The Ravings of a (M)Adman

The final sermon, er... seminar of the week came from the delightfully cantankerous Mark Fenske. Now a professor at VCU, Fenske is a man who's made a mark in the advertising world. His career has taken him to a number of agencies around the country, including a stay at Wieden & Kennedy in Portland where he worked on Coke and Nike. Fenkse has also had an ongoing teaching relationship with schools including the Art Center in Pasadena, Creative Circus in Atlanta, and the W&K experimental school in addition to the VCU brandcenter.

Fenske is not just a guy who writes ads; he has won MTV music awards for writing and directing Van Halen's "Right Now" video in addition to contributing voice-overs for a variety of advertising projects. For the wide variety of things Fenske has done over the course of his career, one legacy that proceeds him is a relentless, blunt, and brutal insistence of creative quality. He seems to be known among students at VCU as the harshest critic of work, and often one of the more controversial professors around as a result.

I have to admit I was intrigued by his personality and presence as he presented his thoughts and advice to creative directors. He spoke in a short, direct, yet dramatic way, and while he cut things short on the basis of folks having to leave to catch flights home, he did manage to impart some valuable wisdom on a career in advertising. Here are a few:

To solve problems at work, recognize that the problem is most likely a relationship problem. We try to solve relationship problems with work solutions, and this will never work. Recognize the problem for what it is and give it the proper treatment.

To solve advertising problems, write the problem down. Sometimes the answer is in the words.

To make an agency more creative, recognize that the decision to make an agency truly creative has to come from the person who's name is on the door. The person who owns the agency decides whether they're more about being "cost-effective" and "increasing margins" or whether they're about world class creative product and truly valuable ideas. Others in the agency can encourage creativity, but only the person who writes the business plan can make it the core of the business.

For more of Mark Fenske's unique brand of blunt insight, check out his blog here.