“Nush has shown a pro-active attitude and enthusiasm to gain the knowledge, contacts and experience to get into the industry. It’s a pleasure to share his thoughts on how the community is helping to better himself as a creative. This guy is a future star of the industry.”
I was introduced to One Minute Briefs by the man himself, Nick, who had visited our university to host a guest lecture. A special mention must be made to my advertising tutor and mentor Sally Chan, who is very proactive in the wellbeing of students. Hence inviting Nick to share this amazing initiative.
Having Nick explain to us his life and career and mainly his ups and downs was on the very same level as a TED talk. It really made me admire him from the get-go as for someone who had achieved so much at such a young age whilst still having so many obstacles. Having now been a part of the OMB community for almost a year, Nick’s first explanation of it was quite underplayed. Nick described OMB as a community and togetherness of creatives from all types of backgrounds coming together to create adverts. However seeing the impact OMB has caused towards myself and my career, it is much more than that.
I still remember being really influenced by Nick and almost fanboying towards him at the end of the lecture. Nick was the first person to explain exactly what I had dreamed advertising to be. I was also fortunate enough to talk to him afterwards, where he kindly stayed behind and answered my questions.
That day was also the first time I had submitted an OMB. It was a collaborated brief to advertise social ink. Subsequently, my submission got a lot of support from fellow members and I immediately felt very welcome. This is what motivated to keep making further submissions and it soon become a consistent part of my daily routine.
When I started, I would first submit my OMB ideas as drawings. The biggest problem I had was visualising my ideas as I wasn’t good at drawing and I didn’t know how to use photoshop. OMB gave me a purpose to learn photoshop, as every day It was a new opportunity to try a different idea. Improving my design skills every day for every entry helped me reach the level I have on photoshop today and most of it is down to One Minute Briefs.
OMB is also a great source of influence, a lot of very talented members a part of the community come up with the best ideas that are ground-breaking. Sometimes if I am struggling for ideas or motivation, looking at other creative ideas is the perfect source of influence. Therefore getting a win was a big target to me as It meant I had to stand out amongst some of the best creatives. Getting my first win was a great feeling, it took me a lot of entries but when you eventually get it, it feels amazing! Fellow creatives congratulating me on my first win also made it better as it felt more like a family being happy for one of their own.
Networking events such as the OMB meet up have also led me towards connecting with members in the industry. Through OMB, I got the opportunity to meet Theo, who is a senior copywriter at Social Chain. Theo has really helped me in gaining a better understanding into the advertising sector and his advice and tips has led me onto some great opportunities. All of this wouldn’t be possible without OMB. Fellow members such as Zed and Nirpal, who come up with some of the best ideas have also helped my progress a lot. By often checking on me and lending a helping hand by giving me tips and insights. Not to forget Lynne, who immediately makes you feel welcome and always supports your work no matter how bad some of my entries have been.
Without OMB and the community, I wouldn’t have made as much progress in advertising as I have. Although I don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything quite yet, being a part of the OMB community has definitely improved my creative skills and advertising knowledge. I would like to say a special thank you to Nick and everyone at OMB for contributing heavily towards my progress. At a time where a lot of people have very busy schedules and therefore don’t have time to respond to young creatives/students reaching out. Nick has created a community which supports and influences one another. He even recently took out some of his own time to give me a book crit. There isn’t enough people in advertising quite like Nick.
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