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 Attention, junior creatives: do you find it’s hard to get the attention of all those big, important creative directors? Ever find they’re not willing to come to the phone, reply to emails? Ever tried to set up a friendly meeting, only to be asked “how did you get past security? Get out!”?
We certainly know the feeling. (Man, some of those security goons can be tough.)
Well help is now at hand for would-be advertising creatives in the region, as Portfolio Night
comes to the Middle East for the first time on 11 June.
Described as “speed-dating for creatives” the premise is very simple: 20 or so senior creative directors sit in a room, and review at high speed the portfolios of aspiring juniors, offering constructive feedback, advice (and possibly even a job...?) in just a few minutes.
As part of Ogilvy’s worldwide partnership with Portfolio Night this year, Memac Ogilvy will be playing host to the event in Dubai, Beirut and Tunis. Venues are yet to be confirmed, but tickets will be free. Which is nice.
When asked if, thanks to the recession, it was a rather bad time for young creatives to try and break into the industry, Memac Ogilvy executive creative director Till Hohmann said: "Not at all. In fact: this is why we are supporting this event as an agency, this is why all the creative directors from Dubai Creative Club and many other agencies are taking part. Because we all believe that especially in these times we need to remain open for fresh talent from our region.
"It would be an awful mistake to close the doors at this stage. And if you think about it until last year, during the phase of tremendous growth, most agencies recruited even junior talent from abroad. Those days are over. Getting young talent from the region without paying head-hunters and without all the hassle is the only feasible option."
Hohmann also offers some advice for creatives coming to the competition (see below).
The event’s organisers are still ironing out the final details (if Hohmann’s Twitter feed is to be believed, Portfolio Night may be at the Ritz Carlton for Dubai), but a true who’s who of adland talent has already signed up. Portfolio Night Dubai
currently boasts the talents of:
Memac Ogilvy’s Till Hohmann (along with most of the other senior CDs from Ogilvy agencies)
Vincent Raffray, Creative Director, Tonic Dubai
John Mani, Executive Creative Director, Partnership
Michael Koeditz, Creative Director, Horizon DraftFCB
Andrew Durkan, Executive Creative Director, The Tribe
Uday Sankar and Tony D’Souza, Creative Directors, Birdie
Ryan Reed, Creative Director, Expression
Shahir Ahmed, Executive Creative Director, Team Y&R
Marc Lineveldt, Executive Creative Director, FP7
Kerry Platts, Creative Director, Wunderman
Mounir Harfouche, Creative & Managing Director, Lowe Mena
Malek Ghorayeb, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett
Sam Ahmed, Creative Director, Studio Central
It’s an impressive haul, and as Hohmann points out, will be representing a reasonable chunk of the nascent Creative Club.
Full details for Tunis and Beirut are yet to be revealed, but currently Beirut will see Memac Ogilvy’s Rami Traboulsi, JWT exec CD Iyad Zahlan, and Team Y&R CD Samir Tamari give their sage advice to young creatives.
All three Middle East events are available for signup now, which can be done here:
Portfolio Night Dubai
Portfolio Night Beirut
Portfolio Night Tunis
All three events are on the same date – June 11 – as other global Portfolio Nights, and tickets for the regional shindigs are free.
And if you know any junior creatives keen to up their game, or any advertising or marketing students wanting to break into the industry, please pass this on to them. Certainly in Dubai, that’s a big hunk of talent that’s going to be sat in a room together – missing out is NOT a good idea.
Also, if you’re interested in getting involved in some other way, the nice people at Memac Ogilvy are keen to hear from you – you can get in touch with Nabil Ashour on +971 4 305 0343 or nabil.ashour at ogilvy dot com (decipher yourself, for the sake of spam bots); or else Adriano Konialidis on +971 4 305 0311 or adriano.konialidis at ogilvy dot com can also help.
Here at AdNation we’re very happy to lend our support – anything that gets the industry together in a room is all good with us.
Till Hohmann's advice for creatives wanting to make the most out of Portfolio Night:
"Portfolio Night 7 Dubai is probably the first ever opportunity for local junior creatives to get in direct contact with all the creative directors from the major regional and local agencies in one go. At the event, creative directors will review the portfolios in short 15 minute sessions. They will give advice, praise but also criticise the content. And of course: they will spot talents. So it is ultimately the best way to get your foot in the door.
"Therefore juniors should prepare well. In other regions it is well understood just how rare the chance for juniors to meet 'the big guys' is - and young creatives will actually spend the weeks up to the event to work on their portfolios.
"I think this is what juniors should do: they should develop additional ideas, concepts for their book, they should work on showcasing their best thinking and crafting. A portfolio is never finished. And at junior level one other thing is important: as creative director I'm not really interested in seeing the few ads 'that ran' but that are not really that great.
"I'm interested in original thinking, fresh ideas, new styles. Show me what you are about. And if that is not in your book yet: work on getting it in there. Have pro-active ideas, prepare case studies, show how you would do campaigns. Just don't bore me.
"This might sound like a lot of work. But in fact it is key for progression in their career. Spending a few weeks, day and night, working on the portfolio is nothing if it leads to a better job in a great agency."
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