When I was at AMV many of the staff took the Myers Briggs test, a series of questions that would place you in one of 16 different personality groups.

Many big companies use this test because the theory goes that you could interact better with others if you took their personality type into account. For example, if you spoke of an idea in terms of its abstract potential, that would not persuade a personality type that lived for concrete logic, so instead you would look for more a more solid context in which to express yourself, and the whole process would become smoother.

It was kind of interesting (although Ken Robinson is not really a fan) and because so many of us had done it, you could have a bit of a chat about it with colleagues and perhaps find a way to get though any differences more effectively. My only problem was that I was really bad at working out other people’s types, so my attempts to take their perspectives into account were rarely successful.

Anyway, one day a Myers Briggs lady called a few of us creatives together to discuss our recent testing. I’m not sure what the overall point was, but something didn’t quite work for me: I understood what they thought we could get out of this information, but I wanted to ask another question: why are we the types we are? This enquiry was brushed off because apparently it was not a matter that was covered by Myers Briggs, and why care so much about the means if we already had the end?

Well, I just thought that even more accurate analysis could be gained from that knowledge. But then it’s far harder to find out that kind of information.

What separates the good from the bad, or the good from the great? Why are some of us driven and others content with the status quo? Why are some of us neurotic and others carefree?

Of course, these are questions that man has struggled with since the dawn of civilisation, so we weren’t going to solve them that day, but I don’t like to accept things as complicated and important as that without a little more thought. The fact that this system had got so far without that further degree of curiosity seems to me a curiosity in itself.

But maybe that’s just me (and that fact that I’m an ENTJ).

Today’s crappy timewasting links for the weekend can be divided into ‘motivational’ and ‘other’.

Let’s start with the shit that will get you started:

Brilliant motivational music mashup of Shaft, Surfer, Star Wars etc. (thanks, P):

Scary motivational kid (thanks, P):

And finally, let’s pray for tyres and oil and stuff (thanks, P & L):

Then we have the ‘other’:

Ian Stephenson’s ‘Really Shit’ exhibition reminds me of David Shrigley (in a good way; thanks, J).

Thierry Henry’s 226 goals for Arsenal. Number 31 is the best.

The greatest promo of all time (thanks, J):

Thankyourwank – a new low for social media (thanks, B).

And on a similar theme…

Robocop Live!

Funny responses to well meaning signs (thanks, L).

And some funny UK place names (if you like that kind of thing; thanks, J).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhkfwrxNOc

Not their best, but charming nonetheless.

(Thanks, L.)

And while we’re on the subject of promos, here’s the new one from OK Go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x1s60tXJtQ

I have to say that I quite like it. It’s nearly pretty good.

HOWEVER

Something about it just sets this big voice off in the back of my head that booms, ‘THE YANKS WOULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER. THE YANKS WOULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER.’

And you know what? The Yanks would have done it better.

Like this:

Make it A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

But if you buy a second, I’d highly recommend the exquisite new edition of D&AD’s The Copy Book.

As it’s my blog, I think I’ll make this all about me.

When I first got a placement at Abbott Mead Vickers (1998) it was the best agency in the world. But more than that, it was far and away the best agency for copywriters in the universe. This was proven beyond doubt by the first edition of The Copy Book.

That 1995 incarnation of the copywriters’ book of copywriters contained four members of my department: David Abbott, Tim Riley, Alfredo Marcantonio and Richard Foster. Then Alfredo left, only to be replaced by Tony Cox. Then David left, and I was down to three.

Shit. What would I do with only three of the world’s greatest copywriters to learn from? Well, I could slum it with some of the others: Mary Wear, Sean Doyle, Malcolm Duffy and Nigel Roberts. They all appear in the new edition of the book, and could always be called upon to help turn my copy from shit to slightly-less-shit to (very occasionally) not-shit-at-all. (I should also mention here that I always considered three other members of my department, Peter Souter, Jeremy Carr and Tony Malcolm, to be the equal of the newbies, if not the first edition giants. Also, Tom Carty and Walter Campbell could produce verbal advertising as good as anyone else’s. If anyone from Taschen is reading this, could we have another volume called ‘The Creatives Book’, which lays bare the secrets of the great TV and Integrated writers and art directors? Thanks.)

So I read the first book from cover to cover more times than I can remember and took a sad little thrill in knowing that so many of these greats were no more than thirty feet away from me at any one time.

It taught me a great deal, but fell from publication, so I’m delighted that a new edition with some more contemporary greats has been compiled (other new additions include Dave Trott, Andy MacLeod and Mike Boles).

I recently sold all my D&AD annuals because the online version is more useful and the One Show books have better copywriting. But I would not have sold my Copy Book (it went missing under mysterious and suspicious circumstances a few years ago when a client expressed an interest in owning one). Its wisdom is invaluable and will never go out of date.

The other point I must mention is that has been beautifully designed by my friend Paul Belford. As usual, he’s made it look utterly wonderful (and chosen a lighter paper, which makes the book easier to carry and flick through), but also took great care to make the whole thing legible, including this lovely little design idea on the front page:

Buy yours today.

PS: Nigel – three films better than the book: Jaws, The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather.

It’s called ‘Chopsy’ and it’s by Aaron Smith.

Someone sent me an email last week asking if I could do a post about getting a job in advertising.

Well, I don’t think things have changed much, have they?

I have no idea about the other departments, but I imagine that aspiring creatives still have to find a partner, put a portfolio together, get it under the nose of whoever sorts out the placements, impress them, get a placement, impress whoever does the hiring (almost certainly the ECD) when they can afford to hire you, and that’s it.

Simple, eh?

Then what? If you want another job, you either have to engineer your own move or wait for someone to come in for you. This might involve a headhunter; it might not, but again, you’re going to have to impress the person doing the hiring at the point at which he can hire you. The difference is that at this stage you’ll need some actual made work to show what you can do. I think this may be part of the reason for lower wages these days: the UK work of the last few years has been at an all-time low, creatively speaking, so the vast majority of people looking for a job with 2007-2011 work in their books won’t have much good stuff to show. But maybe ECDs have realigned their expectations and now require less great stuff from their prospective hires.

When it comes to senior hirings, it can come down to client and category experience as much as great work (which ought to be a given, but actually isn’t. Client friendliness can occur many miles away from a D&AD annual). If you’ve CD-ed a great petcare account somewhere then that would be a big help in getting a job as a petcare account CD. If you’ve spent a long time on Motorola that might help you get a job on Nokia etc.

But often it also comes down to relationships. By the time you’ve become a senior creative, you will have spent quite a while in the industry; long enough to have met and worked with a lot of other people in senior positions (this is a good reason to avoid being an arsehole to people during your younger years – you never know which squitty account guy is going to become the next MD of a large, loaded agency). So when a friend of a friend hears about a job that might suit you, he may also be in a position to mention you to MD bloke who remembers you from that piss-up in Cannes back in 2004 where you hilariously ended up in hospital after molesting the pool pump at the Rushes Villa.

So those are some of the ways in which you can get a job as a creative/CD in advertising. Good luck if you’re looking.

I do find this spookily topical, as I have just this week found myself a really quite excellent job (thanks to everyone who had me in for freelance, as well as Daryl, Steve, Adam, Kurt and the many other occasional partners from whose skills I benefitted. It was (usually) a great experience, and even if the agency was surprisingly awful, there were always people around who made the days go by very enjoyably). I am going to be the joint CD of Media Arts Lab in London, and I am looking forward to it to the same extent that I looked forward to Christmas 1985 and that remote controlled jeep with the yellow go faster stripes.

Unfortunately, the agency is bound in great secrecy, so I can’t really say more than that, but I start in a week’s time and fully expect it to be tear-inducingly brilliant.

Very good letter from hackers to the FBI (thanks, D).

Japanese girl with a machine gun coming out of her bottom (thanks, J).

Ask Rupert Murdoch a question (thanks, J).

The most beautiful libraries in the world.

All the blasphemy used in Hollywood movies and where to complain about it.

Amnesty International has a TV channel.

Top new Beasties video (apparently it’s ‘explicit’; thanks, J):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mX2bcvb6rY

Sorry. That’s about it. If anyone has any good suggestions for better links (not difficult), leave them in the comments section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXNpBY6orrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtxGCbe_pso

Hi Ben,

I work for More Digital; a UK based Digital Marketing Consultancy.

We represent clients interested in social media marketing on smaller sites with little or no existing advertising and we’re currently looking for advertising partners.

We pay a fixed upfront annual fee which we will agree on with you. Once the ad is in place, payment is made within approximately 48 hours.

Would you be interested in placing a small text-based ad on Ben-Kay.com?

Kind regards,
Aaron Preece
aaron@moredigital.com

Hi Aaron,

How much are we talking?

Cheers,

Ben