It’s no secret that the business of advertising is changing, and that a once acceptable way of doing business is being re-thought.

Clients are demanding solutions that go beyond the staffs and aptitudes of traditional agency structures.

They want access to the best talent, wherever in the world it resides.

And they've figured out that bloated agency infrastructure has little to do with generating transformational ideas.

Out of these realities comes Underhead, a collection of individuals and independent companies with a track record of producing some of the freshest, most effective communications across every discipline.

In an age where overhead is the problem, Underhead is the solution.

At every stage of your career, it’s important to have an honest and accurate understanding of where you stand as compared to your competition.

But at no stage is it more important than it is at the very beginning of your career as you put your student portfolio together.

At this point, the work is all “spec” and entirely within your control.

There are no account people to blame, no bad partners to blame, no creative directors to blame, no clients to blame, and no budget constraints.

It’s all you.

A prefect example is Josh Steinmetz, a former student of ours at Art Center College of Design and recent grad who has been hired to begin his career at arguably one of the top five agencies in the world…W+K Portland.

Josh worked as hard as someone could work from beginning to end, always went beyond what was asked for (on even the most demanding assignments) and always learned and improved from his mistakes.

Check out Josh’s work. He’s off to a great start with a bright future ahead of him.

If you work hard and smart, there’s no reason that you can’t someday be in the same position.

Here’s Josh’s site

Regardless of what stage you are at in your career, there may be times you need to talk with an objective and experienced advisor to help you develop a plan to move forward.

Maybe you aren’t satisfied with your current position but aren’t sure what might be a better fit for you.

Maybe you’re getting mixed feedback on your work and aren’t quite sure whose opinion to trust.

Maybe you’d like someone to give you an honest assessment of what achievable, realistic goals are for the next move in your career and help you determine the best path that will get you there.

If any of these, or other career-related issues are ones you’d like to discuss, please email Samantha Glatzer.

sam@yourcareercompass.com

One of the first things you should do if you’re serious about a career in advertising or design is to become very familiar with The One Club.

And if you can afford to, (it’s very affordable and worth it) by all means become a member.

From the show itself, to the events, to the access to quality instruction, to the opportunity to meet like-minded creatives, it will give you a base to build on and a target to shoot for.

I served as President of the One Club early in my career in the mid-nineties, and was able to see first-hand how valuable it was to the creative community…and particularly for young, aspiring art directors, writers and designers new to the city and new to the business.

Go to an event, stop by, or check it out.

Even though you might “officially” be an art director, writer or creative director in advertising, you will no doubt get opportunities in your career to go beyond those defined roles.

This was the case with us when Hunter Douglas asked us to completely re-think the way high-end, custom window treatments are selected and sold in a retail environment.

We chose Unspace, an architectural firm in New York, to partner with us in what has become an ongoing, three-year relationship.

After extensive consumer and behavioral research, a prototype store was conceived, designed and built in Olde City, Philadelphia.

It officially opened in June, 2017.

The heart of the design concept was the notion that this complicated and stress-inducing big decision for the buyer needed to be simplified and reduced to a series of easier to understand smaller decisions.

From an opacity lightbox that lets you clearly see the difference between more and less opaque shades, to the operating system display that lets you easily choose between ways to make your shades move, to video touch screens that let you see how the shades you've chosen look in the context of modern or traditional rooms, the store is a clean and friendly "testlab" where visitors can play and create and learn.

And ultimately, a place where they can comfortably make the difficult decision they were previously reluctant to make.

To date, the store has a conversion rate seven times higher than any other store in their network.

We are currently working on stores two and three. The long-term plan includes a global rollout with hundreds of stores in the United States and throughout the world.

Whether it’s advertising, design or architecture, in the current environment your ability to think conceptually and visually across ALL mediums is essential.

In a category that has been built around middle-aged (and older) consumers with traditional (stodgy?) tastes, Celebrity Cruises asked us to reposition their brand as a premium vacation alternative for younger, affluent, design-conscious, tech-savvy travelers.
Modern LuXury and it’s accompanying graphic tone inform every internal and external touch-point from advertising to new activity concepts such as "Tech & Deck" to redesigned shampoo containers. 

In my roles as a creative director, chief creative officer, chairman, business owner, college department chair and leadership coach, I've had a lot of opportunities to mentor people at all levels of business. From large groups of juniors to individual CEOs and CCOs.

There is nothing more satisfying.

The book I've just published officially began as something I wrote and put together as a gift for my graduating students at Art Center College of Design. But in reality, it began a long time ago in the earliest days of my career at Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York.

I learned a lot of lessons (some the hard way), had a lot of mentors (some to emulate and a few to NOT emulate), and watched talented people all around me rise (and sometimes fall).

I had similar experiences at Chiat/Day, and although the culture couldn't have been more different, the characteristics that led to success and failure were the same.

Upon opening my own agency, and ten years later (after it was acquired by IPG) running Lowe North America, I gained years of invaluable experience looking at mentoring from the perspective of a leader who was responsible for both the quality of the work and the bottom line. 

In Work Wise, I've tried to distill a career's worth of experiences into 20 brief and direct lessons that will help get juniors off to a solid start. And hopefully help a few middle level and senior people be just a little bit better as well. 

Work Wise on Amazon

From discovering fire to inventing the wheel to putting a man on the moon, the world has always had a to do list.

From global conservation to life extending robotic surgery to finding a lost dog, there is very little progress that the world is currently asking for that Intel is not playing a part of. 

With placement of online digital videos, magazines, strategically placed outdoor and on Intel's website, Intel will document and give background information of a selection of the most important projects currently being worked on, each of which will be given a numerical ranking based on the public’s perception of their importance.

Each story will highlight Intel's involvement and describe the role Intel plays, and will be updated realtime on Twitter as progress is made or its rank of importance (rated by users) changed.

Lurzers Archive is a must read/have source of inspiration for any aspiring creative.

Whether it be the best photography, typography, design, advertising or film, they consistently manage to surprise, excite and inspire with irreverence, topicality and freshness you will be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

Each issue will be a learning and growing experience.

I have created work for Knoll for over twenty years. Beginning with my first company, Goldsmith/Jeffrey, all the way through to Underhead.

From brand campaigns, to product campaigns, to product naming assignments and special projects, my DNA is intertwined with theirs.

With our most recent project, Knoll asked us to create a campaign making a direct link between their heritage of modernism and the things they do, and always need to do, to maintain and build on it.
Every element of the campaign was centered around the singular notion of Modern Always. 

We created "What's your always?" as a way of inviting conversation, discussion, and engagement with the brand.

Dave Dye’s podcast “Stuff From The Loft” is an essential, invaluable and entertaining resource for anyone in the creative arena, and particularly for anyone who is in, or aspires to be in advertising.

Dave interviews many of the most lauded and awarded creatives from around the world, showcases their work and manages to get to the heart of how and why they do what they do.

Listen to (or read them) in your spare time,

I was honored to be included, so feel free to check out mine as well.

Gary

The Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins is an incredible place.

Ideas, experimentation and innovation are in endless supply.

But what separates them from everyone else in this dynamic, blue-sky space is the ability not just to dream it, imagine or conceive it.

But to Prove It.

We’re about to launch our first campaign for Mobius MD, a smart, young company that is about to revolutionize the world of medical documentation.

Stay tuned. We’ll soon be posting some of the new work that we hope will help them dominate a category that is growing by leaps and bounds.

Acclaimed architect Mark DuBois asked us to design and build a website that reflected the sleek, minimal aesthetic of the globally recognized work that he has become famous for.

It was a wonderful assignment…both in terms of creative fulfillment and the opportunity to work with a client whose visual style was sophisticated and inspiring.

Enjoy the site, and enjoy Mark’s incredible work.

UPS

Heineken

Got Milk

Saab

Mad River 

Johnson & Johnson

ESPN

Rozerem

Enjoy.