The Creative Companion by David Fowler

Emotions within the agency will run high in new business pitches and before key presentations.

Decide how much you’re willing to spend before you ever commit to being in a pitch.

The pre-pro meeting before shooting a commercial is sometimes considered a mundane rite.

There’s a lot at stake in a pitch.

Your work is not a personal art project which will live solely on its creative brilliance.

Do not ever, ever dress up in a costume or act out a role in a presentation.

Shooting a commercial for a pitch is not just costly in terms of money, it costs you in terms of people.

All pitches are hard.

Nothing bums people out worse than working on Thanksgiving.

An important pitch or presentation is no place to wing it.

If you’re the incumbent on a pitch and you’re getting signals that you can’t win, then there’s a good chance that you’re a dead duck.

Remember this old sales person’s adage: “If you’re talking, you’re selling.

Don’t get mad.

Remember, it’s a business.

For all your desire to “just do the work,” realize that you’re actually managing your career, too.

There’s a lot to be said for finding a stable job at a good place and building a career.

Jeff Goodby once told me that “new campaigns get famous in their second year.”

To outsiders, the notion of advertising integrity is an oxymoron.

Take calls from recruiters, and always call them back.

If a reporter calls you, remember never to say anything you don’t want to see in print or writ large online.

As a freelancer, you’re not entitled to enjoy the normal grousing and complaining that goes on in the creative department of an advertising agency.

Freelancers get called when there’s a problem; a pitch, or an assignment that can’t be cracked by staffers.

When you’re interviewing for a job, never find common ground by carping about difficult clients.

The most important attribute you can exhibit during a job interview is “heart.”

The single most important person on any film or commercial shoot isn’t even at the shoot.

When you’re facing a pitch or big presentation, designate a conference room or empty office as your war room.

Remember that a pitch can take months.

When a new business pitch is announced most creative people run like rats from a burning ship.

Everybody knows the magic word in advertising is “free.”

The trick to successful film and television production (and pretty much everything in life) is planning, then step by step execution.

There is a decent chance that the people you start out with in the advertising business are ones you’ll know all along the way.

Your TV spot or online film will exist in a finite length.

Don’t just pick a director.

You look at casting tapes or photos until your eyes bleed.

Don’t think about making an ad.

The ‘draft’ feature is the most important email feature you have.

You think advertising focus groups are a necessary evil, which you either attend at gunpoint or watch online in a comatose state.

Are you waiting on the game to come to you?

Start reading.

There are pieces of bread.

The most experienced and costly creative people simply cannot do the T-shirt.

Don’t think about ideas your client might be willing to buy.

New business pitches are momentary aberrations that can have long term effects.

Overcommunicate.

In truth, you’re not just in charge of having ideas.

Every Monday (or Tuesday), first thing, insist that everyone get around the table.