M Feitel

Killer Work helped lay the groundwork for me to create ads on my own. Even though creativity isn’t necessarily something you can teach, Mark gave us a framework that enabled each of us to discover the process through which great ads are made.

Taking this class taught me a lot about what process works best for me, how to simplify, refine and ultimately hone in on the book-worthy ideas. The critiques each week helped me learn why certain ideas are successful, and provided me with a ‘toolbox’ for developing better ads in the future.

As for suggestions, I would have liked to spend some class time working on an assignment in small teams.

Killer Work was a 9 out of 10

mfeitel@gmail.com

Y Bartholo

Killer Work was a 10 out of 10! It opened my mind to finding new ways to get to the ‘insight’ that is at the core of great advertising.

yan_bartholo@hotmail.com

S Crowley

I work at an in-house advertising department but I’ve had very limited formal training. The most helpful thing for me was learning how to approach an ad as a process and to be willing to trust in that process. I used to sit around waiting for inspiration to strike–which sometimes happens, but more often than not leads to increasing frustration and eventually a terrible pun that gets killed anyway. Killer Work showed me a better way.

The most helpful addition to my process was gaining the ability to distinguish between an idea, an execution, and a good execution, and where each fits into the process. You can get from half-baked concept to an inspired, seemingly effortless execution through hard work, and you should not be afraid of the bad ideas that come along the way.

The other advertising course I’ve taken was for copywriting and was much more focused on pure execution. Killer Work is a concept course that will instruct your approach to an idea and your follow-through in broad strokes, but never gets down to a level of detail where you start tweaking fonts, or layouts, or the word count in your body copy.

sncether@gmail.com

A Mijares

On a 1-10 scale my ‘Killer Work’ experience was a 9! This course really helped me develop some true advertising skills, I didn’t give it a 10 because it ended too soon L I would have loved it to last longer!

I found the class really helpful because I didn’t know at all what makes an ad a truly compelling one. This course gave me the elements to not just make an ad but to tell a story.

alemijares4@hotmail.com

J Corey

On a scale of 1-10, Killer Work was a 10!

I’d only recently become interested in advertising and I found the course to be crucial in gaining a feel for what great ads are all about.

The greatest takeaway for me was the notion that advertising is not just about being witty or clever — it’s about effectiveness, ie. does the ad make you want to buy the product?  This class gave me the impetus to put much more thought into my work.

A bit more info on breaking into the industry would have been great, though I realize that’s not the main point of the class.

kapto@aol.com

But it’s got College Humor behind it, hence the damn good male demo, and hence the cleavage and crotch cams. And unlike the Denny’s Moons Over My Hammy Omelette I’m still processing from breakfast, this is a very digestible nosh.

1) In an effort to speed up the story, it condenses the progression from what should be more like 2-3 years into 28 days. We realize quickly that the timeline is intended to be nothing more than a device, especially given the side-by-side.

2) The side-by-side takes away from the authenticity, since it telegraphs exactly where the story is going. Something, I’m sure agency and client debated. Would have been more convincing as a post by Adam Barak the drug-user however. However, that’s the achilles heel of the attempt. Without the device they would have had to be clever about why I’d want to follow this dirtbag. Done by McCann Israel.

FYI, according to the agency, it was shut down by Facebook.

Kristian Cruz

‘Killer Work’ was like getting an advertising degree in 3 months (without the boring textbooks).

I dove into this with no background in advertising. I took the class with the intention of learning what makes a more compelling powerful ad, and to relate it to the new company I’m starting next year, a men’s fashion line. With that objective in mind, I found the class directly and concretely useful in the following ways:

My thought process was revised and ultimately enriched. Instead of waiting for the Muse of Inspiration to slap me and hope for the best, I can now initiate the process immediately, confident that it too will lead to a Muse (a different one but better-looking). I have several businesses I plan to start down the road. I will use Killer Work’s brainstorming/conceptualizing method to create advertising for every one of them.

The single greatest takeaway is understanding the concept of ‘a true ‘Idea’. Applied, it means an ad that truly has ‘something to say’. I know that sounds elementary but like many others in the class, I initially focused on the visuals without backing it up with a message (be it a product benefit, a market position or an aspiration).

The beauty of this class is that I learned this great takeaway experientially. I am not sure I would have gotten it if I read it in a book. Much of my learning came from:

1)   Learning from my own mistakes in class
2)   Learning from the mistakes of others in the class

A suggestion is for a final assignment where students get to choose their own product to work on, maybe for their own business or something they are working on at their job. (Although, I see the point of revisiting a previous project for the finals and see how much growth was achieved at the end of the class.)

iam.kristian.cruz@gmail.com

Stacy, Marianne, Cristina and Kristian at the wall

Cristina Twigg, Marianne Merritt, Ilse Garcia at the wall

Cristina (Gradilone) Twigg

On a 1-10 scale, the ‘Killer Work’ experience was a complete 10!

Killer work helped me concentrate on concepting, which I haven’t had much of a chance to do at my current advertising job. It also helped me find my own “process”. I’m still polishing it up, coming up with other ways to make my process smoother, but it’s definitely gotten a lot better than when I first began ‘Killer Work’.

The greatest takeaway was learning to write everything down without judgement and to edit later. For the longest time, I would sit and think and only jot down ideas I thought were good, which didn’t allow for a fluid process. I was constantly interrupting myself and stopping the flow. This has been extremely helpful to me.

Killer Work was my first class, and it was a great experience. I plan on taking more!

As for improvements: I think it might be valuable to work on one of the assignments in pairs. It would be a great way to have a more “real” agency experience, and it would teach us how to work together and to provide efficient feedback when the quality of your work depends on it.

ctwigg@thebloc.com

Ryan Engelbert

Killer work starts with a killer idea. Learn to forget the clichés and craft relevant, compelling and authentic ads. This course will help you identify the ideas that will carry a campaign to glory.

Over the course of 10 weeks, you’ll create some of your best stuff, struggle, absolutely nail an assignment and fail miserably… and you’ll love every second.

Mark is brutally honest and an excellent creative analyst, and your classmates are sure to inspire you every week with their work and constructive criticism. Take this course, then get out there and kill it.

ryanengelbert@gmail.com

C Twigg/Clorox/Killer Work

Ilse Garcia

On a scale of 1-10 ‘Killer Work’ was a 10! The class taught me many different ways to approach an advertising challenge, and how the same concept can be expressed in unimaginably different ways. I will never forget to “keep digging for the bone” —  there is always a better idea down there.

Compared to the other courses I’ve taken where we spent weeks polishing the same idea, here I was always working on new ideas and fresh thinking, even for the same product. The only thing I would add is a chance to work in a team.

gabbynette@gmail.com

Stacy Crisostomo-Flores

On a scale of 1-10 ‘Killer Work’ was an 8 (but only because I wasn’t able to participate full-on due to work schedule and working late.)

Killer Work taught me how to  churn out more ideas and faster, keeping persistent with things that work, and letting ideas go that aren’t great. The presentation aspect of getting in front of class also helps develop that skill, which isn’t my favorite part of the job, but has helped me present ideas to people outside the creative team.

Mark focuses on ‘authenticity’ and why that is key to distinguishing great work. This course was a great break from doing the sometimes mundane work I have to do at my job. It keeps the inspiration going, so it’s great for people who don’t want to leave their comfy job just yet

As part of every class, Mark shows ads and talking about why they are “good” or why they “fail”.

As for suggestions, I felt that sometimes the student feedback was ‘too nice’. Maybe we should hand in anonymous feedback so that people won’t be embarrassed to say what’s on their minds.

girloftheworld@gmail.com

How the agency thought these to be clever communications, and how Coke approved them would make for an interesting study in advertising myopia.

But getting back on point, this is a solid example of the thoughtless communications that muck up our streets and our brains. My good guess is that these were not actually meant to be read — more half-absorbed as you scurry by a bus shelter or subway entrance. The strategy being that they might seem sort of logical sound when half acknowledged.

It’s my only interpretaton of the strategic discipline at misplay here. One of the first rules I give my ad students in Killer Work is ‘make a pun, go to jail’. But these are worse. I can’t construct a syllogism where ambition = drinking soda. And in what world (besides being stranded in the desert) would a Coke be your most valuable liquid asset?!

A refreshingly honest communication might be to mash up TARP with the prevailing wisdom on childhood obesity, substituting ‘toxic asset’ for ‘liquid asset’. But now I sound like I have an agenda. Which I don’t:

This one I shot with what looks like the negative filter effect on. Not intentional.

j

Could there be a more perfect sounding SNL parody name than Welltabs with ‘positive mood technology’?!  Brilliant! Welltabs work well whether you’re a paranoid schizophrenic or just feeling down because you were fired and your spouse left you. If you worry about money, health, if you don’t sleep well, if you’re scared, exhausted, or if life has simply turned against you, these little puppies are game changers. Take a bunch and you’ll feel more confident, more relaxed, stronger, healthier and happier. They’ll even help you look better.

The Welltabs miracle has trumped the entire pharma industry! (Not that we put much faith in them either — look what’s going on with cancer drugs shortage these days). The first time I saw this, I waited and waited  for the punchline, as it teased cliche after cliche like a disciplined comedian. This is an absolutely brilliantly, cringingly, awful gem. I’ll spare whoever was responsible by not drudging up credits (or should I say,  police lineup):

B Best
brb5504@gmail.com

Killer Work was just that, “killer.” Be prepared for very honest critiques that force you to look introspectively at why your work hasn’t reached that next level.

With that, you’ll learn how to sidestep creative bad habits many of us have formed over the years by employing new and effective techniques that can be applied to several aspects of your professional persona.

C Marks
cmarks@stanford.edu

Killer Work was a 10 out of 10! I enjoyed coming to every class. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the class with its free flow of conversation, the diversity of opinions, and how I slowly developed a learning mechanism for advertising (which has made me hyper-aware of the systematic thinking behind every ad I’ve seen since).

I learned that, as easy as it seems, putting your personal interests and witty puns aside and becoming the customer to whom you are trying to sell your product is not. There is so much real work behind the creation of an idea, but there is no way around it. You have to just DO it.

Nicole Berke

Killer Work helped me get outside of my comfort zone in terms of generating ideas and break outside the mold I felt I’d been stuck in.

My greatest takeaway from was if you’re not finding that ‘bone’, either dig deeper or move to a different spot in the yard and keep digging! What differed about this course is that it that focuses more on the actual process of generating ideas… this class really helped me to break out of the corner I had backed myself into, creatively.

nicoleberke@mac.com

Carmen Yazejian

Mark helped me to think differently about my approach to work, how to evaluate it more effectively, and how to keep going with ideas whatever they look like. No judging early on. He helped me discover what my creative process looks like and not to fight it, even if it means working at 3 am. His philosophy that every idea is worth exploring keeps the juices flowing. I learned that I need to pay big attention to my target audience and their desires. I am beginning to be able to evaluate my own work, which has always been a challenge. It was a privilege to share insights with Mark’s brilliant and keen mind. Many thanks!

www.network9.biz

David Allen

Killer Work helped me create a process of thinking I did not have before.  All I ever thought of were direct images. My greatest takeaway was identifying a new thought process.  I was able to step back and see where I got caught up at certain points in my thinking.  This course showed me how to find solutions to problems and to find a real emotional benefit, which I never thought of before in advertising.

D.B.Allen27@gmail.com

Agency: Vitro
Executive Creative Director: John Vitro
Creative Director: KT Thayer
Art Director: Paul Lambert
Agency Producer: Mickey Strider
Found on Scary Ideas