When the global beast that is the Credit Crunch bared its teeth at ad creative Robert Auton last year his life took a slightly different turn. Far from letting the beast win, Auton took the bad news as a cue to a different career and the chance to pursue a different creative outlet. Here he tells shots.net about life after advertising.
At school I realised I could draw, so art became my favourite subject. A crayon, a felt tip and a fineliner later and a degree in Graphic Design had transformed my love of making things look nice into a passion for the idea behind the aesthetic. Towards the end of the course, at the 2005 D&AD New Blood exhibition, I listened to a talk by Wieden+Kennedy London. To demonstrate their 'crazy sensible' philosophy, half of the team dressed as clowns and the other half were in suits. After an hour of playing songs on rulers and talking about Honda Cog and Grrr, I was inspired and surprised that such freedom and creativity was alive in advertising, but, most importantly, I was sold. From the outside looking in, advertising looked like hit 80s kids TV show Fun House, with Pat Sharp as creative director.
Fast forward through six months of fruitless calls and emails and, thanks to determination and a lot of luck, I was sat at a desk in a London agency. But I couldn't believe how schizophrenic life in advertising was; one minute I was collecting a gold award from Jimmy Carr, the next minute I was pacing the streets of Soho in frustration with a snapped pencil in my clenched fist. This forced me to push my creativity outside of work. I took my frustration out on canvas and began to write poetry. In November 2007 my creative director threw a fireworks party in his back garden, I told him I had been writing poetry and being the creative powerhouse that he is, he gave me my first gig.
From spending five minutes on stage (a flowerbed) I realised that I was getting instant feedback on my ideas from real people. If they found a poem funny they would laugh, if they didn't they wouldn't. It was like a research group for an ad, but the ad was my poetry and I was the one who was presenting it to the consumers. I began performing more regularly. My work in advertising rolled on but then the credit crunch really hit and I was made redundant. Initially, I was depressed and discouraged, but quickly realised I had time on my hands to really push my writing and performance.
Since then (about six months ago) I have performed my poetry across London, at the Glastonbury festival, won a few poetry competitions, been commissioned to run a creative writing workshop for 14 year old children, had some poetry published and just got back from doing a month long show at the Edinburgh fringe festival where I shared a dressing room with the man of men himself: Lionel Blair.
My old creative director gave me the mantra 'Be Entertaining' and taught me that you have to give things to people if you want them to warm to your brand. Give them something to take away, something memorable. That was my aim in advertising, and the same applies to my poetry. Working in advertising has taught me that if an idea gives you a buzz then more often than not other people will enjoy it too. It's that nervous excitement, it is something that I felt when I had ideas for ads in the shower, or on the tube, and it's the same emotion I get when I have an idea for a poem.
There are some aspects of the advertising world I miss - the nights out, the wins, pulling together and working through the night for the pitch the next morning. But there are aspects of it I don't miss, such as having to buy into a brand that you know is not going to do the world any good what-so-ever. Or, getting an idea approved and then by the time you come to make it you are sick to the back teeth of it - that, I am glad to leave behind.
I think a stint in an advertising agency is great for anybody who describes themselves as a creative person. It made me realise just what kind of a creative I want to be. It taught me that simply being a creative person is not enough if you want to be a creative in the advertising industry. You need that marketplace edge, that savviness. You need to have, as Wieden+Kennedy said, a 'crazy sensible' head on your shoulders. Advertising as an industry gave me a lot. It made me realise something I think Wayne Coyne, lead singer of the Flaming Lips, has said better than anyone else: "Be what you really want to be and turn it on, turn it all the way up. Just be that thing, and that's going to be more interesting than trying to make it more palpable for everybody."
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