Our Young Guns profile takes a weekly look at some of the young talent across the advertising, ad tech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Today, we speak to Clemenger Sydney art director Shaun Thomson.
How long have you been in the industry?
Four years.
Duration in current role/time at the company:
18 months.
What were you doing before this job and how did you get this gig?
Before Clemenger I was working for an independent digital shop based out of Perth.
My copywriter, Emil and I were teaming up for the first time, conscious we didn’t have a shared book yet we did Young Glory – One brief a month for eight months. This was really to show ECDs that we worked well and would make a solid team.
Then we pulled together a folio site and spammed Paul Nagy with an EDM that he couldn’t resist.
Define your job in one word:
Sweet.
What were your real and cliché expectations of working in the industry?
Honestly I can’t remember. It feels like it’s been a lot longer than four years. Our uni lecturer installed a shit-ton of fear into us over three years. So I went into the industry thinking everyone was crazy good and crazy mean.
How does the reality match up?
Pretty much everyone’s crazy good and the crazy mean just hangout on the Campaign Brief comments.
How would you describe what the company does and what does your role involve?
We develop comms designed to help brands grow. My role is fairly early on in the process. The accounts service and planning teams will nail down a solid brief – one of the most important stages of the process, then we work on cracking it. It usually starts with a shit load of research, some really bad ideas, a couple of arguments/discussions before we land on something that’s not bad. Then we focus on shaping those ideas.
Best thing about the industry you work in:
Nothing is ever really the same. I don’t see how anyone could get bored doing what we do.
Any major hard learnings in the job so far?
Yip. This one’s still fresh. If you have an idea you think is awesome, don’t wait for the right time to sell it in or try to get perfect first. It’s better to go in with a raw idea with enough time for the client to jump on it than to miss your opportunity.
If you had to switch over to another department, which would it be and why?
Management. They get priority boarding when they travel.
What's exciting you about the industry right now?
How fast we can react to the things happening in the world.
What concerns you about the industry and its future?
The spectrum of work being made is so much smaller than what it use to be. With each ad looking like the one before it. There’s this fear of making waves. I hope we can find our way again.
Who's your right hand person/who guides you day to day?
That would be my girlfriend.
And your almighty mentor that you hope to dethrone?
My first creative director over in Perth, Josh Edge.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in 2020 and how do you plan on getting there?
Pier 8 and by yacht at least once would be nice. After a year or so working over in Canada and maybe Europe.
What is the elephant in the room? The thing that no one is talking about – but they should be.
I’d rather not open this one up.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
To my left.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I’m awkward as.
Favourite advert is:
The World's Biggest Asshole
What’s your personal motto?
This is only advertising.
I got into advertising/ad tech/marketing etc because:
I don’t have a strong origin story. I had no idea this was a profession until a random unit at uni. Then I thought this looks like a load of fun and I might get to earn a few dollars along the way.
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
I’m not sure, maybe making snowboards.
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