Creative Bites: Matt Heath

MATT HEATH

SENIOR WRITER
72ANDSUNNY
PORTFOLIO NIGHT 8 LOS ANGELES PARTICIPANT

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What single piece of advice would you give a young creative before he or she sits down with you at PN8?

“Know your goals. If you don’t know what direction you want to take your career, it’s harder for us to give you helpful advice. If nothing else, come in knowing which agencies you want to work for and why. Then, make sure your book is a good representation of your creative self.”

Looking back, what was your own first portfolio like?

“I had two stop animation films, a really bad story I’d written when I was drunk, and comic caption exploration. Not an ad in the bunch. A couple years after I’d been hired, Glenn Cole told me he hired me not because of the work in my book (obviously) but because those stop animation films “looked like they took forever.” He said they showed him that I knew how to work my ass off. Sometimes, it’s not what you do but how you do it that makes the biggest impression. “

Finish this sentence: “Kids these days…”

“…seem to have some strange sense of entitlement coming out of school. I don’t care if you have a Masters degree or a note from your mom, you gotta work hard and be kick-ass if you want the best jobs.”

What would get your attention more, a portfolio full of amazing ‘traditional’ work (print, poster, outdoor) or a portfolio of pretty good boundary stretching work (digital, interactive, wild new guerilla concepts etc.)?

“Honestly, I’m just surprised that digital is referred to as a “boundary stretching” medium. I can’t think of a campaign I’ve worked on that didn’t include digital executions of some sort. Take that for what it’s worth.”

What’s the first thing a junior needs to know about working at your agency?

“Check your Jr. status at the door and come in ready to blow people’s faces off with your big ideas. Yes, you’ll have lots to learn, but the key to hitting home runs is taking big, strategically sound, swings—all the time. We go as big as we can at 72, every time. And so should you.”

How do you feel about non-advertising expressions of creativity in a portfolio? For example, photography or poetry?

“I love it. The more you do, the more interesting you are. Show me how much of a bad ass you are, give me a glimpse of what it’ll be like to work with you. More often than not, it’s the non-ad portfolio pieces I remember most about people’s books. In fact, if your book doesn’t have something other than ads in it, I’ll probably give you a hard time for it.”