Resist the temptation to think that you can get everything you need or want online. It’s only half the story.
You will get a wealth of facts and information and all kinds of opinion and I wish I had had the internet when I was starting out.
But it is not everything.
Absorb as much as you possibly can offline as well as online. Spend as much time in the real world looking at real people, watching their real behaviour, listening to their real conversations.
Be nosey, I won’t hire a researcher who does not like eavesdropping on people talking on the bus.
And remember, those of you who live in London and most of you will, not everyone thinks or behaves or even aspires to be a Londoner.
Listen to your gut – you have a gut instinct to everything immediately all the time, it’s an incredible feature of your brain, evolved over millions of years, enabling you to respond instantly to every situation. Don’t ignore it.
But in listening to your gut do not forget your more considered part of your brain. You need to use that to explain those instant reactions.
Flex those analytical muscles – you hated something, but why did you react so strongly; you loved it, what were the reasons.
Working in communications we need to understand people’s instant reactions – ideas have to work the first time, they don’t get a second chance.
Build up those muscles by critiquing the advertising what is all around you. Do the same for the films, the TV programmes you see.
Understand how the effect they create is achieved.
The more you understand and analyse the greater your understanding and your appreciation will grow and the better equipped you will be to understand and appreciate the creative ideas you will help to develop.
Lucy Banister
Founder at The Nursery