What’s the big idea in your portfolio? More importantly, where is it?
And are you still dividing up samples in your online portfolio by “traditional” classifications (TV, print, web and radio)?
“Traditional” is just a nice way of saying “old.”
Creative directors want you to show them big ideas that translate well into multiple platforms — interactive, social media, guerrilla, events — as well as the traditional mediums.
You may already have a campaign or two in your portfolio, but when you divide the work into multiple pages, no one can immediately see the “big picture.” And no one has time to piece your campaign together by searching through every page.
To present the big idea, consider putting your samples together by campaign. For example, demonstrate how your car launch works with YouTube and guerrilla marketing by showing them together. If you don’t have multi-platform ideas, then showcase the samples that have big idea potential and demonstrate how you would expand the campaign.
We are nearly a decade into a new century. I hope your book shows more innovative thinking than just a few web pages. Got a smart Twitter campaign? How about some mobile marketing?
That brings me to another point: all of your samples do not have to be produced work. Every creative knows some of the best ideas are killed by committee. A creative director, account team or client may choose to go forward with another campaign. Suddenly your great idea ends up being a PDF file that gets sucked down a black hole on your hard drive or server. Creative directors are very interested in thoughts that are purely you. They want to know how you think.
Just make it big. And keep it together.
Image courtesy of stock.xchng.
Categories: A better portfolio, You've Been Schooled
This is a real eye-opener... but not working the past 18 months, i feel so out of touch with the social media aspect as far as in my portfolio. Would taking an online or other course be worthwhile do you think? I've been trying to keep pace with what's hot, but I wonder if I should put all my eggs in that basket...or try to be an SEO / content writer, or ?
Thanks again Clifton
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I have to start this conversation with a disclaimer: what's worked for me and others may not work for everyone. I am merely passing along information, hoping it will help people like you.
Social media is huge. It's everywhere and everyone wants it, even if they aren't sure what to do with it. I educate myself by reading a lot, following people like Chris Brogan online (his link is on my site). I'll download white papers and check out books on the subject matter. I'm also fortunate to have people to talk to. I have a lot of empathy for your situation. I've been there. Educating yourself this way requires more time than money. The great thing about social media is that you can gain experience on your own - market on Twitter, create content for your own YouTube channel... or start a blog.
A lot of places are looking for social media planners. Because it's such a new medium, plenty of people list their personal endeavors as experience.
Creative directors are telling me they just want to see you think out of the box (pardon the cliché). Think about ways people can interact with the brand, instead of just preaching at them for 30 seconds on TV.
Lastly, I don't feel I qualified to recommend any classes, so check them out throughly. I wish you the best.
Clif
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