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Confessions of a Cycle Courier
Back in the early 1990s, I was trying to break into advertising and there was one surprising thing that helped.
I was a young creative looking for my first job. There were no graduate schemes or formal paths to employment.
In London’s adland, it was more about who you knew.
You needed someone who could get you an audience with the big Kahuna: the creative director (CD).
Want that elusive job in the creative dept? You’ll need to convince the CD to part with 10 minutes of their time to look through your ‘book’ (portfolio).
CDs are busy people guarded by lots of people — protecting their most precious commodity: time.
Back then, advertising was a tough industry to break into. (They say second only to the movie business – don’t know how true that is/was).
Getting an audience with a CD would take some manoeuvring.
I needed a hack.
Secret advice said; get a job in an ad agency postroom — then work your way up. Eventually, you might get an audience with the CD. Trojan Horse stuff.
It was a well-known trick.
