AWARD

It’s 10 years since Helen King was an AWARD School alumni, but she still rates it as highly important to her career progress that has led to her working at adidas’ prestigious Lab A in Amsterdam. We catch up with Helen for the second in our ‘Where are they now?’ series.

What prompted you to apply for AWARD School? 

I attended AWARD school in Perth, in 2011. At the start of my final year of studying Graphic Design, another student asked our ad lecturer about it - they said, “do it… but after you graduate.” Later that year, I was part-time in an advertising agency as a studio designer and two AWARD school students were stationed behind me as a sort of work-experience/ bevisible-so-they-hire-you thing. When I saw the briefs they were working on I thought “I could do that”, and the CD running the course was like, “do it then.” So in 2011, I went full-time at that agency and applied for the course.

What do you remember as some of your AWARD School highlights?

Back when I attended, they used to film the lectures in Sydney and then post a DVD to Perth so we could watch it a week later. The sound was terrible and sometimes you couldn’t see the presentation deck at all - so the CD running the course would give us notes and examples of his own. The WA arm of AWARD School was really close-knit, there was only about 10 students a year (from about 90 applicants) but we helped each other out and gave each other tips for presenting. I think my favourite moments were grabbing burgers after the lectures and chatting with the other students about what we’d just learned. Overall, it was so valuable building a network of creative people who were at the same stage in their careers as me.

Are there any AWARD School learnings that you still carry with you each day?

From being a student: Ideas are everything. And, when you present the idea - explain your thinking behind it and how it led you to your insight/ideas. But, nobody wants to read an essay to understand your idea either - so be succinct. And, sometimes big, dumb, and fun steamrolls a solid strategic insight. Sometimes a violent no to an idea means you’re on the right track… sometimes it means you’re wildly off. But mostly, I always remind myself that when you have nine (or 100+ if you’re in Sydney) other super talented minds working on the same brief - you have to come at it in a completely different way, or you end up with nine of the same idea.

From being a tutor: normal people are not as resilient to feedback as experienced creatives (we’re used to hearing ‘no’) Giving zero feedback is terrible. But giving unnecessary, inconsistent or contradictory feedback can completely derail an idea or person

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Tell us about your current role...

I always describe my role as a creative in advertising as taking what a client wants to say and figuring out how to say it in a way that people want to hear it. My role at adidas in Amsterdam is still the same. As part of Lab A, the innovation unit of their internal agency, we  explore possible product and digital innovations and then figure out how and why people would actually want to use them.

What would you say to anyone thinking of applying to AWARD School this year?

AWARD school is a 12 week hybrid of a job interview and a test. If this course aligns with where you want to go - then do it. But only do it if you can 100% commit. Only do it if you’re ready to build the emotional resilience to come back again and again with new ideas when someone says they’re not good enough. Only do it if you want to set your brain on fire. Only do it if you like throwing yourself in the deep end to see if you can swim.

And if you’re thinking about tutoring this year… do it. It’s exhausting, inspiring, and rewarding. The students will make you feel good about the future of advertising, they’ll make you excited about thinking about ideas again. And you’ll learn how to be a better mentor, give better feedback and grow as a leader.

Learn more about AWARD School here.