The following is a guest post by a recently laid off Detroit creative who was this close to being a resident of Boulder.
The Gamble
By Robert Schneider
I knew it was coming. We lost one of our biggest clients and couldn’t fill the void. My agency could no longer afford to keep me. Within seconds I went from being an employed copywriter in Detroit to an ever-growing statistic. I swore that I was going to do the impossible—I was going to get my dream job in this economy.
My dream has always been to land a gig at Crispin Porter and Bogusky. The first thing I had to ask myself was, “is my book good enough to get in the door?” I thought so. The second thing I asked myself was “how do I separate myself from everyone else?” This was more difficult to answer.
Thankfully I have a friend like Nate Davis. If you follow his Twitter feeds, you know that he always links to the most interesting articles. One of those was an interview with Alex Bogusky where he talked about some the bizarre/creative ways people got his attention. Suddenly I had an idea.
Now I wasn’t about to fly myself to Boulder and challenge him to a fight like the person he referenced in the article. That had already been done. (More importantly, I don’t like getting hit above or below the waist.) No, I had to do something more uniquely me. But what is uniquely me? Let’s see…I love the show “Mama’s Family,” the films of Yahoo Serious and rap. Suddenly I knew how to get his attention. I’d challenge him to a rap battle.
I had my concept. I had my blog page. I also had my doubts. Either this was going to work or it would make me look like the biggest idiot in the world. See, I wasn’t born to rock the mic. Nor do I have mad rap skillz. I was gambling that Alex didn’t have them either. Now all I had to do was record some videos. For the most part they were improvised. Check them out here.
After the fourth was recorded. I sent Alex an email. The subject line read, “Are you in or out?” And the body of the letter only contained a link to the website. I took my shot. And honestly I never expected an answer.
The next morning I got a response. While he declined the rap battle, he did ask what he could do for me. I sent him my work. Got a phone interview. And last week they flew me out. I did not get the gig (news I found out while writing this story). But I took something away that may be even more valuable than a job offer – I learned the importance of standing out.
To quote P.T. Barnum, “Without promotion something terrible happens—nothing.” As an unemployed creative, you need to promote yourself in ways you’ve never imagined. Because if you blindly send out your book and wait for the phone to ring, nothing is exactly what will happen.
37 Comments
THis guy had guts. I wish I could put myself out there that way. Even if you just get an interview from it.
Now while I love what this guy did, people have to remember that standing out for the sake of standing out is not always a good thing. You can crap in the punch bowl at the company Xmas party and everyone will remember you – but that’s probably not how you want to be remembered.
Matt, agreed. But given the target (Alex Bogusky…anything but conventional) what he did was completely appropriate. Would it have been right for the creative director of an in-house agency at an insurance company? Of course not. But for Crispin, it was perfect.
Here’s a better idea, Robert. Next time simply fellate Alex Bogusky for the job.
To self respect
Sex ideas are pretty first thought. That’s why I didn’t go there.
I like that he took a chance. A calculated chance where he weighed the risks and rewards. It was the farthest thing from crapping in the company’s punch bowl.
Kudos
To “self respect” and anyone else who fancies themselves a dick: I haven’t deleted a single comment in 6 months. Don’t make me start now.
No, I said I loved what the guys did. I just wanted to caution people to think through stunts like this before they do them.
There’s a story (which I don’t know is true) that a friend from Wieden once told me:
A kid from college who wanted a job at W+K took out a full=page newspaper ad in the Oregonian telling the agency that he wanted to work there. The next day, Wieden took out an ad saying “If you had as much talent as you have daddy’s money to buy this ad, maybe we’d hire you.”
In short, his stunt backfired because he didn’t think it through. And I’ve seen plenty of examples of that – people who do stuff just because it’s funny or just because they can, without any concept or strategy behind it.
Huge props to Robert S.
Dan Wieden too.
Admin. Fact is: I do fancy myself a dick every now and then. That’s why I fellated Bogusky and now work for CP+B.
Self Respect: Are you sure about that? Your IP address says otherwise.
Schneider delivers tough. Anybody has to respect this mission.
agree with mattms’ last comment. guts: yes. concept: no.
Cograts Robert. It took balls to do what you did. Keep going. Self Respect sounds like a dick and tries way to hard to be funny, instead of simply listening and writing a good comment. Post a link to your book so we can see how you were able to back up your stunt. You will have a job again soon, because you haven’t stopped thinking.
Spectacular, Admin, you know how to use whois.net. Nice sleuthing. Too bad you couldn’t detect that I was being facetious with my comment.
However, I do feel that offering a rap battle is akin to whoring oneself. It’s pretty desperate, even if it did work to get an interview. (You got bent over in the end anyway). Have some self respect for cryin’ out loud.
You don’t see people in other professions acting like this (doctors, lawyers?) Why do ad people think it’s ok to embarrass themselves all the time just to make a buck. It’s sickening.
As you can see by my IP, I’m working. And all I had to do was write a cover letter and send a resume.
Self Respect: How many portfolios are sitting on a shelf at Crispin right now that will never get looked at? Robert did something unique and got himself an interview.
Yes, it would have been a better story had an offer been made. But who knows what kind chemistry/financial/logistic issues got in the way? Despite your claims to the contrary, sending a book blindly is a sure way to be ignored.
Your analogy about doctors and lawyers isn’t relevant. They aren’t in the profession of getting noticed. And the ones who are do all kinds of ridiculous stunts to be famous. (Dr. Phil, Johnny Cochran).
Robert made himself unignorable. You may call that being a whore, but isn’t that what we do for a living?
Fine. Point taken. I, too, am a whore.
I’m not going to agree with Self Respect — he’s being a jackass.
But there is a strong point there, albeit buried deep within a really lousy attitude. We’re all dealing with some pretty tough stuff out there. Getting a gig anywhere is difficult right now. Getting a gig at CP+B is near impossible anytime. But the fact remains, through all the cut throat competition, that we’re professionals and humans. And as such, there should be some dignity in how we act. Standing out is okay… but we’re not circus clowns, and no one… NO ONE… not even the “venerable” Mr. Bogusky is so talented, so important and so untouchable that we need to jump through hoops and act like buffoons. Getting attention is great. But I would wager that brilliant marketing solutions, media innovations and original thought will get Alex to turn his head faster than a techni-color tutu on a monkey trained to do the electric slide.
Just sayin’.
So y’all know, Robert just got an offer at a really great, non-Crispin agency. He is currently packing for his move. I’ll let him share the details if he chooses, but I just thought you should know that before jumping to any conclusions about his methods.
I’m an ex-Detroiter…and all I have to say is, way to go Robert!!! It took a lot of guts and my hat is off to you. Over two years ago, I got laid off from the Detroit ad community. I flew to a city that was doing better, got some interviews, cold called people and then found out about a job on the other side of the country as a result. Got the interview and the job. Then the meltdown came and I am at it again. And I won’t being giving up this time either. I’ve made some good contacts and who knows maybe something will come from it. If I was in a position to hire someone,I would take 10 Roberts any day of the week. Congrats, on the new gig! Love it!
I’m sincerely happy to hear that Robert found a job. I hope it was due to his rap battle and that his tactic paid off in the end. Cheers to him.
Myself? I could never do such a thing. I’d rather never work in advertising again than to have done such a goofy stunt. But to each his own. Best of luck to you Robert.
i want to thank everyone for all the comments. you guys rock.
ronan, you bring up some good points. the truth of the matter is that the videos propped the door open and my work got me the interview. end of story.
jane, from one detroiter to another get my email from eric, and i’d love to share my contact list with you.
thanks again for all the great comments and for the support.
Congrats, Robert. Not only do you have guts, but one creative m-fer. Good luck in your new job. Would I put myself out there like that? You bet your ass. But that’s another story entirely.
Since @bogusky broke up with twitter, creatives have resorted to rap battles to land an interview At CP+B http://bacn.me/5r9 via @eproulx
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Robert, I will hire you over “self respect” any day, anytime, any place. And we can throw down some freestyle rap beats too.
Великолепный подбор информации, только почаще освежайте ее и уверен прибавится много постоянных посетителей.
Достаточно интересная статья. Думаю стоит добавить в избранное для дальнейшего изучения
Блог понравился, только побольше бы информации и наполнения надо. Тогда все полностью будет на высоте.
Настроение хорошее и блог по душе пришелся, и смотрю не мне одному.
По тематике блога информация подобрана совсем не плохо, хорошая работа, интересно почитать.
Очень полезный материал, но немного тяжёл для восприятия.
Стоит писать более просто, дабы понять саму суть происходящего
Материал заслуживает повышенного внимания. Дабы изучить более подробно, добавлю в избранное
Не знаю как и кому, но лично мне понравилось, то, что опубликовал автор. Действительно интересно
Неплохая информация подобрана сдесь, стараются люди, так держать!
Ну прямо в точку, что ещё можно сказать. Только не могу понять, куда пропал автор?
Автор явно умеет привлечь посетителей на сайт). Пишет очень понятно и интересно. Огромное человеческое спасибо
Видел уже подобный материал в интернете, но все равно интересно почитать повторно
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