Adiocracy

Here’s some student feedback from Mark Burk’s spring Killer Work class:

nicholas.troop@gmail.com

What seperates good teachers from bad ones?

I dont think it has to do with intelligence in the traditional sense of the word.  The best teachers posess an intuitive emotional intelligence that allows them to connect on some level with all the different personalities in the room; to understand their thought process and know what to say and do to bring out their best work.

After learning the characteristics of good advertising, the majority of this course is an exersize in self exploration.  The most important things you can take from this is an understanding of the way you think and the beginnings of a creative process that will produce work you can be proud of, and the confidence explore and ”keep going without knowing where youre headed.”

Nick

Robert.Ross@draftfcb.com

Mark Simon Burk has a fantastic ear for dead-on headlines and a keen sensitivity for what makes great advertising work. Whether you are a student looking to break into the industry or an advertising professional seeking to hone your skills, Mr. Burk’s class is a must-take. That’s not because you might not be good at what you do. It’s because you can be better. Even great. But you’ll first need to put in a lot of hard work and learn the fundamentals of how to do killer work!

Developing great noteworthy creative just doesn’t happen over night. It relies on the skills to competently evaluate advertising and sift through what makes bad advertising bad and great advertising superb. It requires that you develop a process in which you can delve deep into the details and come up with the insights and big ideas from which excellent creative can be developed. And, of course, it demands feedback from an advertising wiz like Mr. Burk who has the refined experience to help make your conceptual ideas sizzle and your tarnished ideas shine.

Robert Ross
Group Copy Supervisor
DraftFCB

‘(How to do) Killer Work’ class presentation to Museum of the City of New York:

Assignment: Promote the exhibit ‘Growing and Greening New York’

Main challenge: Budget = (almost) Zero

Solution: Two guerilla campaigns. One using stickers to turn New Yorkers’ garbage into sculpture-like billboards — here today, hauled off tomorrow. And one that worked out a cross promotion with the city’s pedicab company to promote the exhibit and cycle people from mid-town Manhattan up to the museum on 104th.

Here are a few bits of feedback on Mark Burk’s (How to do) Killer Work class:

zannettis.michael@gmail.com
For anyone serious about a career in advertising, ‘How To Do Killer Work’ with Mark Burk will provide great practice at being a ‘creative creative, creating creative creative’. Feedback from both the guru and the students will hone your ability to create sharp-hitting, deep-thinking concepts.

Present your work and hope you nailed the brief. If you do, there will be praise from Mark. If not, well… get back on your feet, wipe the egg off and keep going.

Of course, advertising isn’t done in a vacuum. Through Mark’s contacts, the class was invited to present ad campaigns to the City of the Museum of New York’s marketing department. This real-life experience, with all the demands of real deadlines and budgets, proved an invaluable experience for a young creative honing not only his ability to come up with an idea, but to present persuasively to a client.”

Michael

bradenglew@gmail.com
‘How To Do Killer Work’ was, well, killer.  When I felt my work was getting stale, Mark helped me clear my mental slate to approach each assignment with fresh thinking. It’s a lot of fun to get away from the computer and find your next great idea with nothing but a pencil, paper and your brain. And we put our new thinking to the test with an actual client (the Museum of the City of New York), which really allowed us stretch our thinking, presentation and collaboration muscles — the closest experience you’ll get to being in a real agency!

Brad

rciuchta@gmail.com
“It’s hard to just sit down, cold, and do any work, let alone killer work.  Being a relative novice to the world of copywriting, “How to Do Killer Work” gave me the structure and forum I needed to advance my writing skills from an ad man’s perspective. This course approaches advertising from the bottom, up. Work was assigned to challenge our creative process. Killer Work gave me a strong understanding of how to use constraints to my advantage, whether creating for flashlights, drain cleaner, or plastic storage bags. Mark’s class structure facilitated open discussions and peer feedback that allowed me to learn not just from Mark’s feedback, but from the different perspectives of my classmates. Mark pushed me to look past the obvious, challenge my own initial thinking, and to be open to the ideas of others from the class.

For our final project, we created work for, and presented to, the Museum of the City of New York. We were challenged to create non-traditional campaigns for two exhibits, as well as develop fresh branding ideas for tag lines. This assignment proved to be an invaluable exercise. As a writer, I went through the complete creative process. Then, functioning as our own mini agency, we went through the process of preparing for and pitching our ideas. This killer experience provided us with a chance to present and receive feedback from an actual client.”

Ryan Ciuchta