Explaining what exactly happens behind these hallowed glass doors to non advertising friends and family is difficult. I’m pretty sure they think advertising school is an euphemism for ‘clown college’. ‘So last month we did stand up comedy and now we have to market a fantasy animal’. Given the diversity of the day to day, it’s always nice to have a reference point to compare this experience to.

So avoiding the inevitable ‘Squid game’ analogy that I’m sure term 2 is going to inspire , I’ve begun to refer to SCA as a form of glorified ‘Drag race‘.

The more I think about it the more it makes sense. Here’s how –

1. Being safe is the ultimate insult. Be out there. Make a video where babies get assassinated to nu metal . Depict a woman giving birth to a shark, but God forbid you go for dull formulaic or predictable. The sharp intake of breath and the hurried skip to the next slide when your work is not even worthy of comment is something most of us have experienced and have felt every part of our anatomy shrivel enough to vow to never let this happen again.

2. We all thrive in different areas and that’s ok. In drag race you just know some contests are set up for the dancing Queens, the look Queens or the Comedy queens. Here sometimes the copywriters will scribble their way to victory  and sometimes it’s more the art directors. Sometimes it’s the one day briefs and sometimes it’s the long haul tasks that get us at our best. Anyone who performs incredibly consistently is festooned with garlands and lauded as a God/ taken out back and shot so as not to dent morale too much.

3. Everyone has days where their work is the equivalent of Asia O Hara appearing on stage in this fish mask
See handy illustration below.

5. Adobe is the SCA equivalent of the drag race sewing machine. To survive, You better know enough. In Drag race, some queens dexterity on the pedals mean they can fashion haute couture from a bit of tarp and some sequins and some have to resort to the glue gun. Only the ones who know their stuff are less likely to have their design fall apart on the catwalk or under close scrutiny. 

6. In the same way that Ru celebrates his queens for their individuality, we’re encouraged to let our freak flag fly. SCA are proud to be a school for weirdos and oddballs. It creates community for people singled out as the funny, outspoken, rebellious, creative or just downright weird kids at school, uni or work. it feels we’ve met our match in an environment that pushes us to ‘be an x among zeros’.

The ever flamboyantly dressed Ru Marc ( Re -Marc?) claps his hands.

Good luck and DONT fuck it up

And we really try not to – for the mentors, for the school, for us, for our future.

@elizabetheisen