sayI feel like people are afraid to start
they're not good at something. It'sokay to say you're not good at something,
but it's better if you can sayyou're not good at something, but
(14:28):
I've been learning about it, andI've been taking a training class, or
I've been reading about it, oryou know, I actually put thirty minutes
on the calendar with Jacob in withGuido so that I can learn about podcast
because I had no idea what Iwas going to do. Oh awesome,
So did you talk to them?How'd that go? Are you good?
Right? And then your manser's like, dang, they took initiative, like
have a conversation and to get thatexperience like that's that's fantastic and it it
(14:52):
just builds you up from a credibilityperspective. But then for yourself, now
you're ahead of the curve. Maybeall your co don't know about podcasting in
the way that you do. Andnow guess what, when they want to
learn about podcasting, who are theygonna call? They're gonna call you because
they just heard you talk about howyou gain this? Say, hey,
what training class did you take?Hey? Did you was that meeting with
(15:13):
them. You know, good,can you tell me what you learned?
Right? And now you become apoint person. I think a lot of
people underestimate that value now. Atthe same time, if you are looking
to move up because you're just lookingto make more money and you're not trying
to be a manager, I wouldjust tote that line a little carefully because
as a manager, I feel likesometimes I'm looking at people who are taking
initiative. I'm like, oh mygod, would you do you want to
(15:37):
learn how to manage people? Andsometimes people are like, Noah, I'm
good. I do not want tobe a manager. I like, I
want your salary as a manager,but I do not want to manage people.
And that's okay, right, That'sjust totally fine. Like, be
honest. If you do not wantto manage people, do not be that
person that like raises your hand todo it and then dread what you do
every day. That sounds horrible.Yeah, Like just be transparent and a
(15:58):
lot of the times the different waysthat they can you know, they can
make you a senior blah blah blahblah blah. And when they introduced you
on calls, I know in mylast role before I worked at Medium Giant.
You know, I would get introducedon some calls or I would get
put on certain clients because I wasan expert in At the time, I
worked out a prosmatic company, butI was an expert in our like third
(16:19):
party vendors because one of the clientsthat I had only used third party vendors,
and so I had to learn alot about third party vendors. And
then I became the expert at thecompany for third rate. So if anybody
else had a client that was onboardingthat was going to use that, they
would set up a meeting with me, and they would set up a meeting
with me and one other dead personand the two of us would just walk
(16:41):
them through here's what you need tolook for, here's the things, here's
some exceptions. When you plug intothis, it might be a little bit
different than me. And if thatis the case, like ask me.
I'm happy to dig into the datawith you. Right. But you know,
there's there's a space for everyone,and sometimes some companies are willing to
make a position for you, rightSo, especially if they know how strong
(17:03):
of a person you are, howmuch of initiative taker, you are,
it's a lot easier for someone tomake that decision of like, hey,
I want to carve out a newposition for them because they don't want to
be a manager, but like Ican really see them leading the charge here.
Yeah, great, let's make thatwork. Right. So that's probably
the biggest thing that I would sayfrom if you're looking to move up.
(17:25):
I feel like initiative is just oneof those things that I haven't seen a
lot of people take. At thesame time, from a gen Z perspective,
because my daughter is a gen Zer, that does not mean to let
a company run over you. SoRose, you know, what can I
get into the NFR show? Onething that I want to ask you is
for any young people listening to theshow, maybe they just graduated college,
(17:49):
maybe they're starting out in the industry, and let's say they're really like the
strategic side of advertising, right,how can they get started? What can
they go? Maybe who can theymeet and how do they find that first
job that you know, kind ofgets them gets their foot in the door.
Yeah, so I'm not going tosugarcoad it at all. All field
(18:11):
is extremely competitive. Shoes are alwayslike cranking out these highly skilled future athleaders.
They're always evolving classes to put theday in landscape. I mean,
these students are often leaving college witha highly polished portfolios. So if you
if you want to break into theindustry and you want to have a specific
(18:33):
role in it, you have tohave the fort two to keep trying after
countless projection, really know your bossat the end of the day, Like,
don't set up a position that youdon't want for pay that you don't
want, the position that you don'twant at a job you don't want,
because at the end of the day, you're not gonna like it, You're
gonna get bouns out, and you'rereally not going to see all of these
(19:00):
benefits that being a part of ourcommunity has to offul if you're interested in
getting started in the industry, andmore importantly, the strategics side, all
the side of things opportunities like gettingin like influence for an agency internships wills
fired you with the invaluable experiences thatyou know you cannot get anywhere else.
(19:22):
Then that helps that to your portfolios. Take an entry level position. You
know, if it happens to betoo late to get an internships that you
graduated a year ago. You know, take a beginning position and you know,
walk your way up barn everything.You can make friends with people at
the agency or in house across alldepartments, especially if it's as an apartment
(19:45):
you want to work for. Dofreelance work. That's also another amazing opportunity.
Uh, if you're interested in,say being a copywriter, graphic designal
or state strategist, consider like freelancingscan help break into that industry. In
those pieces will help expand your portfolio, which will also provide you with like
an opportunity to work on a riderange of projecting campaigns. Tony steels like
(20:10):
one day you could be working onin the ads or right and the next
day you can be helping people breakinto the house of the market. But
if reelasting doesn't interest you, sayit is a decent self create fake campaigns.
Give yourself a challenge to solve developers. So trade an ad that you're
(20:30):
seeing an ad while like you're scrollingor hear something on the radio and think,
oh I could have done a betterjob. Challenge yourself and rework that
project with your own take. Itcould be for a fake company or or
somebody that exists. Creating fake campaignswill provide you with back fork that would
help show off your creativity, provideinsights into how you solve problems. Introduce
(20:53):
yourself to people who have rows thatyou want. If you're looking to become
an ad strategist, look on withsin for people who have those roles at
an agency, on a houseplace youwant to work at. Introduce yourself to
them. Like I'm not saying immediatelylike hey, help me get a job
at your company. No, don'tlike, don't don't not to answer you.
(21:15):
Introduce yourself in a friendly and professionalzone. Give your you know,
give them a brief file about whoyou are. Want to contact them if
they live close by, like offorder to take them, book up the
coffee and pick their brains. Ipraumise you most of these people in those
positions will want to help out thenext generation of leaders. More importantly,
(21:36):
make connections and really networks in ourin our fields and those connections especially networking.
Coach to if not it's it's it'snot just like what you know,
but who you know. Like ifyou're like me who had no professional community,
you have to build your own andreally don't you don't want to limit
yourself just because you don't have anyindustry or agency connection. So join in
(22:03):
organization like t are a AAF likereally get out there and meet people and
most importantly, be authentically passionate.Our WOO does not have like a nine
to five I limitations. We're notgoing to block in and clock out.
There's always just like level of educationthat's going to take place. That way,
we could keep up with the changinglandscape that we discussed over your and
(22:27):
finally, really build your brand.Do yourself or a brand. Uh,
the way you present yourself to someonematters. That presentation is your brand,
and applying the same principles you doto yourself as you were a company will
help you get noticed. So doingthose things will help distinguish you from the
(22:49):
competition and lay a powerful foundation foryour future as an at leader. That's
that's very very true. If Ican start up with actually very typicuick story.
I was having lunch one of myco workers last week and she told
me that basically the way that shegot the job that she has now is
because she reached out to our VPof marketing right and because they both went
(23:14):
to the same college. She likedthis stuff that she was putting on LinkedIn,
and she just reached out to herand said, you know, I
graduate from here. She was ata job that she didn't care for and
just you know, asked her outto like coffee, and then they got
to talking and they got to knoweach other and eventually she offered her a
job. So yeah, dog likeRose, like you said, right,
don't just go out and tell someone, hey, I need a job.
(23:36):
But building those connections, professional connectionson LinkedIn, it's never been easier,
right, And you never know likethey might this person might help you find
a job at some point, whetherthey actually offer you one or or they're
just one of your professional references,right, and then just happens to carry
away exactly so, and they willhelp you. They will be able to
(23:59):
give you insights into like with thejob entails, how you get how they
got that position that would help you, you know, gain similar experience or
work for a position in that samein that same maybe agency off somewhere else.
Yeah, you don't know who theyknow and who they know might be
(24:22):
hiring, and they might be ableto hook you up. Rose. That's
all the questions that we had youknow, it has been just so much
fun to get to talk to youafter so long, right, it's it's
nice to have you back on thepodcast. We've really missed you and I
hope that you've been able to youknow, keep up with us and you
(24:44):
like what we're doing with this podcastthat that you're left from. Thanks for
having me on the show today.It was. It was definitely a stature
to be able to share a bitabout my story and provide some insights into
health to break into the industry itselfasolutely. It was. It was just
great to get to know more aboutyou and kind of I'm sure for our
listeners to hear a little more aboutit, Like you said, your story,
(25:07):
right, because we all have verydifferent stories of how we get here,
and they're all equally valuable and theyall have the equal amount of insights
that young people can can here,right, Young people can get something from
right anyways, that's what we have. Again. Thank you for joining us,
Rose, and we hope that youcan join us again sometime again,
(25:27):
right, and maybe we can dolike another follow up and awesome, Thank
you so much, thank you forjoining us today. The add to Houston
Amgo's podcast is produced at Radio Lounge. Add to Houston is a collaborative collective
of young communication professionals age thirty twoone under. We're looking to make a
difference in the industry. If youwould like to becoming at Migo, join
(25:48):
us at add the Number two Houstondot com. You can also follow us
on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedint. Add the Number two Houston. Thank
you for listening.
Just the confidence that gives you toenter in with a force. You know,
they really, like Caitlin was saying, our professors want you to do
well and they really just want tosee you thrive and help you out.
Amigos and welcome to the at TOHouston Amigos podcast, a podcast for young
(00:21):
professionals in the marketing and avatacks inindustry who are learning to navigate their early
careers. I am agreeed to falconiyour hosts today. I am joined today
by my co host Alexander Hullou,current president of bat TO Houston, and
as always our producer Jaco Dunton.Today on this show we have three very
(00:41):
special guests in all particular owners.They are Mike Devlin, professor at Texas
State University and the NSAC advice advisorfor the school. Cooper Murphy Programs Chair
for at TO Houston and also aformer INSECT team member, is the our
director. And Kaitlin Turner, amarketing manager with HP and also an INSEAC
(01:07):
alumni. Thank you so much allthree of you guys for joining us today,
Thanks for having thank you for havingYeah. Absolutely and of course we
talked about this in the podcast before, but Alex is also a former insect
participant from a few years ago.So today, as you might have guessed,
the topic is in Sack. TheNational Student Advertising Competition. This is
(01:30):
a very prestigious competition that aif that'severy year. Unfortunately I was never able
to participate in it, but Ihave a room full of guests who did.
So if you guys could take asecond and talk a little bit about
what INSEAC is, you know,and how how students take that. So
(01:51):
the National Student Advertising Competition, it'ssponsored by the Afical Advertising Federation. It's
the largest and one that's speeing thestudents advertising competitions in the country. Each
year, we get the national clientsand all schools participate and they work from
the same brief and they work forthe same client. And about one hundred
(02:12):
schools each year participate. And thenthe way it breaks down for those of
you who aren't familiar with it,we're all broken our districts. Obviously,
we represent the District ten, whichis the largest district in the country as
well, that includes school Training,Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and
each school competes against one another withintheir district. There if you win first
(02:34):
in year district, you advance toa semi final where all district winners and
there's twelve or fourteen I forget there. It's changed. Some of them are
mega districts, so they have twothey have two teams that go up,
so you know theywhere from fourteen tosixteen teams then have their maturitis that buy
a new set of judges, andthen from the top eight advance to nationals
(02:55):
where they'll get to compete against oneanother with the new set of judges for
the clients. Typically the judges atthat point are all client judges. You
know, they announced the winner.So it's a great process. It's a
long process that we usually start inDecember and you know, a few advanced
you've been run all the way twillJune. So it's a long and involved
process for these guys. Yeah,that definitely sounds like it, but it
(03:20):
sounds like a very good opportunity forany students. Yes, especially when you're
an up becoming advertising professional trying tomake your way and your impact into the
industry. We typically don't know whereto start, and Ensich really access that
gateway or that bridge for up andcoming for advertising professionals. To really leave
their mark at least get a tasteof what's it all about. So in
(03:45):
this year, obviously, well Iwas there in Saint Louis to see your
presentation and I'm sure our viewers herewould love to learn a little bit more
about the client that you guys hadto the privilege to create the campaign for
and a little bit more about thedirection you guys took on it. So
either Kaylan Cooper, if you guysmaybe want to give a brief about that,
(04:05):
that would be fantastic. So Iserved as our executive creative director this
year, and our client was Indeed. So they are a job search website
where people can go and search forjobs and they're all there in one pool,
and our target was gen Z peoplewho are ready to look for jobs.
(04:27):
It was interesting because a lot ofus were also in that target,
but that also helped us with reallyhaving that debt feeling and being able to
explore our research not only through asecondhand approach, but also birthand so one
of the biggest things that our strategyteam uncovered was this root idea of fear
(04:50):
and the job search feeling scary.It's the sphere of the unknown. We
wanted to explore that, but weknew that we needed to resonate with gen
Z, and gen Z more thanany other generation, is really good at
avoiding advertising. They're oftentimes not excitedabout it unless it doesn't feel like advertising.
(05:13):
So we took it a really absurdtwist and we went back to some
childhood roots of creating fun characters.We had these little features called scamps,
which represents fear when you don't knowwhat it is, and then you see
it and it's a fun little puppet. It is exciting to use the scamps
just because a lot of times,like Caitlin said, we all have these
(05:34):
irrational fears around the jobs church,you know, we're not sure what to
expect or what we're going into,and that was what a lot of us
space when we were approached with thisclient. But once we came up with
this rude idea of having these shadow, mysterious figures deeply just being these puppet
type figures, it helped us,in a way boil it down and make
(05:57):
it easy. And once we startedgoing with that, our minds were just
racing with all sorts of ideas thatwe could take these puppets well and I'll
just to add to that. Youknow what I is the advisor. You
know, I've seen a lot ofteams come through and they'll presented their creative
to the team, and you know, they'll be a little push back,
a little buying right away. Iwill say this too, was a unique
time because when they first came upand pitched, we're going to do these
(06:18):
puppets, I along with most ofthe other people on the team all rolled
the odds. We're like, we'renot doing puppets. Guys, like,
this is not going to work.And we tould them to go back and
keep working on it and to muchof the you know, just to show
that when you have a really goodcreative idea and you believe in it,
you know how much do you wantto fight for but also refine it.
And you know what they did isthey went back and they refined it again,
(06:41):
and they started giving these puppets personalityand really tied them back to the
brand, like in a strategic way, so they weren't just spokes people,
but they were by by proxy,armies of the brand that you kind of
got to pershonified. And they cameback again and they pitched, we're going
to do these puppets, and Ithink, guys, we're not doing puppets
like you. And then they showedeveryone and we looked they were like,
(07:01):
oh, you know what this mightwork. So you know, I think
it was it wasn't just puppets.I think you guys just shown itself short
little but it was you know,it was really both people. YEA had
its fun and there's a lot ofways that they could been these and you
know, I saw some of theother teams. You know, they also
used characters and to try to communicate. But again, the key here is
(07:25):
the pot touch. Such a viralpersonnel. You could tell they really dug
into who these puppets were, sothey weren't they They felt authentic and it
felt joy over the watch. Soit was it was a good experience watching
them grow on that whole creative frontthat they got. Yeah, and those
literal personifications that were amplified through thosecharacters really made a great impression. You
know, with each of each personaof the scamps, you've had illuminating shadows
(07:50):
kind of creating like a monstrous figurepersuh, displaying this irrational fear that these
students had before they were introduced toall the benefits of indeed and those that
particular component in your campaign really stoodout a lot, and it really created
a great dynamic impression on young professionals, especially the students that were there.
(08:13):
I really I remember when I wasat the room listening to the presentation of
the team, with Caitlin being onstage as well, a lot of people
were laughing at some of the adswith if I recall, Cooper, you
were one of the voices of thecharacters. Is that right? Caitlin and
I both were actually right. Igot the opportunity to voice our cranky old
man Frank. He had a littlebit of a little rap to his voice.
(08:35):
He was a little rough, butyou know, he wanted to find
human insight, job hunted. AndCaitlyn, Yeah, Whitney was our it
girl. She's the one that's fourhard selters deep in the bathroom and he
is ready to hype you up whenyou are not feeling your best self.
That's so fun. I think it'sawesome that you guys get to kind of
(08:58):
do some you know, this isn'tthis This isn't like a real well,
I mean second pain, but likeit doesn't go live right but you get
to understand what the processes of developinga campaign, figuring out what the message
is going to be, and allof that before you even get to the
professional world, right, which isnot something that you usually get, you
(09:22):
know, for someone who's young,maybe a few years into way you speak,
So, how can they work towardsmoving up? Right? How can
they workforce getting promoted? Uh?Towards uh, you know, moving up
in the rank, so to speak. Something I've noticed I am part of,
like our hiring team, so Iget to interview different people from different
(09:43):
positions, and at our company,we like to like, how do you
interview with different roles that you're goingto actually work with? So if we're,
for example, hiring for the analyticsteam, you will meet with someone
from the client service team, You'llmeet with someone from maybe our SEO or
INBOWND team. Like, you'll meetwith different people, and that's really for
you to get insight. I'm like, how do I work with said people?
(10:05):
Are you know what type of collaborationwhile I be doing, which I
think is really helpful. But thenumber one thing that I'm always looking for
is when people are answering questions.And I think this goes into when you're
looking to get a role, butalso when you're working within your role,
how are you taking initiatives right?So I might ask you a question about
a client problem, or you mightbe currently working within your role and you
(10:28):
have a client problem. Are youwaiting for your manager to sit there and
tell you what to do or areyou really prepping through and walking through scenarios
in ways that you think you cantackle it. I think one of the
biggest things that's really helped me besuccessful in my career is I've always taken
this philosophy of if I'm going toask my boss for help, I'm not
going to go in there without sometype of plan in my head. And
(10:50):
so I might tell my boss like, Hey, I have this client.
They're really upset. They want of, you know, seven thousand dollars credits,
and I'm like, you know,here's situation that happens. Here's what
I think we should do, right. So I'm not just going to my
boss and be like, so whatdo I do? Like do I do?
I just give it to them?Like what can you do it?
Can? I? Like, youknow, I'm not really just looking for
them to lean in, But I'mgoing here's what I think. I kind
(11:13):
of sat down with this, Ithought about it. You know, I
remember, you know, my coworkerwent through this two months ago with this
client. I took the initiative togo ask other people who've been through this
scenario, and then I've come backto my manager with here's what I think
could work. And I've noticed thatas I've done that, what it's done
(11:33):
for my management team is they nowhave a new level of trust with me.
Of Okay, Eric is not justgoing to come to me with a
problem, but she's gonna tell me, like, I have this roadblock,
here's the roadblock, here's what Ithink I need to unblock the road.
And then what I'm looking for mymanager to do is because typically the people
that are managing you have more experiencethan you. Right, Sometimes it's not
(11:56):
about like age difference. Like,for example, my the person that I
work with that's on my team,her and I are literally the same age
I think for like seven months apart, but I have like six additional years
of work experience within the industry thanshe does. Yeah, and so that
adds to our dynamic. Right,It's not that I don't trust her to
(12:16):
handle problems. She's the same ageas me. I'm not she's not some
she's smart. Like I know thatwe're born the same year, ninety three.
Babies are smart, We're good,right. At the same time,
I'm like, you might not knowhow to handle this, Yes, ninety
three, you gotta make sure.But at the same time, she might
not have had enough experience going throughsome of the problems that I have or
(12:39):
some of the successes that I have. So what I'm what she's looking for
for me is is this the rightway to handle it based off of your
experience right, less of her comingto me being like, I don't know
what to do. I haven't thoughtabout it, but I really do think
that, Like, if you're lookingto move up, one of the biggest
things that a lot of managers arelooking for is am I handholding you through
(13:01):
every scenario, even duplicate scenarios.So you know, did you credit a
client last month for seven thousand dollarsand now a different client is asking you
for a two thousand dollars credit?Are you coming back to me and being
like, what do I do?Or did you learn from what we talked
about in the last time we hadthis conversation, right, and are you
taking that initiative to say, hey, I looked at this, I walked
(13:22):
through it, et cetera. Andan initiative dims into a lot of things.
If your boss is like, hey, I want you to start on
this project and you decide not tostart because you never got instruction, I'll
give you an example. I knowGoogle Analytics a little bit better than maybe
some of my coworkers based off myprevious position, and so a lot of
the times I'm like, maybe youdon't know it, maybe you want to
(13:43):
know it because you have a clientwho's going to be heavily in Google Analytics.
Are you taking the initiative to dosome training, take some training courses,
watch some YouTube videos in your downtime, right, Like, are you
taking that initiative to train yourself upor to learn about something, or to
go and ask someone questions about somethingso that when you were put in that
(14:07):
scenario and then that situation, Idon't have to worry about like, hey,
how much do you know? Ican you know? You can answer
that question confidently with oh yeah,Actually I took some training courses because I
wasn't familiar and that's okay to sayI feel like people are afraid to start
they're not good at something. It'sokay to say you're not good at something,
but it's better if you can sayyou're not good at something, but
(14:28):
I've been learning about it, andI've been taking a training class, or
I've been reading about it, oryou know, I actually put thirty minutes
on the calendar with Jacob in withGuido so that I can learn about podcast
because I had no idea what Iwas going to do. Oh awesome,
So did you talk to them?How'd that go? Are you good?
Right? And then your manser's like, dang, they took initiative, like
have a conversation and to get thatexperience like that's that's fantastic and it it
(14:52):
just builds you up from a credibilityperspective. But then for yourself, now
you're ahead of the curve. Maybeall your co don't know about podcasting in
the way that you do. Andnow guess what, when they want to
learn about podcasting, who are theygonna call? They're gonna call you because
they just heard you talk about howyou gain this? Say, hey,
what training class did you take?Hey? Did you was that meeting with
(15:13):
them. You know, good,can you tell me what you learned?
Right? And now you become apoint person. I think a lot of
people underestimate that value now. Atthe same time, if you are looking
to move up because you're just lookingto make more money and you're not trying
to be a manager, I wouldjust tote that line a little carefully because
as a manager, I feel likesometimes I'm looking at people who are taking
initiative. I'm like, oh mygod, would you do you want to
(15:37):
learn how to manage people? Andsometimes people are like, Noah, I'm
good. I do not want tobe a manager. I like, I
want your salary as a manager,but I do not want to manage people.
And that's okay, right, That'sjust totally fine. Like, be
honest. If you do not wantto manage people, do not be that
person that like raises your hand todo it and then dread what you do
every day. That sounds horrible.Yeah, Like just be transparent and a
(15:58):
lot of the times the different waysthat they can you know, they can
make you a senior blah blah blahblah blah. And when they introduced you
on calls, I know in mylast role before I worked at Medium Giant.
You know, I would get introducedon some calls or I would get
put on certain clients because I wasan expert in At the time, I
worked out a prosmatic company, butI was an expert in our like third
(16:19):
party vendors because one of the clientsthat I had only used third party vendors,
and so I had to learn alot about third party vendors. And
then I became the expert at thecompany for third rate. So if anybody
else had a client that was onboardingthat was going to use that, they
would set up a meeting with me, and they would set up a meeting
with me and one other dead personand the two of us would just walk
(16:41):
them through here's what you need tolook for, here's the things, here's
some exceptions. When you plug intothis, it might be a little bit
different than me. And if thatis the case, like ask me.
I'm happy to dig into the datawith you. Right. But you know,
there's there's a space for everyone,and sometimes some companies are willing to
make a position for you, rightSo, especially if they know how strong
(17:03):
of a person you are, howmuch of initiative taker, you are,
it's a lot easier for someone tomake that decision of like, hey,
I want to carve out a newposition for them because they don't want to
be a manager, but like Ican really see them leading the charge here.
Yeah, great, let's make thatwork. Right. So that's probably
the biggest thing that I would sayfrom if you're looking to move up.
(17:25):
I feel like initiative is just oneof those things that I haven't seen a
lot of people take. At thesame time, from a gen Z perspective,
because my daughter is a gen Zer, that does not mean to let
a company run over you. SoRose, you know, what can I
get into the NFR show? Onething that I want to ask you is
for any young people listening to theshow, maybe they just graduated college,
(17:49):
maybe they're starting out in the industry, and let's say they're really like the
strategic side of advertising, right,how can they get started? What can
they go? Maybe who can theymeet and how do they find that first
job that you know, kind ofgets them gets their foot in the door.
Yeah, so I'm not going tosugarcoad it at all. All field
(18:11):
is extremely competitive. Shoes are alwayslike cranking out these highly skilled future athleaders.
They're always evolving classes to put theday in landscape. I mean,
these students are often leaving college witha highly polished portfolios. So if you
if you want to break into theindustry and you want to have a specific
(18:33):
role in it, you have tohave the fort two to keep trying after
countless projection, really know your bossat the end of the day, Like,
don't set up a position that youdon't want for pay that you don't
want, the position that you don'twant at a job you don't want,
because at the end of the day, you're not gonna like it, You're
gonna get bouns out, and you'rereally not going to see all of these
(19:00):
benefits that being a part of ourcommunity has to offul if you're interested in
getting started in the industry, andmore importantly, the strategics side, all
the side of things opportunities like gettingin like influence for an agency internships wills
fired you with the invaluable experiences thatyou know you cannot get anywhere else.
(19:22):
Then that helps that to your portfolios. Take an entry level position. You
know, if it happens to betoo late to get an internships that you
graduated a year ago. You know, take a beginning position and you know,
walk your way up barn everything.You can make friends with people at
the agency or in house across alldepartments, especially if it's as an apartment
(19:45):
you want to work for. Dofreelance work. That's also another amazing opportunity.
Uh, if you're interested in,say being a copywriter, graphic designal
or state strategist, consider like freelancingscan help break into that industry. In
those pieces will help expand your portfolio, which will also provide you with like
an opportunity to work on a riderange of projecting campaigns. Tony steels like
(20:10):
one day you could be working onin the ads or right and the next
day you can be helping people breakinto the house of the market. But
if reelasting doesn't interest you, sayit is a decent self create fake campaigns.
Give yourself a challenge to solve developers. So trade an ad that you're
(20:30):
seeing an ad while like you're scrollingor hear something on the radio and think,
oh I could have done a betterjob. Challenge yourself and rework that
project with your own take. Itcould be for a fake company or or
somebody that exists. Creating fake campaignswill provide you with back fork that would
help show off your creativity, provideinsights into how you solve problems. Introduce
(20:53):
yourself to people who have rows thatyou want. If you're looking to become
an ad strategist, look on withsin for people who have those roles at
an agency, on a houseplace youwant to work at. Introduce yourself to
them. Like I'm not saying immediatelylike hey, help me get a job
at your company. No, don'tlike, don't don't not to answer you.
(21:15):
Introduce yourself in a friendly and professionalzone. Give your you know,
give them a brief file about whoyou are. Want to contact them if
they live close by, like offorder to take them, book up the
coffee and pick their brains. Ipraumise you most of these people in those
positions will want to help out thenext generation of leaders. More importantly,
(21:36):
make connections and really networks in ourin our fields and those connections especially networking.
Coach to if not it's it's it'snot just like what you know,
but who you know. Like ifyou're like me who had no professional community,
you have to build your own andreally don't you don't want to limit
yourself just because you don't have anyindustry or agency connection. So join in
(22:03):
organization like t are a AAF likereally get out there and meet people and
most importantly, be authentically passionate.Our WOO does not have like a nine
to five I limitations. We're notgoing to block in and clock out.
There's always just like level of educationthat's going to take place. That way,
we could keep up with the changinglandscape that we discussed over your and
(22:27):
finally, really build your brand.Do yourself or a brand. Uh,
the way you present yourself to someonematters. That presentation is your brand,
and applying the same principles you doto yourself as you were a company will
help you get noticed. So doingthose things will help distinguish you from the
(22:49):
competition and lay a powerful foundation foryour future as an at leader. That's
that's very very true. If Ican start up with actually very typicuick story.
I was having lunch one of myco workers last week and she told
me that basically the way that shegot the job that she has now is
because she reached out to our VPof marketing right and because they both went
(23:14):
to the same college. She likedthis stuff that she was putting on LinkedIn,
and she just reached out to herand said, you know, I
graduate from here. She was ata job that she didn't care for and
just you know, asked her outto like coffee, and then they got
to talking and they got to knoweach other and eventually she offered her a
job. So yeah, dog likeRose, like you said, right,
don't just go out and tell someone, hey, I need a job.
(23:36):
But building those connections, professional connectionson LinkedIn, it's never been easier,
right, And you never know likethey might this person might help you find
a job at some point, whetherthey actually offer you one or or they're
just one of your professional references,right, and then just happens to carry
away exactly so, and they willhelp you. They will be able to
(23:59):
give you insights into like with thejob entails, how you get how they
got that position that would help you, you know, gain similar experience or
work for a position in that samein that same maybe agency off somewhere else.
Yeah, you don't know who theyknow and who they know might be
(24:22):
hiring, and they might be ableto hook you up. Rose. That's
all the questions that we had youknow, it has been just so much
fun to get to talk to youafter so long, right, it's it's
nice to have you back on thepodcast. We've really missed you and I
hope that you've been able to youknow, keep up with us and you
(24:44):
like what we're doing with this podcastthat that you're left from. Thanks for
having me on the show today.It was. It was definitely a stature
to be able to share a bitabout my story and provide some insights into
health to break into the industry itselfasolutely. It was. It was just
great to get to know more aboutyou and kind of I'm sure for our
listeners to hear a little more aboutit, Like you said, your story,
(25:07):
right, because we all have verydifferent stories of how we get here,
and they're all equally valuable and theyall have the equal amount of insights
that young people can can here,right, Young people can get something from
right anyways, that's what we have. Again. Thank you for joining us,
Rose, and we hope that youcan join us again sometime again,
(25:27):
right, and maybe we can dolike another follow up and awesome, Thank
you so much, thank you forjoining us today. The add to Houston
Amgo's podcast is produced at Radio Lounge. Add to Houston is a collaborative collective
of young communication professionals age thirty twoone under. We're looking to make a
difference in the industry. If youwould like to becoming at Migo, join
(25:48):
us at add the Number two Houstondot com. You can also follow us
on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedint. Add the Number two Houston. Thank
you for listening.
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