When Nick Wray was our creative director he got an all-girl student team in on placement for two weeks.
I don’t normally do that, I never expect much from student teams.
But Nick was right, Anna and Elaine were different. They were there to work.
During those two weeks they grabbed every brief that was going and they actually got some ads bought.
We’d never had that before, so we offered them another two weeks placement.
During this period they actually got some ads running, good ads too.
They were churning out so much work we did something we never do, we asked if they wanted to stay on for another two weeks placement.
This time they even got a commercial bought and made. They were like a whirlwind.
So we offered them another two weeks placement.
This is when they turned the tables on us.
Anna said, “We’d like to, but you don’t seem to have a permanent job for us here, so we’re going to get a placement somewhere else. And we’ll keep doing that until we find an agency that offers us a permanent job.”
Wait a minute, this changes everything.
Instead of just giving them another two weeks placement, we’ve now got to look at the fact that we can’t afford to lose them.
They’re getting out more work than some of the full-time teams we’ve got working here.
By working their socks off they’ve given us a problem.
We can’t afford to let Anna and Elaine go.
I talked it over with Gordon and we agreed, they forced us into giving them a permanent job by turning the tables.
That’s what we loved best, Anna and Elaine’s attitude.
They didn’t see themselves as naïve little students asking for a favour, they saw themselves as professionals and they weren’t asking for anything.
They’d show us what they could do and then just let us make our minds up.
They turned the tables from them asking for a placement to us asking them to stay.
The very best advertising should be like that.
Turning the tables is what Bill Bernbach taught us, it’s where the fun is.
It’s what the best people in our business have always done.
For the little guy to take on the big guy.
For the challenger brand to take on the market leader.
That’s the fun, not just maintaining the status quo, just kicking the can a bit further down the road. There’s no fun in that for anyone.
The attitude of the best advertising should be like Anna and Elaine.
Because the most attractive feature anyone can have is confidence. And confidence gives you attitude.
As Beyonce sang:
“IF YOU LIKE IT THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE PUT A RING ON IT.”
(btw: a few years later we made Anna creative director)