At the entrance to the eleventh Portfolio Night was a banner that said: “Get Burned. Get Better.”
That’s the ethos behind the annual event, where creative directors offer their best (read: harshest) criticism to local advertising students looking to perfect their portfolios and land junior positions in the business.
Held Wednesday at Cosette’s Toronto offices, 41 creatives from the city’s top agencies saw portfolios from 120 students and advised them what to focus on, what to ditch and what to fix.
At the event, which is held simultaneously in advertising centres like New York, Sao Paulo and Beijing, Marketing asked three creative directors about the benefits of criticism and why ad school students should get used to business of rejection.
Andrew Simon, chief creative officer, Cundari
“The reality is [criticism] isn’t just from creative directors, it’s from other people – like clients – who say, ‘Great, you spent hours and hours on work. I don’t like any of it.’ To bounce back from that, to get to even better work, you need to have a tough skin and always strive to be better. That’s hopefully what we’re all instilling in students, that even if their book is great, it can be better.”
“Students will hear feedback and often very harsh feedback on something they’ve been working for months, if not a year, on. The fact that they can smile and shake their head blows my mind a bit. It takes a special person to take that kind of feedback, that kind of critique.”
Brent Choi, chief creative and integration office, JWT
“This business is so difficult, it’s so challenging and you get kicked in the groin so many times that you have to have a resiliency, energy and passion and willingness to fight through all the negative, frustrating moments you have in advertising.”
“You could be talented, but if you don’t have that strength and resiliency, you’re not going to make it. If you have the strength and resiliency, even if you don’t have the talent, you can fight your way through it and do something amazing.”
Matthew Litzinger, co-chief creative officer, Cossette
“It’s a business of resilience. If you win the lottery, you instantly forget all the tickets you bought – that’s the nature of this business. You get up and are told ‘no’ either by your partner, your creative director, the account person or your client and you have to keep coming back, keep digging, keep creating for the one time you get the ‘yes.’
“It’s that ‘yes’ that makes a career.”
Videography: Pam Lau
