Industry veteran Brad Todd shares his insights

SMU Ad Club recently welcomed Mr. Brad Todd, Principal at the Richards Group, to campus to share his insights about the advertising industry, and his experience as a Marketing Director at Frito Lay. To a packed room in the newly renovated Advertising co-working space, Mr. Todd has discussed his more than 40 years of experience, working on both the agency and client side around the country and world (Chicago, Japan, and Dallas to name a few places). He has worked for many big brands, including Hallmark, Kimberly-Clark, Cheetos and Doritos.

IMG_4947From the beginning of his career, Brad learned early to work on anything and everything to gain experience and to try and understand things from the consumer perspective. He claims that being proactive is critical to success. However, being able to step back and look at the situation from an outside perspective will give your work a competitive edge and provide value to your client.

Mr. Todd reminded students that advertising is just aspect of the branding process. He recognizes, “It’s an important piece, but small,” and it is important to understand how a company works overall to ensure the marketing contributes to the larger goals of each organization.

Brand transformations are an especially rewarding experience. By reinventing a brand and making it relevant to consumers, advertising helps move a product from a so so in the minds of consumers, to a household name.

Fortunately, Mr. Todd has had multiple experience with brand transformations, including creating the widely known Sun Chips from a relatively underperforming chip named Pronto.

Students had many questions, so Brad gave advice about moving forward in their careers. His top tip was to make sure that you have internships get the experience needed to set you apart. Internships also let you explore different agencies and departments in agencies to find your passion. He also had great advice in how to choose a job. Some points mentioned were:

  1. to look at the distance between your position and the decision maker to ensure you can impact the brand, and
  2. make sure there is room for you to grow in the long run, either within the agency or as a stepping stone for your career.

Importantly new employees must be flexible. Given the speed at which the industry is changing, students must maintain a willingness to learn and an

active curiosity in order to stay relevant.

Moving forward may be scary, but to win in advertising Mr. Todd implores everyone…“Be curious. Be uncomfortable. Jump In.”Brad_Todd_7_7_15

Brad Todd may be contacted via LinkedIn.

Perks and Ping Pong

paddles1During my senior year in college, one of my final portfolio courses was taught by an art director/copywriter team from Publicis. Halfway through the semester they took us on a tour of their offices and, for whatever reason, I remember being so impressed by the fact that the creative department had its own ping pong table. As a poor college student who had only worked hourly jobs for minimum wage, I was incredulous. You mean, you get to play ping pong… on the clock? Right then and there, I knew that I had chosen the right major – advertising.

Since then I’ve been able to reverse roles and take several groups of students to New York to tour some of the most respected ad agencies in the world. Each place has its own story, personality, strengths and weaknesses. But every single one of them has a ping pong table.

Now, by “ping pong table” I mean some kind of perk or feature of the agency that makes it a more attractive or convenient place to work. In some cases the “ping pong table” is a foosball table. In smaller shops it’s a free beer cart on Fridays. In the bigger agencies it’s an onsite barber, doctor or daycare, a state-of-the-art workout facility, full-time masseuse or a rooftop patio with a million dollar view (and wifi, of course). It’s always fun and a bit nostalgic for me to watch the faces of my students light up as each new tour guide tries to one-up the previous agency with some previously unimaginable perk that makes work more fun and life more convenient.

(Cue grizzled agency veteran on a mission to disabuse students of their wide-eyed naiveté)
“It’s a trap! Don’t fall for it, kids!”

It’s hard to see how free beer and neck massages could be a bad thing. But you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the potential danger in some of the more elaborate fringe benefits. There is a fine line between conveniences that make our busy lives more manageable, and conveniences that make it so we never have to leave work. Does the agency offer a doctor on-site to keep their employees happy and healthy? Or because they’re running their people ragged? Do they offer on-site daycare because they care about your family, or because it tricks you into working even longer hours?

After my students have had a chance to revel in their ping pong moment, I typically initiate a fireside chat about three options:

1). You can become a burned-out workaholic with titles, money and perks galore.
2). You can become an ungrateful cynic who is needlessly suspicious of your employer’s generosity.
3). You can understand the difference between means and ends.

I’ll save the first two points for another time because it’s the third that really holds the key to successfully navigating the whole issue. Whether or not an employer has ulterior motives for offering perks like these doesn’t really matter at the end of the day if you keep your desired end distinct from the means necessary to attain it. If your end goal is to get married, have a family and live happily ever after in the suburbs, then take advantage of whatever perks your employer offers to make your desired end a reality. If your end goal is to see your name in all the award books and earn a six-figure income by the time you’re 30, then use whatever perks your employer offers to make that end a reality. I’m not trying to suggest that you can have it all – we all have to make sacrifices and sometimes you have to make tough choices between competing goods. All I’m trying to say is that most people want more out of life than an agency with a ping pong table. So, don’t treat the agency you’re working at or the ping pong table like they’re an end in themselves.

There is one complication, though: this whole ends-and-means thing can get a little tricky for those who are trying to break in to the advertising industry. The harsh reality is that, while you’re young, you will be expected to work a near-impossible number of hours. But again, I suppose this is the way it is in most highly-competitive professions – not just advertising. If this is where you find yourself, you will have to make a list of two kinds of ends: provisional ends (i.e., short term goals) and final ends (i.e., long term goals).

Take for example a former art direction student of mine who had the long term goal of being married, with a family and working as a film director on the west coast. From this final end he worked backward to figure out what his provisional ends needed to be after he graduated. This process led him to accept a job at an agency known for doing great work, but also for being somewhat of a sweat shop. And even though he worked like a crazy man for two solid years, he kept his head on straight, saved his money and built a solid portfolio. All of this opened the door at a great agency in NYC that would give him opportunities to work with great film directors. From here he built up his reel, made a lot of important industry connections and 3 years later he and his lovely wife were on their way to LA to start his first solo directing job.

Granted, every story doesn’t work out as planned. Advertising is a volatile industry that requires a certain openness to change and the unknown. But the moral of the story is, don’t let short term perks distract you from your long term goals. There are many things about a career in advertising that can lead to burnout or an unhealthy work/life balance. But all professions have their Sirens. At the same time, some of the best things about a career in advertising are the many perks, options, relationships and connections that you can use to your advantage wherever your journey takes you – that is, if you can keep your head on straight.

Mark Allen, Lecturer

allen_mark_headshot_tall

Design from the Heart 

MendenhallCherylBy Cheryl Mendenhall, Senior Lecturer

Here at the Temerlin Advertising Institute we stress the importance of responsibility in advertising, whether that is professional responsibility, social responsibility, or the everyday choices we make in our field. My focus is in graphic design, and I wanted to share with you some of the many ways design can be used for the greater good. It can be small things like using recycled paper or soy ink in a project or something big like designing a way for people to communicate in health care situations where there may be a language barrier.

Many non-profits struggle to get their message heard; we as designers can help develop strategies and create materials to accomplish their unique goals.

HRMYou may know immediately what cause speaks to you, but if not, there are many resources available to help you find a connection. American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has a program called Design for Good described as “a movement to ignite, accelerate and amplify design-driven social change.” On their website they showcase inspiring projects and provide a wide variety of resources including ways for connecting designers and non-profits, groups that provide learning opportunities, and sources for funding and support grants for your self-initiated projects.

Or how about this? What do you get when you combine creatives, non-profits and a super quick deadline? A fantastic idea for helping out non-profits – a 24-hour createathon. Now that’s a GOOD reason to pull an all-nighter.

Here are some projects I find interesting:KZoo

I began working with non-profits early in my career as a way to give back when I didn’t have the money to donate. I continue to do it now because it brings me joy.

How we use our skills is up to us. I encourage you to find something that speaks to your heart and share your skills.

Temerlin Advertising Institute Hosts Dr. Padmini Patwardhan from Winthrop University as 2015-2016 Research Fellow

Dr. Patwardhan visited TAI last week to undertake research related to leadership issues in the advertising industry. She spent her week interviewing faculty and industry professionals to gain insight into the leadership process. She will also be undertaking interviews with executives in NYC. During her visit, she was able to interact with faculty and get to experience a taste of Texas fun at the Katy Trail Ice House.

2015-09-28-TAI%20sign-Steve-Padmini-Carrie-Peter 2015-10-02-Katy%20Trail%20Lunch-Padmini

Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) at Southern Methodist University is a research-oriented institute composed of distinguished faculty with both industry and academic backgrounds. The purpose of the TAI Research Fellows program is to foster research collaboration and provide catalysts for advancing our understanding of the field of advertising.