When I teach students who are beginning to build a portfolio that will (hopefully and eventually) land them a gig or job in this crazy world of advertising/creative/content creation/curation/whatever we’re calling it today, I always personally bristle a bit, then sigh, then say, almost exasperated with myself for saying it, “we’re going to start with print.”
Fortunately, it’s usually early enough in the term that my students haven’t yet taken to heart my directive that 1. they are allowed and encouraged to question me and that 2. I am often wrong.
I usually follow it up with, “I know, I know, no one reads print anymore. Think of them as subway ads.” (Our school is in New York City) “Or, think about them as display ads that you might see in social, or while reading a website.”
Let me start by saying this: my class is about getting a fundamental footing in idea conception, mainly focused around communication of what brands can do for people or what need they can fulfill in their lives. And I think you have to walk before you can run, despite the pace of a world that would try to sell you otherwise.
That said, I bristle because I know my students won’t be doing print right out of the gates. In fact, they may never do “print.”
But I am not teaching how to do print.
I teach (or at least try to teach) how to make ideas that connect insights about what people believe or do with brands that can help them do it, believe it, or, as the case may be, not do it or not believe it.
And I am trying to get them to consolidate those ideas into a form that will convey itself efficiently and fully in a matter of nanoseconds – first to a creative director or recruiter that will hire them, and later by an audience that will be conditioned to ignore them. I want them to make ideas that are simple and insightful, that you can get the idea in a heartbeat and go, “oh, yes, I get it.”
I question myself often. However, I woke up to something interesting this morning, that reminded me why I still get us started in print thinking. It was Creativity’s pick of the day from Pereira & O’Dell (one of the best creative shops running, IMHO) for Mini. These were single frames, in succession, on Instagram, intercut with footage of Mini cars racing around on tracks (I did not include it). Here are the relevant slides:
It’s a simple insight: TV is the time waster you put in your life that takes you away from the better things you could be doing in life. In this case, driving a Mini, which is fun. And then, it’s executed with great writing.
Now, a HUGE DISCLAIMER: What comes next is not me saying, “we did it first.” It’s a lesson about human insights being equally relevant in different media.
Some years ago, we wanted to remind people that on Friday and Saturday night, while they were looking for a movie to kill three hours or make up the bulk of date night, they could go to the nearby Mohegan Sun Casino. We ran these, not on Instagram (it didn’t exist) but in the movie section of local newspapers.
Obligatory: Of course, Pereira & O’Dell’s writers are better.
I think it’s a nice example of how “print” like thinking is still relevant in today’s world, a good place to start creating ideas that can get bigger. Both creative teams, completely independent of one another (trust me, I doubt anyone but me remembers these, including my partner), came to an insight: sometimes, it’s better to live your life than watch another’s on screen.
They put it on Instagram. We put it in the newspaper. But it all works.
Intro to the Creative Process with Paul 