eJournal #3: Brady Dahmer
For this journal entry, I decided to write about Brady Dahmer. Our class had the pleasure of having Brady speak about his path to success, navigating the competitive and everchanging world of marketing. What was interesting to me is that he started his career when print was the central medium for use and digital was still emerging as a separate field. It is a quite literal reminder to always been learning and being able to recognize and accept new technologies and innovations as they come.
I think one of the reasons I really connected with this speaker is the fact that he listed his influences from media as aspirations for his graphic design work. AS someone who is coming into marketing from the creative industries, I felt that this was something that I could draw on as I seek to create creative content for individual brands in my career moving forward.
Another big tip that I took from Brady was to learn from your mistakes. He recounted a harrowing episode of which an unfinished file version of a project was mistakenly sent out to print. This version did not account for the changes to the back of a pamphlet that a client wanted and it was a bad result for the parties involved. Taking a hit like that made him much more aware of the procedures that should be taken when dealing with creative changes, and something that makes me think deeply about triple checking file names! In addition, he made mention of two projects that did not go well, and how he put his detective hat on to investigate where and when these projects went wrong. By finding out the exact place where these projects took a turn for the worse, he was able to adjust workflow and be prepared for the next time that things might seem to take a turn for the worse.
In the department of being proactive, there were three key insights for making the most out of brand campaigns. These were knowing who you are as an organization, knowing who the client is at their essence and knowing exactly who and what the competition is. This idea of hyperawareness is very smart and can lead to more creative endeavors that target the needs of your consumers and vastly outweigh what is already out in the marketplace. To me it is like having blueprints for every facet on the business. As someone who really likes to learn new things, this is a practice I will adopt into my own work and market analysis.
What I am taking away from this meeting is being careful and creative to achieve strong outcomes. I think diversifying projects also helps to keep creative juices flowing. Film festivals, fashion photography, graphic design are all things I would like to participate and work with. Perhaps the parting piece of advice given to us students is to seek internships at smaller organizations. Startups or smaller more niche brands will give you more concrete opportunities to learn as you may wear many hats as you contribute and learn from those around you!