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Always painfully funny lol
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If you stick with it, you'll have two skills: concepting and writing.
If you walk away now, you'll only have one: writing.
I'd keep going if I were you. You're going to get better.
I would read the Advertising Concept Book - it’s really great at breaking down strategies for concepting. See if that helps. It’s a learned skill, to some degree, that gets easier with time. Ask your CDs to give detailed feedback on your ideas even if they’re dead so you can understand where the holes are. That said, some agencies have social writers who just write, if that’s your preference.
I’m adding this to cart now. Thank you!
And I’ll definitely take into consideration your other points too.
Yeah it's about 50/50 concepting/writing IMO. You can get better at both as you go along, but I have found that it's pretty hard to teach someone how to think better. It's the sort of thing ad school can maybe teach you, and now there are some free ad schools so you might still have a shot at learning. With juniors I've found that they come in naturally creative and tend to have wild crazy ideas that start to get more refined with time. Juniors who aren't great at concepting end up leaving the industry from my observations.
Turnaround times are getting tighter and tighter but I will say one definitely gets a lot quicker at it with experience. As a junior I used to struggle to deliver two scripts in one day - now I can bang out like 10-15 :15s ads + think on more stuff all within one day. You'll learn.
If you're truly a 'writer writer' and don't enjoy/aren't interested in the conceptual part of it, yes I would recommend another career path. Unfortunately it's a lot easier to make money writing ads than writing prose/plays.
https://deckofbrilliance.com/ might help
and no, it doesn't make you a bad copywriter. it takes time to come up with ideas quickly. it will come with practice.
hold tight :)
You beat me to it. Such a helpful guide for anyone at any level.
Every junior is bad at concepting at first. If you like what you’re doing, keep practicing. You’ll get better with time.
And if you don't, don't be afraid to walk away in search of what you do love. Sometimes people try really hard to hang on despite how miserable it makes them.
Worse.
It makes you a bad person.
And dogs will bark at you.
This reply alone tells me you have what it takes conceptually lol
I wouldn’t say that makes you bad. Would say it makes you a jr. A Technique for Producing Ideas is a good book too.
If you only love writing, you could become a long copy writer, social copy or DM writer.
When you want to work on advertising briefings, you should be able to come up with ideas.
But here’s the thing: writing ìs conceptualising. A human insight captured in a great line is a concept you can imagine TVC’s on. I started out as a writer and developed my conceptual muscle with writing as my fuel.
I never studied ad school, what helped me was going through One Show and D&AD annuals. Soak it all in. Then try to come up with a lot of ideas. It doesn’t matter if they are good or not. See it as practicing new ways of thinking and stretching your mind so you can reach places you weren’t able to reach before.
Also: growth is meant to feel uncomfortable. Becoming a great creative goes hand in hand with a lot of self doubt and hard work, just like being an athlete goes hand in hand with suffering during training. I see some people giving fluffy tips like ‘do what makes you happy’, but let’s not interpret that as ‘don’t do things that make you feel uncomfortable’. You won’t learn anything new that way, and a career is all about learning.
I would say, give it a shot. You are young, why would you already define yourself as ‘someone who cannot conceptualise’. Maybe you are ‘someone who cannot conceptualise yet.’ Enjoy the hustle.
When you later decide it’s not for you, you can always become a pure writer.
No reason to get discouraged. I feel like this app is very ad-focused (which is fine), but there are a lot of different types of copywriters. Just because you’re a writer doesn’t mean you HAVE to write ads. There are different areas that you may like better such as packaging, brand voice, naming, etc. Just because you’re having difficulty in this one area doesn’t mean you should call it quits.
Absolutely keep at it and hone your skills, read books, watch talks etc. But if you still feel like it’s not for you then maybe see if they can put you on some different kinds of projects that may be more in your wheelhouse.
As suggested, there are books and talks/interviews that can help you improve your conceptual skills, and I don't want to pile on because you're doing a good thing by asking - but yeah most of the job is about concepting and idea creation. If that's not what you signed up for it's better to pivot to a more writing focused career early because the deadlines and expectations don't slow down.
Just remember that coming up with ideas is as much a skill as a talent. You learn how to do it, and you get better at it over time. Read some books and treat it like any other subject you want to learn about, let me know if you want any concrete recommendations
Get this https://www.amazon.com/Advertising-Concept-Third-George-Felton/dp/0393733866/ref=asc_df_0393733866/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312143020546&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3803839292647541714&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021719&hvtargid=pla-489627923756&psc=1
Yes.
I teach my colleagues how to think better - it’s about questioning your CDs, clients etc. Happy to help if you want to get in touch. I also do this as a consultant.
@worldvision you are a teacher of thinking? Sounds like a cushy job
Don’t give up. I felt like that too. If you need pointers DM me.
I’ve found the problem here to be a lack of Creative Directors willing or wanting to mentor juniors. You can’t be expected to do everything right out the gate. Find a CD whose work you admire, connect with them, see if they’d be willing to bring you on and mentor you. Don’t doubt yourself, this is a tough industry.
Comb through the old award show annuals and reverse engineer the thoughts that lead to those great campaigns. Just pull them apart and you'll see how it's done.
“Hey Whipple” is an excellent and classic book on this.
Based on my analytics, there are a few hundred creatives who consistently use these cards to come up with ideas quickly. They may help you, too.
https://www.peterjwagoner.com/starters-concepting-cards