When the world zigs, zags…
… Do what you can to stand out!
I wandered into a bookstore the other day and found this book, drawn in by it’s cover and author I had a quick peek inside, after 20 minutes I realised I was still reading it, people squeezing past me to get to other ends of the shop I thought it best to buy the book and finish it in a less public place. The book itself is a brilliantly written autobiographical piece by John Hegarty, founder of creative agency BBH, it talks about his professional experience in advertising, filled with tips, statements and case-studies the book is an essential read, seriously I can’t recommend it highly enough… but anyway, this post wasn’t meant to be a book report. – Reading the book I realised his ideals and hopes in advertising were identical to my own, his passion for creativity and drive to continually question and challenge the industry got me thinking, this was a guy I could relate to and an agency that really excited me.
Eager to stand out I decided to write to the agency in search of a new social position, using the new Facebook timeline to make my application.
Facebook ‘milestones’ were used to highlight the key areas of activity in my experience starting with the day I was born, to the present day as Digital Planner at Birddog. In order to make it more personable (the reason I wanted to use Facebook and not just send in a CV) I mixed personal milestones in with more professional ones, adding ones like ‘purchased a ukulele’ (their Christmas card in 2011 was a video of their staff playing a Christmas carol on ukes, brilliant), following their recent Guardian ads I also created my own ‘stats sheep’- using their logo to highlight my skills in a creative form.
Utilising the ‘cover image’ space I recreated their first and probably one of their most famous campaigns for Levi Strauss from back in the early 80′s. ‘When the world zigs, zags’ was a print ad for Levi’s showing a herd of white sheep walking one way with one black sheep walking the other, it became the iconic beginning to a 28 year relationship between BBH and Levi.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please if you haven’t already, ‘Like’ my application facebook.com/ElisePearceBBH and feel free to Tweet, Shout, Pinterest, blog, Instagram, Digg, Stumbleupon, YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook it out! :-)
