CREATIVE ADVERTISING

Welcome to your first day on the team. As a writer or art director, you have to learn the basics. Let’s talk about who makes up a creative team, their roles, and the tools you’ll need to be a good teammate.

• Designer vs. art director vs. creative director
• Core art director skill set
• Art director’s tools
• Editor vs. copywriter
• Core copywriter skill set & tools

Assignment #1: Create your creative team or decide if you prefer to work on the course project independently.

You know good ideas don’t come out of thin air, they start with the brief. Let’s read the brief and get to work. We’ll take a look at different elements to help you understand how to start working creatively.

• Key elements of a brief
• Plan of attack: timing and meetings
• Case study: Dissecting a brief (ComEd)

Assignment #2: Review one of the two provided briefs for an ad campaign and try to develop 10 ideas.

Before we get to work, you have to learn the brand. Let’s talk about how using a brand’s identity creates great work for them.

• Brand identity & brand model
• The visuals & voice of the brand Identity
• Brand Case Studies
• How to develop brand positioning from scratch
• Case Study: Reading a brandbook (Starbucks)

Ok, so we’ve got branding down. Let’s break down our target audience and dive deeper into our goals. We’ll explore a quick case study and talk about how to build our campaign.

• What is an ad campaign?
• Know your target audience
• Understanding deliverables & responsibilities (art director)
• Understanding deliverables & responsibilities (copywriter)
• Case Study: Establishing the pillars for an Ad Campaign

Alright, it’s time to brainstorm! Let’s start with the visuals. Mood boards, storyboards, sketches, etc…it’s time to work.

• Brainstorm rules & methods
• What to bring to a brainstorming session
• Shaping ideas through visualization
• Visualization tips
• Post brainstorming session deliverables for art director 

Assignment #3: Generate ideas & inspirations for your project by submitting at least one adcept board sketch. If you work on the Metro High School brief, additionally submit at least one sketch of their new logo.

Writers, it’s our turn! Let’s kick around some words/phrases and get our minds churning out creative copy.

• Copywriting brainstorm rules & tips
• Understanding your writing process
• Finding inspiration
• Creative techniques
• What to present & what not to present in your brainstorm

As copywriters, it’s our job to be sure about every word that the brand uses. Let’s go over some of the finer points of being a copywriter like writing headlines, creating big ideas, and managing your time.

• Understanding your style as a writer
• The science behind copywriting
• Writing big ideas and concept statements
• Writing copy for different platforms
• Understanding your workload & writing for multiple brands

Assignment #4: Generate big ideas and headlines for the podcast, print, and OOH ad of the campaign, and create 2-3 options for presentation.

Our brief told us what we’re delivering for this campaign, but let’s take a closer look at each media type. Let’s make sure everything works together to create the most appealing campaign.

• Types of media
• Developing various ad formats
• Print, social, OOH ads, email, TV & experiential ads

We’ve got pictures, we’ve got words…but how do they work together? We’re going to talk about bringing all of the creative elements together.

• How to build a 360 campaign
• Deciding what creative elements to keep
• Key visuals & campaign name
• Case Study: Breaking down the elements of a 360 Campaign (ComEd)
• Power up visuals with concise copy + Examples

Assignment #5: Create the remaining campaign deliverables, including one print ad, one OOH execution, podcast ad, video concept, and social media campaign idea.

Let’s have our first internal review and take a look at how we can refine our ideas as we get closer to our presentation date.

• Holding peer reviews
• Quality feedback vs. critique
• Efficient feedback methods
• Check and evaluate the brief and brand

When you work at an agency, you have to learn how to interact with everybody. We’re going to talk about working remotely & setting up tasks.

• Creative leader: role & functions
• Key stages and tasks
• Art of delegating & managing remote teams
• Defining key team roles
• DE&I for creatives

The ideas are coming together. Let’s talk about putting the deck together and selling our ideas. Making sure we tell a story and cover all of our bases.

• Presentation framework
• Telling a story with the brief
• Making words fit: storytelling & compressed narrative
• Simplifying the message
• Deck outside of the box 

Assignment #6: Compile your integrated ad campaign into a pitch deck, covering the brief, big idea write-up, deliverables, and an appendix with all executions on one slide.

Let’s get hired. We’ll cover making a portfolio, interview tips, and what to look for based on your career goals.

• Career advancement options
• Developing your unique vision
• Developing a portfolio website
• Demo. Portfolio creation on Squarespace
• Portfolio & interview tips

Assignment #7 (Extra Credit):
Put together a killer portfolio highlighting your skills as an art director or copywriter. Submit it for review.

IT’S TIME TO PITCH! Let’s explore how to develop your signature presentation style and handle questions and objections like a pro.

• Finding your signature presentation style
• Yi’s presentation styles
• Ryan’s presentation styles
• How to handle questions and objections