People Who Do Things | #10 Junior Art Director

Today on People Who Do Things we are joined by Antony, a New York based Junior Art Director at McCann-Erickson. He will be sharing what his role requires, where he gets inspiration and how you too can succeed in this role....

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So, all I know about an Art Director is that they work within the art department of companies to create and develop AD campaigns, I am sure you'll be able to describe your job much better for us and share what a day at work looks like for you! So as an Art Director I work along side my copywriter (my partner) within the creative department of an AD agency. Back in the day an Art Director would have been given a line from a copywriter and an idea from the Creative Director and been left to create the visual for that idea. Fortunately, the world of advertising has become a lot more cooperative. Now a Copywriter and the Art Director will be briefed together, brainstorm together and bring ideas to the lead Creative Director on the project. The Creative Director then oversees the building of those ideas before we present to the client which will usually have ads with live and pictures, or TV scripts with mood boards and storyboards. Advertising is great in the sense that, at least for myself and my partner, no day is quite the same. We are lucky enough to work with a variety of clients on a big range of products. One day we might have to make banner ads for websites and the next day we are presenting TV scripts before going into production... another part of the job that I'm just starting to get a taste of!

Have you always known that you wanted to be an Art Director, or did you consider another role in the Creative Industry? I've always been artistically inclined, growing up my Grandad had a big role in making sure myself and my cousins drew and painted, I always enjoyed it but never thought about turning it into a job. Then when it was time to finally start thinking about Uni and I had no idea what I wanted to do I turned to Graphic Design and applied to SVA. Still at this time I had no idea advertising was a real job, it's really a whole industry that you experience everyday but never think that at least 20 people were involved in that print ad in the underground. I got in as a design major at SVA but quickly realised I didn't want to do some of the courses which were required in the first year (painting and sculpture). I switched to advertising thanks to a friend who told me they had no fine arts requirements, so it was a good way to avoid them! Unknowingly to me that decision also changed my entire career. My second year I took an advertising class, fell in love and haven't looked back since. I do love to draw when I can, which most of my Instagram is dedicated too, but I find that I use my design skills a little more now when it comes to cocktails and cooking!

Where and how do you get inspiration for your AD Campaigns? Literally anything, anywhere. I've been inspired by elderly ladies outfits, movies, TV shows, things I've seen in bars, social media and magazine. A big thing one of my AD Teachers said was to pick my magazines from categories you wouldn't normally read, expose yourself to things you normally wouldn't and you will find inspiration. Also shout out to Reddit's Shower Thoughts, amazing!

What do you think the upcoming trends in advertising will be? Hard to say, things need to be more nimble and adaptable these days with social media influencers being a cheap way to advertise. I think that the core ideas now need to be less about selling a product that you need and more about selling a product that helps the world, or has a larger cause.

Is there a brand that you think has just nailed their advertising and branding? To keep this one short: Nike. You see that swoosh mark and know exactly what brand it is since 1971.

Is there a project you've worked on recently that you've found rewarding? The coolest / most rewarding project I've worked on to date was for National Geographic, my partner and I got to work on their anti plastic campaign which ended up on their cover for the month of June and we are currently working on stuff that will hopefully be put into the world soon, but we shall see...

What advice do you have for others considering this as their profession? The two best pieces of advice I've ever been given are: for every great idea there was 100 good ideas and 500 bad ones. It takes a lot of work and a thick skin to keep your head up and keep working! The other one is from my AD Teacher; if you want to be a great Art Director forget the need to sleep! I would also add that you can never stop learning in advertising as nearly everything you read and learn can be used when coming up with an idea.

Is there an Art Director you aspire to? Not really, I definitely have people that I admire but the beauty of advertising is that you are noticed for being yourself when you create your best work.

If you weren't a Junior Art Director what do you think you'd be doing? Either an Illustrator or Bartender, probably the former, hopefully the latter.

What's your side hustle? I occasionally do freelance illustrating, but with the amount of work I do I've had to put that off. I spend anytime I'm not working drinking beer, making cocktails, cooking and mastering video games, oh and appeasing my girlfriend haha

And finally, the question we all want to know the answer of! What are the perks of the job? If you write a TV Commercial you get to go on the shoot, travel and accommodation is all included. This can lead to seeing places you never would have gone to otherwise, I just recently went on a shoot to Berlin and Prague. You do sometimes get discounts depending on your client e.g. I get a phone discount because we do Verizon's advertising and I also get a discount at L'Oreals employees stores as we do their global work.

A massive thank you to Antony for taking the time to share his job as a Junior Art Director! I hope you found this interesting and keep tuned for a lot more interviews, I shall be posting a new 'people who do things' every other Sunday, So your next one will be up on Sunday 18th November.

If you're in a job that you love make sure to DM me on Instagram @greatestformofflatteryblog and I can feature you!

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