There's something in the water

Like many others in advertising I went to an ad program, The Miami Ad School (like "The" Ohio State University). It was a good school at a good time because I was able to study with some great people under some amazing teachers. Most of my close peers went on to some pretty sweet gigs, I mean really top tier shops.

A while back I wondered why it was that so many of my friends went onto do such enviable work at these great places?

So I got to thinking about my days in ad school. What did we learn there that influenced us all so much? Now I'm not entirely sure what it was but there definitely was something about that time and place at The Miami Ad School. There was an aura that surrounded it.

When I really try to capture that spark I keep thinking about one teacher in particular, a teacher named Diego. If he had a catchphrase it would be "that's cool." And that's really the basis of his feedback. If you presented bad work it was "come on man make it cool," if you presented good work it was only "that's cool." No more no less.

And all of us seemed to embrace that attitude toward advertising. No special formula, no complicated concepting process, just try to make things cool. And I think that has stayed with us. This insight into advertising was very small but mind and career altering. Diego was a great teacher.

There is something about greatness that spawns greatness.

Or maybe it's something in the water.