I met someone interesting today!

Leo Burnett - Chicago, ILL
Thanks to our counselor at CCE, I met an agency professional who started his career in advertising about the same time that I did - he was born in 1961, so that makes him about the same age as my younger brother Scott. His name is Bret Stout, and I had him in my classroom as a guest speaker today. He remembers the learning curve that we all went through during the time that computers were making their entree into the creative world, and he described a lot of the same things that I feel have happened to me in my career. It was a great thing to have him reinforce the same things that I had said many times to my students before.

Bret Stout began his career with a job in storyboarding at Leo Burnett in Chicago. His life took him from Los Angeles to Missouri to Texas to Chicago. That is quite a journey. He spent some time at Mizzou and then finished his studies at SMU. He went straight from SMU to Leo Burnett. From Leo Burnett, he switched to copywriting and moved to TWA/Chiat/Day and then came back to Texas to work at (of all places) Temerlin McClain where my eldest son works now (T:M Advertising). He actually worked at T:M during the establishment of the interactive branch of the company which is where DJ is now. It was interesting to hear him talk about how that all happened, and especially interesting to hear him discuss how the agency went from over 700 employees to around 100 currently. The bulk of the traditional side has really slimmed and the emphasis in the agency is on the interactive side. Listening to him discuss the changes in the agency model over the course of the past 30 years was intriguing.

I am hoping to add Bret to our advisory board and to make use of his experience level to mentor some of our advertising and marketing students. I thought the students in both of my classes were receptive and responsive to him, and I enjoyed watching them interact with him.

It is always gratifying to think that you are providing students with opportunities to learn new things, and today I think we did that by having Bret speak to them. All in all, a good, progressive day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The happiness train is back on track today!

Image
Ahh. Like a breath of fresh air, my mood is back to usual today. I don't like feeling down in the dumps. The happy train is back in the station, and boy is that a relief. What can you do to elevate your mood when you are feeling glum? Sometimes stress can actually cause you to feel sick. If you have a lot of stress, I have come up with some very simple ways to feel instantly better. These work for me, they may not for you - but if these don't work, there are probably some that are just as easy to accomplish that would work great. Really, all you have to do is ask one question. If someone looked at you and said, "Hey, tomorrow there will be no jobs that you have to get done, no chores, and no one is depending on you at all. You can do whatever you want to do for one 24 hour period, just because you want to do them." If someone gave you that permission, what would you choose to do? I have a few... I would take a long, relaxing bath. I would go to a florist with
Read more

A new topic...Mark has been facing a new challenge.

Image
Just for the eyes of our family: the challenge of prostate cancer. Since the beginning of May, last spring, Mark has earned so much respect from me. He has bravely faced his diagnosis of prostate cancer. He had surgery in July, and now in August, he is recovering from that. I am so proud of how he is dealing with the whole thing. He (thankfully) seems to have caught it early, thanks to his regular yearly physical. His PSA was slightly elevated and his biopsy came back showing cancer in four of twelve cores in his prostate. He had the option of radiation or surgery, and he opted for surgery. We are now post-surgery by exactly one month, so I can report good progress at this point. We have a follow-up appointment coming up soon, and are hopeful that the reports are good. Since I have not discussed it since the diagnosis and surgery, I felt that I should start the dialog here. He is being so proactive and is working hard to do everything he can to get past it all. His diet has flip
Read more

Conner keeps hitting them out of the park!

Sometimes people just get on creative hot streaks, and Conner seems to be on one right now. First he created a new logo for the Dale Jackson Career Center. Then he created an awesome motion graphics typography-based piece in After Effects. Then, when asked to create a new logo for the Career Center East, he created a unique and professional logo AGAIN! Conner, we are proud of what you do every day in terms of your relationships with your classmates and your high standards, but now you also deserve serious respect for your professionalism as well. We are very honored to have a talent like yours in our studio every day. Conner designed this motion piece in After Effects that features the logo design that he created in animated form. The logo is a symbolic representation of a pathway to the top of the earth. The slogan is "Paving the Way" and it is capitalizing on the switch to "career pathways" that we are using in Career and T
Read more