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Coach
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Honestly, shame on everyone in this thread in my opinion. Advertising is hard enough as it is. In my experince at two agencies as a creative a few small handful of senior teams get the TV work and everyone else gets scraps. If you’re trying to maximize your scraps...respect.
If I design the transmission system for a Ferrari...I would say I worked on helping design that Ferrari and would put the whole Ferrari in my book, not just the transmission system.
I’m not sure what people are mad about here. If you worked on part of the campaign and say that, and are clear about what you did, you can say you had a part in bringing a cool campaign to market. Just be clear about what you actually did.
I was CD on a project that won numerous awards. I left the agency after concepting/writing/casting/animation and sound design were already done. But before final release. My name is nowhere on the awards list; some new CD got the credit. But it was my and my team’s baby. Damn straight I put that on my resume.
Yup. This shit happens all the time. Also, if you’re a freelancer, it’s kinda normal unfortunately. So many times as a freelancer you get called in to crack something that nobody is cracking. Hand in your scripts and your thoughts. Maybe for a few rounds and when things start to get approved, you’re shown the door. You get your check a couple weeks later and you never hear back until you see your work on TV and the awards circuit making the rounds without your name anywhere in the credits, even though it’s your idea and you wrote it.
THIS 👏🏻
My favorite thing I’ve seen is a team who worked only on the second case study of a project (was submitted to awards two years in a row), then took credit for the whole thing and all the awards it won.
YES!
Sad to say but when I see a portfolio I have a feeling 70% of creatives do that. Up to us to be vigilant too since it’s hard to control.
Enthusiast
Does it have to be all 3? I have works on my book that I didn't come up with, but I worked on it all the way from conception to production.
Does it bother anyone else that “the greatest ad in the history of advertising” was borrowed interest?
For every Championship, there are dozens (sometimes several dozen) rings handed out. Even the practice roster kicker gets a ring. Get over it.
Art is personal. Advertising is a team sport. Whoever wants to coat-tail, they’ll be found out eventually. Whoever begrudges small participants for claiming credit, stop being so possessive. If you did most of the work, most of the people know that.
Coach
How is it not clear??? NO ONE is begrudging the participant regardless of their role.
Just DONT put work in your book you had nothing to do with - concept on, execute on, produce, etc.
Just be clear about what you contributed. It’s not complicated people.
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Did you only come up with the concept? Put it in your book and be clear about your role.
Did you only do the script? Put it in your book and be clear about your role.
Did you execute the entire social media campaign to a 360 campaign? Put it in your book and be clear about your role.
Did you only see through the TV spot from concept to finish? Put it in your book and be clear about your role.
Did you oversee the entire 360 campaign but didn’t actually create the ads, or scrips, or contribute as a maker? Put it in your book and be clear about your role.
BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR ROLE AND DONT STEAL WORK YOU DIDN’T HAVE A ROLE IN.
Flashback to the time a writer sent me his portfolio, and it had a website in it that I HAD WRITTEN.
What a great feeling. In both ways.
Also OP, if you need an honest Sr AD/ACD 👋🏽
Coach
Would love to chat a bit more via DMs.
People who do this always get found out in the end. If you hire someone who says they were instrumental in creating amazing pieces that cleaned up at all the award shows, you’d expect them to be throwing out top-notch ideas pretty consistently. Obviously they wouldn’t be doing that for you, and you’d wonder why. They’d be out of their depth and expectations on them would be very high. Exaggerating your role on a project might be a quick path to a new job, but imagine the pressure on you to perform? It serves no one. Personally, every piece I have in my book has a detailed credit list following it. And I only put work in there I had significant impact on (I.e. it wouldn’t have existed or wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good without my involvement).
I completely agree OP.
Also, as someone currently unemployed, thank you for looking at the Avail List.
It is incredible frustrating and surprising to see the amount of people that do this. Of course, I would love to have all parts of the campaign in my portfolio but often times at a big place I was only responsible for one part. It would also be great if the people reviewing books understood this is the reality of most big agencies. I’ve seen so many people do that even on the projects I worked on.
Honor among thieves?
Coach
Not sure if you’re referring to me as part of the thieves but I don’t compromise my integrity and ethics to get ahead whether it’s in my book or in person.
Coach
Make sure that your role in the work is clear. I’m pointing out more so the creatives that for example feature an entire campaign in their book yet they only worked on the social media component while featuring the TV spots. Meanwhile, I can verify that they had zero part of the TV spots - not their concept, not their scripts, they weren’t in the edit, etc. Regardless of platform, execution, etc... don’t lie or try to pass off work that you had no part in as yours.
I mean... this is a plague in our industry. Most TV spots have 5-6 creative credits, plus this industry is loaded with ambitious people who will just roll with a book piece because they were in a couple meetings. “I contributed a line, ok, TV spot credit” etc. That said, I think people are also wise to this. Pedigree does not a portfolio make, and with a discerning eye, you can distinguish the fakers from the makers.
Subject Expert
If it keeps working and recruiters/CDs fail to catch it, people will keep doing it
I’ve had CD’s ask to put my work on their site and give me the credit for writing it. Some of them help guide others just want to attach their name to the project. On an org chart the CD,ECD,CCO etc. can theoretically say they had a hand in it. Asking goes a long way. So does talking about your role in bigger campaigns.
Mentor
CD7 agree one should give credit to your team! 100%
What if I didn’t concept the idea, but produced/edited/finished the spot to help out the CDs who did come up with it?
Coach
Just be clear in your role. Even if the spot was shot by your CD’s, if you contributed to the production, the edit, finishing, etc, it’s important and instrumental to the work.
When I was fresh out of school, I wrote some copy for a now fairly well-known OOH headline-driven campaign. I was added as a “support” writer for a few days, so I was not part of client meetings or production. Some lines got some minor tweaks (e.g. “they” -> “some people”) and made it to the real world. I added credits obviously.
How do I approach this for my book? Should I even put them in at all?
Pure gut check. You made them, they got tweaked—it happens all the time. Are they your thoughts? Do you like how they turned out? Then yes.
I’ve seen / known of creatives who have flat out put award winning tv campaigns in their book that wrapped before they even got to the agency.
Available ACD here if you’re still looking to fill that role!
Coach
Hi ACD! Shoot me a DM and let’s chat.