Young Creative Council visit third years

On Friday last week, Lincoln advertising graduate Mike Cuthell and his colleague Paul Mann came and spoke to the third years. When not working at ad agency inferno Mike and Paul run the Young Creative Council (aka the YCC); see here for more details on what they're all about.

Here's current third year team Anna & Becky to tell you more about Mike and Paul's talk:-

“Mike Cuthell and Paul Mann came to visit the third year students of Creative Advertising at University of Lincoln last week (Friday 1st April). It was a great opportunity for us to learn more about the advertising industry from two London-based creatives.

"Having met both Mike and Paul previously, Anna and I were looking forward to their visit, ready to absorb their wise words! The guys took us through some of the work they have created during their careers so far and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of becoming part of the London advertising world. It was great to talk to creatives who were in our shoes just a few years ago, advising us on how to tackle the difficulties of making it in London when placements and jobs are so difficult to come by.

It was inspiring to see some of Mike’s work that’s already gone live and to know, that that could be us in just a couple of years' time. Paul talked us through how creatives go about pitching their work to clients, with his recent pitch deck for Dove Spa, demonstrating how one big thought can become an integrated campaign.

Mike and Paul then talked to us about the Young Creative Council and how rapidly it is growing. Anna and I, having already contacted various YCC creatives, have found the website extremely valuable. It's fantastic to know that there are so many creatives willing to help out us newbies! From our experiences so far we have found the YCC a brilliant lifeline for creatives making the transition from university to placements and I hope we can be part of it, once we have landed our first job!

Mike and Paul talked us through some of the resources YCC offer including single creatives, Bang Bang briefs and the Unite events. The Lincoln Creative Advertising programme has a few singles who want to meet partners and the single creatives initiative seems like the perfect resource.

Following the success of the Unite events, several teams will definitely be applying for Unite 3 in a few weeks time. The guys told us all about their previous Unite events and how they managed to provide various placements and jobs for some of the lucky creatives. Now, as Unite 3 is fast approaching, teams from Lincoln are applying for some of the exclusive 25 places.

The guys seemed to have plenty of time for us, which was lovely; it meant we had the opportunity to ask plenty of questions about their careers, placements, the cost of living in London, where to live, how best to go about getting placements and how to turn those placements into paid jobs. It was refreshing to get such an honest account of how the industry operates and it has spurred us on even more, counting the days till we move down to London!

So, thank you very much for coming up to see all the 3rd year students at Lincoln. Keep up the enthusiasm! We really appreciated it!"