A month or so ago I worked in at G2 advertising agency for a week (now BCG2), and came face to face with a brief I'd worked on before - the Art of the Envelopes call-for-entry.

For the last two years the awards, run by Candida, had been using a concept thought up originally by my art director Matthias and I when I was fulltime at BCG. What a coincidence that I would be involved in coming up with a new approach in 2010.

I was only involved at the concepting level, coming up with the core thought "Sexing up the envelope". We decided to use current DM hotshots from the ad industry in 'sexy' poses - everyone loves to laugh at people they know. Take a look at the end product, I reckon they did a great job:

Here's a link to some PR on advertising blog Stoppress: http://www.stoppress.co.nz/news/2010/07/scantily-clad-marketers-get-sexy-turn-envelopes-into-mmmvelopes/weeblylink_new_window

My blog of the week: An 18 year old follows the advice of Seventeen mag for 1 month, providing critical analysis on topics such as race and sexuality representation, beauty myths and expectations, and all kinds of blimen' awesome other stuff.

Plus, she's a great writer. Like, a really great writer who makes me very jealous because she could totally kick my arse in writing and she's only 18.

Link to her first post here:
http://www.theseventeenmagazineproject.com/2010_05_21_archive.htmlweeblylink_new_window


Link to my favourite post about the communication breakdown between teens and adults here:
http://www.theseventeenmagazineproject.com/search/label/Communicationweeblylink_new_window

Back in April I was interviewed for a segment on TV One's "Close Up" about how young interns are treated in advertising agencies while they're on trial placement or internships. The 10 minute piece aired on July 18th, around the time that our government is reviewing employment policies.

http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/options-young-graduates-3649149/videoweeblylink_new_window

I was lucky enough to avoid this period that many newbies go through - being paid $100 a week and kept on for up to a year with no guarantee of a job at the end. And quite frankly, I don't think I would have put up with it for more than a couple of months.


The journalist who interviewed us asked a lot of leading questions and was obviously out to collect the evidence for only one angle: that is, us telling him all about the exploitation that goes on. Of course we were all a lot more diplomatic than he wanted; in fact my friend Jono who was also interviewed tells me the journalist kicked a rubbish bin in frustration because he wasn't getting the juicy gossip he expected. Media, huh.


The end result wasn't as bad as I expected, but it wasn't great either. For a 10 minute piece there was a lot of repetition, and they cut out a lot of my comments that offered the other side of the story. That is, while there is definitely exploitation going on from the agencies' end, young creatives play a part too. It's their responsibility to ask for more money or to walk away when it's obvious they're being used. Instead of just bitching about it and stealing booze from the agency fridge to make up for it. That's the only way we'll change the internship system from our end - by just saying no.


I'm glad the piece aired and I hope it starts the wheel turning for change. I'm not holding my breath though!

Another link to the piece here:

http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/options-young-graduates-3649149/videoweeblylink_new_window

June. Busiest month of the year so far, with lots of work in agencies. Plus, check out my previous post to read my latest piece of writing published in Express magazine.


So this month I've worked in at:
Sugar, on BNZ DM
Consortium, on Jockey Underwear (Dan Carter in his undies, such a ubiquitous image)
Federation, on Farmers and Q Card DM
DraftFCB, on all kinds of things
Soda, on Fintel Insurance TVCs


Full-time in an agency isn't my style, but I have enjoyed getting around different agencies for a week here and there to feel the different vibe in each one. I have to say, my fav so far is Draft. Everyone's really friendly even though it's a big agency, and they seem to treat their staff well and have a good culture. Sometimes I miss the big agency days. Mainly the people and the gossip and the booze on Fridays though!