YOUNG GUNS QUIT IN STYLE WITH DROGA5
This week sees the launch of the International YoungGuns Award’s call-for-entries Quit in Style campaign – a collaboration between Droga5 and a group of filmmakers and graphic artists from around the world.
Thesite is an extension of an idea from Droga5 to create a new categoryfor this year’s YG Awards, called “Craft in Quitting”, which rewardsyoung creatives’ skill and creativity in navigating the choppy watersof work-placements and freelance gigs that invariably make up the earlyyears of a creative career in advertising.
It is the firstadvertising award dedicated solely to rewarding the colourful world ofUser Generated Content, an area that sits at the forefront of theindustry’s future yet is largely ignored on the global awards circuit.The category requires creatives to submit work they’ve createdspecifically around the ‘Quit in Style’ theme, and is open to anyonewith an axe to grind against their employers – regardless of whetherthey work in advertising.
The idea fittingly came from Droga5’syoungest team, Ben Smith and Neil McGuirk, in response to a brief fromYGAward co-founder Kristian Barnes to develop a call-for-entriescampaign that would be even more specific to young creatives:
“Overthe last 7 years, YGAward has grown massively and now competes incredibility and scale of entries with a lot of the more establishedshows. We are very conscious of wanting to keep the spirit and tone ofthe show true to the original premise, regardless of how wide it nowreaches, and asked the guys at Droga5 to think of a non-advertising wayof pushing the show’s iconoclastic mantra further. Essentially theycame back with a product idea, which in our case is the show itself,and the idea for the site and campaign grew naturally from there.”
The “Quit in Style” campaign features a site, www.quitinstyle.comthat hosts initial content created by directors in London, LA, New Yorkand Sydney. This body of work will grow as other young creatives uploadtheir ideas to the site.
The project was overseen and directed byDroga5 Sydney’s Creative Heads, Matty Burton and Cameron Blackley, whohave designed the campaign as a launchpad for young creatives anddirectors to host their own content, which will ultimately be judgedwithin the newly created “Craft in Quitting” category and will go on towin a specially made Matt Black Bullet at this year’s YGAward.
AsMatty Burton explains, although the tone of the campaign is outrageous,the idea behind it is firmly based in reality: “Some of us are stillyoung enough to remember the lashing we got as juniors coming upthrough the business. It’s a bit of a rites of passage thing, like armyboot camp, but with less sleep and more beatings! Quit in Style isdesigned to become a sort of secret ‘Fight Club’ for junior creatives,where they can meet to compare war stories and more importantly ideasof getting one over on their slave master CDs before they move on tothe next challenge. It’s basically a tool-box for the underdogs.”
CameronBlackley thinks the content they’ve pulled together will grow fast onceyoung creatives start to get involved: “We’ve created over 25 filmsthanks to collaborating with directors from as far away as HungryMan inNew York and greatguns in Los Angeles but I think it’s just thebeginning. Juniors are nothing if not crafty, and when they realisethey can become infamous as well as win a specially made Matt BlackBullet through this thing, I reckon they won’t need too muchencouragement to pull out the camcorder.”
The YGAward call-to-entries campaign includes web, print, poster & DM.
Entries to the 2008 YGAward close on Friday October 17 2008. Thisyear’s Jury Chairman is the outgoing JWT Worldwide CD Craig Davis.Winners and finalists will be announced on Monday 8 December 2008.
View the video
CREDITS
AGENCY: DROGA5: Matty Burton, Cameron Blackley, Ben Smith & Neil McGuirk, Southpaw
PRINT: Toko Design (toko.nu)
FILM: Hungry Man (New York); greatguns (Los Angeles); Arithmetic, 8 Commercials, Guillotine (Sydney)
WEB: The Farm (Sydney)
39 Comments
A great source of inspiration for all juniors like myself and surely a bottomless pit of material. The shameful thing is that it only goes to reinforce the behaviours and actions meted out by many to the lower echelons of creatives in this cesspit of an industry.
The Smiths ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ anyone?
“Sir leads the troops
Jealous of youth
Same old suit since 1962”
Best one I did was leave a condom on the boss’s desk. When he asked me what it was for I said ‘go f yourself’.
Alas, he was a powerful man, and I’m still doing happy meal print ads.
nice work boys.
We are all juniors at some stage.
The idea is in fact, not to stay there. Not to be a junior your whole career.
Worth keeping in mind.
Havent checked out site yet but freshest print ive seen on blog for longtime
If I catch my juniors wasting time on this site they’re fired!!!
I’m a middle aged copywriter and never really understood the crap that juniors are put through, from working in corridors to working 70 hours a week for the cost of their bus fare.
Do other industries treat their young hopefuls as badly?
Talented juniors are one of the reasons I haven’t become completely jaded in what is a very hard business.
Us old blokes aren’t all the same.
Gimme a f*cking spell…So called “Young Guns” need to earn a bit of respect around the place, not be encouraged to act like complete arseholes.
Work hard, earn your keep, respect and learn from those in higher places than you – that’s how realise talent. No wonder 9/10 ads in the country are F8cked.
All the best.
Way to instill a positive attitude into the kids, kids.
I would LOVE to see someone do this for real.
“…and will go on to win a specially made Matt Black Bullet at this year’s YGAward.”
I initially read that they’d win a specially made mullet trophy. That’s cool too though.
the advertising agency as we know it is dead. long live the director or photographer or online guy with ideas. saves time.. no? thanks for the wake up call.
With all due respect to D5. After seeing the VB and [V airline]work I think you’d be better off spending time getting your own work right.
It’s funny:
Bad CD / Bad boss = stop you from winning awards by fucking everything up.
No awards = can’t tell boss to get fucked.
Another conundrum:
Tell boss to get fucked = makes him look bad.
Getting fired = makes you look bad.
Juniors, please be careful when moving on. Don’t tell the CD you’ve resigned until you’ve actually signed the piece of paper and can start the next day. And really research the place before you start there. Don’t just listen to the recruiters bullshit, google and find as much as you can about it. Be careful which recruiter you use. There’s one or two who have extremely bad reputations for putting you forward for everyone (so you can’t be represented anywhere else for 12 months) and not following through. Ask around about that as well, with someone you can trust.
Just saying this because I went through an extremely bad patch for a while, because I left a place before I’d found a new one. I ended up having to hide out in a tiny place for 12 months before I took a pay cut and got back on track.
If you think your CD’s a prick now, wait until you resign. Some are just plain spiteful and nasty.
Actually, that mullet thing isn’t a bad idea.
2.05
be happy you’re still workin. at all.
And the condom? Sounds like a first thought to me.
Your CD sounds like a top bloke for keeping you on.
If you prove yourself through the work, nothing can stop you.
It’s a bit quiet in here isn’t it? Let’s referesh everyone’s memories shall I? I’m a frustrated junior, being a treated like shit by a CD who was lucky to fall into the gig and sorely lacking in creative direction and management skills. He treats everyone like crap which has a direct correlation to the severe pressure he’s got coming from head office in NYC for him to perform miracles. So he busies himself being a c*nt to his team whilst trying to polish the turd he’s been left with that’s stinking out his creative department.
Fast forward five years and i’m the hot shot 32 yo new CD who’s been given carte blanche by NYC to ‘revitalise’ the shop’s creative offering. I give the ‘i’m not going to make any drastic changes, just going to ensure you guys have the resources to do great work’ speech to a momentarily reassured creative department.
And the first person that gets called into the centre office by me to be given the envelope and the ‘no hard feelings’ spiel is the same c*unt of a CD, except he’s now an embittered Senior Art Director with a newborn baby who still longingly gazes at the D&AD nomination he received for typography in 1994 and wonders what use it’ll be when he’s doing catalogues for the rest of his life.
Shake, rinse, repeat – the industry eats itself.
lovely print, nice to look at.
but i just dont understand what its for.
Not exactly the D5 campaign we wanted on the blog, but this is a start.
A lot of people complain about our industry on here. Kinda sad. I keep wondering if I work in the same industry you all do. I feel pretty goddamn lucky every day to do what I do for a living. I have worked at several agencies and come across countless inspiring and charismatic people. I get to travel for shoots, write everything from jokes to beautiful moving stories and get paid pretty well for doing it.
I understand this campaign is having a bit of fun and trying to keep Young Guns ‘rebellious and cool’ but is that really the way forward for the young guys? Do they really want to be rebellious? Or do they want to be brilliant. Think about this, Juan Cabral is still technically a ‘Young Gun’. If I was a junior right now, I would be looking at people like him and thinking, that’s what I want to do, not get involved in all the anger and bitchiness that can take hold of some people in our industry. So I guess what I’m saying is, while the campaign is mildly funny, I think it’s the wrong angle for Young Guns. Could be much more inspiring.
If you feel stuck, rise above. Do great work. Be a nice person. Be respectful. Be energetic and passionate. Don’t be a dick. If you were at my agency and you followed those simple rules, you would rise to the top.
Spread the love people.
It all feels like a bit of an art wank to be honest. Not memorable in the slightest. Poisonous berries? What ever happened to being relevant. I took one look at it and couldn’t be botthered reading any of it…. What a shame.
Take note Droga5 juniors – your Group Heads are hogging the PR release while you guys only get a mere mention somewhere in the middle. Exactly the kind of reason why juniors need to tell people like this to get fucked. A fine example of your campaigns worth…pity you’re also a victim of it in this case. ha!
Spoilt brats. Go down to your local bank and watch the tellers behind the counter and then thank your lucky stars for your job.
Craft in getting fired may be a more fitting category for the devotees of this rubbish.
When I started as a designer I got paid 20k.
5 years later I fell in love with ads and dropped my salary 60k back down to 20k.
If you don’t love ads, working in this industry can be really hard.
If you got into it for the money, fast cars, long lunches and chicks and you’re still bottom feeding, become a planner or a suit and stay the fuck away from the creative department. With ‘creative experience’ you’ll go places.
3:12PM
-You obviously don’t understand the industry…it’s all business. It’s about gaining accounts from companies with large budgets, and then justifying brand building/ brand exposure.
9:54, you’re awesome.
I think this is a great industry. I also read this blog and think, “Do I work in the same industry as these guys?”. I have fun at my job, it’s stressful, but I get paid to daydream.
There’s not another job out there that allows you to earn this much money for expressing your inherent creative talents, and when people start a negative death spiral of moaning, it makes me wonder why they bother turning up for work.
The Young Guns stuff could do with a little simplifying. I know we’re talking to other ad people, but there’s only so much navel gazing we can take.
I’m a junior at Y&R in Melbourne. I am getting paid $23,000.
A friend of mine is at Mojo and he is getting $25,000
If everyone posted their salary maybe we can change things.
OK, Mojo/Y&R juniors…
are you learning anything at your agencies? Are you picking up skills that will one day soon see you earning six-figures? If so, stop your fucking whining. Your employer is paying you to go through finishing school. If you’re not learning, get the fuck out now, and go someplace where you can.
When I was in your position, I would’ve gladly worked for nothing to learn from the sort of people that are currently in those two agencies. In fact, I pretty much did just that.
The recession is almost upon us. Be thankful you actually have a job, because they’re going to get scarce. And maybe have a chat to your friendly financial controller about how fucking hard it is to make a profit in our business at the moment. Yeah that’s right – it’s a business.
ps – we pay our juniors way more than that. But we never hire juniors who can’t already pay their way, and we get our pound of flesh out of them while we’re at it. Sure, they fuck up and need mentoring, but we don’t have them doing Macca’s placemats for two years either.
maybe instead of blogging, if you think you’re worth it, you should demand a 10k pay rise. Just make sure you’ve loaded up on agency layout pads, stationery and software before you do though.
1:57 who gives a f&*$@ what you get when you start out
Its what you get by the time you’re finished that counts
1.57am
Yes do that and things would change. Mojo would start paying their juniors $23,000 too.
3.12 thats so true.
This is a cool idea. Good stuff geezers!
Young Guns have lost the plot.
Not only do they resort to toilet humour to promote creative thinking, but they slag off and disrespect for senior creatives.
Who the fuck signs off the budgets and ads to be entered in Young Guns you tools?
Think about it. You’re fucking with your customers.
6.20
i think, and correct me but it’s ‘slag off and disrespect senior creatives’. Probably just a simple mistake you made as you were slamming your nuts in a draw or something.
9.08 – it’s drawer, not draw.
I’m tellin’ ya – give someone shit over their grammar and it bites you on the fucking arse EVERY TIME
9:54
LOVE your attitude, spread that love, if only more people had open hearts and minds, can you imagine how INCREDIBLE we could make this industry.
We all enter it for the reasons that we do, most of the time creative ones, so why create a campaign that is essentially an inside joke that is not that funny… it does not really reflect that well on creating ‘good ideas’… perhaps concentrating all that energy into more positive projects will excel the juniors UP rather than inward, bitter and down. Everyone starts at the bottom and works up and goes through shit, that’s the whole POINT, to earn it, to love it and to know you deserve to be there…
This industry IS a business, lets embrace that and make FUCKING good commercials that make people want to buy into the brands which then create a return. you see the cycle of positivity…..
Have a laugh you uptight twats, it’s funny. CB bloggers, you take yourself far too seriously. It’s advertising for god sake.
Give ’em the finger works for totally everyone!
Love it. Wanna do it about once every 3 weeks … to people up the chain and down the chain. Fuuuuuuck you!!!
What part of the world are you wankers from? Q-U-I-T. It’s that simple. I kind of like this “Poison your CD” theme. It’s a joke, obviously. We use to pull little pranks on our CD and he’d take part in the laughter. Maybe your CD’s are just miserable little people.