I sometimes get asked to speak to students or mentor young creatives.
So I started writing down the things that helped me.
None of this is groundbreaking, and a lot of it you probably already know.
But if one of these points is useful, great.
Here are some lessons advertising has taught me so far.
1. Resilience is everything.
Great ideas die all the time, usually for reasons that make no sense.
It happens.
Allow yourself 15 minutes to be annoyed. Dramatically, if needed.
Then quickly get over it and go again.
Talent gets you one great idea.
Resilience gets you a lifetime of them.
The people who last are the ones who keep swinging.
2. Come up with something your CD will remember on the way home.
Creative directors see hundreds of ideas every week. Sometimes every day.
Your job is to come up with the one that stays in their head after they close their laptop.
The idea they can’t shake.
The idea that follows them home and haunts them until it gets made.
Your job is to come up with something unforgettable to the person who has seen it all.
3. Ideas are your armor.
Advertising can be a political jungle.
Not everyone you’re working with will have your best interests at heart.
If you’re weird, shy, quiet, anxious, or simply allergic to the performative side of this industry,
the room won’t always feel built for you.
But your ideas are your armor.
Ideas protect you.
They shield you from people who underestimate you, misread you, or quietly hope you trip.
Ideas are the one thing no one can take from you, no matter how loud, political, or sneaky the environment gets.
If you consistently deliver great work, the politics will start to matter less.
Because in the end, the idea always wins.
And the person who always brings them becomes hard to touch.
4. A deck is a love letter to your idea.
Don’t just describe your idea and assume people “will get it.”
They won’t.
A deck is a chance to build a case for your idea, the way a lawyer builds one in court.
If the deck is tight, the idea becomes bulletproof.
If the deck is weak, the idea will fall apart.
A great deck doesn’t just show an idea. It shapes it.
While you write it, the idea gets clearer, sharper, more inevitable.
This is where you develop the story, the insight, the tension, the execution.
A deck is your defense against every stakeholder who will try to reshape or challenge the idea.
And believe me, there will be people who challenge the idea.
So please, honor your idea with a great deck.
It makes all the difference.
5. Build range.
Don’t become the person who can only do one type of idea.
Learn to do techy brand activations.
Learn to do
classic OOH.
Learn to write a 6-second pre-roll.
Learn to build a brand platform that lives for years instead of weeks.
Learn comedy. Or at least your version of it.
if you are a copywriter, come up with visual ideas.
If you are an art director, learn how to write.
If you only know one trick, people will only call you for that one trick.
6. Craft is more than making things look pretty.
Imagine two comedians telling the same joke, word for word.
One makes the room explode.
The other gets nothing. Only crickets and maybe some second-hand embarrassment.
The difference isn’t the idea. It’s how the idea is delivered.
That’s what craft is.
Craft is understanding how you have to present the idea to the world.
It’s choosing the right production partner, the right method to execute it, the right words, the right look.
It’s knowing what to leave in and what to leave out.
It’s restraint.
It’s judgment.
A good idea can fall flat without craft.
A simple idea can come alive with it.
Craft is what makes the work land.
7. Learn how to talk about ideas.
“I like it” is not an argument.
Neither is “I don’t like it.”
Learn to explain why the idea answers the brief.
Why it works for the brand and this very moment.
Why it will matter to the audience.
When you can articulate the logic behind an idea,
you will be able to convince people to fight for it with you.
8. Enjoy the problems.
When you start making an idea real, the problems will come.
And usually, the better the idea, the bigger the problems.
Timelines, budgets, logistics, approvals.
Legal. Don’t get me started on legal.
If you don’t learn to enjoy solving them, you’ll suffer.
The problems are not a sign the idea is failing.
They’re a sign the idea is alive.
So treat each one as part of the job.
Welcome them. Solve them. Enjoy them.
That’s where the real work happens.
9. Be generous.
If you come up with a lot of great ideas, a lot of people will want to help you make them better.
Let them in. Enjoy their talents. Share credit.
The work gets stronger when more good minds touch it.
Don’t worry about the credit-hitchhikers or the people who misrepresent their role on a project.
They might catch a promotion or two by surfing on other people’s talent,
but they always reveal themselves in the long run.
People know.
10. Don’t chase awards.
If you chase trophies, you’ll only feel fullfilled in May and June.
The only thing that matters is making the right idea for the brand at that moment.
When the idea is great, the awards follow.
People remember and respect the work itself, not an award shelf.
11. Don’t rely on people less ambitious than you.
Ok, this one isn’t mine. I stole it from Nils Leonard from Uncommon.
But he’s right.
Don’t make an idea depend on someone who doesn’t care as much as you do.
They’ll sand it down, slow it down, or gently smother it with indifference.
Surround yourself with people who make your ambition feel small.
People with big dreams who
push, question, obsess, and get restless when something is “fine.”
Never calibrate your ambition to their comfort level.
You can’t build great things with people who already gave up.
12. Welcome feedback.
I get it. Sharing ideas is vulnerable.
You put something personal out there and people will have opinions.
And they usually have no idea how hard you worked to get to that idea in the first place.
Yes, it will hurt.
Just remember: Most of the time, people are just trying to help you make it better.
Let the idea breathe, let it be challenged.
That’s how it grows.
And if someone is clearly just saying something dumb, just nod, say “good point,” and keep going.
Not every note deserves to be addressed.
If you’re interested in more knowledge like this (from people way smarter than me),
here are some good reads:
Damon’s Brain: https://damonsbrain.com/
All books by Dave Trott: Find them here
Keep shooting until the fuckers smoke: A good book by Damon Stapleton