In the interest of helping future MAS AP Bootcampers, here are a few thoughts about the program. I’ve been at this for about 6 months @ BBDO Atlanta, so here’s what I see was MIA at MAS:
Orientation. Instructors do a great job talking about brands and branding, and getting us fired up, but the Bootcamp didn’t do a good job of providing an overall orientation of the Planning process at the beginning of the program. (personal note: having a creative background & plenty of project mngmnt experience, I wanted an overview of the Planning project life cycle—somehow, our program managed to skip this entirely.) Maybe it didn’t bother anyone else, but w/ some yrs of experience, I’m very familiar with timeframes, development stages & vendors associated with campaigns and other deliverables, but didn’t get a sense of that from the Bootcamp.) Not even at a high-level. The 30K view was MIA.
So here are a few big things I saw as 'misses' in the MAS AP Bootcamp program curriculum:
Overview of Project Lifecycles. i.e, where/when to apply tools of the trade. Unbelievably, APG’s ‘How to Plan Advertising’ book — was not used in the program! See pgs 6 & 7 there are examples of the Planning life cycle and Advertising development process. The down & dirty project management/project lifecycle perspective of Planning is MIA at MAS.
With some month's planning experience under my belt now, Bootcamp strikes me as too focused on creative briefings and insight-finding and; it could do a better job showing how all of the tools of the trade come together to provide a clear picture of a brand. Here're a few things that I think would help improve the curriculum and experience:
Big one: Day-to-day maintenance of an account is overlooked, from a Planning perspective. Briefing is important, but a very small part of how we spend our time. after seeing 4+ planners in action for 6 mos, we’re not briefing daily. Not even weekly. Especially in this dismal economy.
We needed more practice assessing/diagnosing a business situation, synthesizing data, making numbers tell us something. Suggestion:
- Test us on our numeracy! Show us some old Econometrics reports and ask for a summary/rec’s...
An overview on Research (types, theory & practice) and analytics; i.e., what’s ideal (BBDO + our Research & Analytics Dept) vs. reality of other agencies w/ fewer resources. Use of research during normal campaigns and during new business pitches. More opportunities to practice/implement those tools/skillsets, whether it’s for a communications/listening audit or a competitive review... Suggestions
Provide access to a few tools, via a license on one MAS computer
List of tools on an MAS intranet or wiki
Invite more vendors and moderators as guest speakers - have us design research
Continuing on - Provide advisors and one-on-ones, weekly, utilize Survey Monkey, Zoomerang, mini groups, etc.
More emphasis/practice developing your hypothesis/strategy/creative; and then using some form of research to prove you have sound logic. i.e, selecting and designing it the correct form of research—to prove/inform/find an insight/creative idea.
I would like to have seen more on Research & on Planning’s role w/ new business pitches... i.e, test our mettle; ask us for a Plan of attack for a Pitch, utilizing the tools and processes we bring into the program; repeat, later so that we can both gauge the progress of our problem solving skills.
What I'm trying to say is: If you have no to little work experience, maybe this is the program for you. (You'll find nothing lacking. Like when your classmate shows up still-drunk and insults the instructor, it won't make your skin crawl.)
I was really disappointed in Pippa's classes–frankly, I found them to be a total waste of time. (Especially if you already are a working creative.) She's the official administrator, but doesn't do much in that capacity.
If you're thinking of attending MAS and keeping your day-job–it's entirely possible to keep that job and do your school work on the side. The beginning of the program is pretty slack–there are huge windows of empty time, which I found annoying. Yet I was able to do plenty of freelance, work out, lay out, and explore the funky cheese that is South Beach. Even though we were technically in class 6 days a week.
IMHO, you have any idea what you're doing already – and have several years work experience already under your belt – then save your money and get a real terminal degree from someplace like VCU.
Or, head down and go for it, like I did. At the very worst, you'll meet some very cool international folks and have the best Cuban food.