Working in advertising is like learning to swim. Real learning only begins once you dive in. Here are a few things I learnt only when I saw it from the inside.
Chinmay Karandikar, Group Planning Manager at dentsuMB | File
Empathy will take you where understanding can’t: We are taught to ‘understand’ the consumer. Find out what they want, need, watch and so on. However, I have experienced that the best work happens when you step outside this objective realm. Go beyond understanding to empathising. Find joy and despair in the things your audience finds joy and despair in, without judgement. Understand not just their needs, but their sense of humour, not just their demographics, but their values. I think this is a great skill to have even outside of work.
Bringing your whole self to work will also make you better at it: Bringing your ‘whole self’ to work honestly and unabashedly is vital for your sanity and dignity. When you work in advertising, your whole self is a ‘bottomless well’ of human and cultural insights. Your family, childhood, career, relationships, and hobbies are fodder for your next big idea. That brilliant idea can come even from the hours you have spent scrolling through Instagram. All the more a reason to be your whole authentic self while at work.
You will have the most fun working on brands you didn’t imagine: Everybody wants to work with Nike or Royal Enfield, or a category that they care about. However, the most fun I have had was while working with a jewellery brand and an agri-products brand. Simply because I have so little in common with to-be brides or rice farmers in Chhattisgarh. It is similar to the experience of visiting a new country, with a different culture, currency and context. And who doesn’t like that?
You are always selling: Most of the time, it isn’t just a brand. You quickly realise that most of your time is spent on getting everybody’s buy-in (and filling up time-sheets). Whether it is pitching an idea to a client or your team, giving feedback or negotiating a timeline – these are skills you can’t afford to neglect. Sometimes, it is a cricket analogy to convince your boss or a dramatized to-do list to get a timeline changed. The contexts and methods keep changing, but you are always selling something.
It takes a village to create great work: We are used to ‘crediting’ specific people with great pieces of work. But most often, the work is everybody’s baby. The planner’s insights, the servicing person’s deep brand understanding, the art director’s eye for detail, a senior’s tip on how to package it as well as the client’s boldness. There is no single creator. In the process, you learn to critique constructively, to let go and value every opinion.
One of the great things about advertising is that you can never learn enough. There is always that new campaign, trend, or challenge that compels you to think differently. The opportunity and necessity to keep learning is one of the best things about working in the advertising industry.
(Chinmay Karandikar is a Group Planning Manager at dentsuMB)
