Hollie Newton: Creative Advertising MA graduate
MA Creative Advertising - 2005-2006
Turning up at Falmouth with nothing but a marker pen and an optimistic smile, the team moulded me into a tiny advertising machine. There's a long hard slog after leaving the course, but the skills I learnt at Falmouth were fundamental in helping me turn a placement into a job.
Starting at a small digital agency attached to WCRS&Co with an art director, I left on my own to join Nitro (now Sapient Nitro) a year later, working across all media - from print, to TV, to digital, to in-store window installations - on brands such as Volvo, Foot Locker, and Nike.
Two years later, I was lucky enough to be hired at Wieden + Kennedy, working on Honda and Nokia among others. It's a flippin' brilliant place to work, but also incredibly intimidating (every single person is annoyingly talented). Those years learning the ropes in smaller agencies, making sure that I was happy in any medium, honing strategy, and making mistakes on smaller budgets, were invaluable training. I honestly don't think I could have cut it before now.
Working on my own has its pros and cons. On the one hand, I can be very fast at turning ideas around (no one to argue with), very focused, and from an employer's point of view, very cheap. I'm lucky enough to enjoy both sides of the job; writing and art directing. But on the other hand, it can be very lonely when things go wrong. After a bad review, there's no one to share the pain with, and doing the work of two people means... well, a lot of work.
But if there's one bit of advice I'd offer, it's work how you feel comfortable. Some people like working in a team, some on their own, some on nothing but interactive web builds. Don't worry. There's a perfect agency for you. It just might take a little time to find it.
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