February 03, 2017

Valuable Tips for Success After College from Advertising Industry Leader Gary Goldsmith

New book Work Wise offers easy to remember straight talk geared to Millennials and Gen Z workforce

You’ve completed your college classes and done well. You’re prepared, at least in an academic sense, to graduate. But what about the vital real world lessons, often ignored by academia, that have nothing to do with what you know and everything to do with who you are? Advertising industry leader Gary Goldsmith is the author of Work Wise, a new book featuring 20 mandatory lessons for career success.

Inspired by the talented students he mentored as they earned degrees in Advertising at ArtCenter College of Design, Goldsmith who teaches and chairs the department, observed these critical life lessons where missing from their impressive portfolio of ideas and skills.

Approaching the writing of Work Wise like a creative campaign, Goldsmith employed surprisingly candid straight talk in order for the life lessons to be easily understood and remembered.

Each lesson in the book’s 48 pages has a memorable title such as "Make your own luck," "Small goals are big," "Tell the truth to power," "Love, then money,” “No one cares" and "Think again before SEND." Work Wise is intended to be an invaluable primer for a recent or soon-to-be college graduate to help get their career off to a strong start. The book’s target audience is late Millennials, born in 1977 to 1995, or, Generation Z born in 1996 or later.

The first truly modern advertising program in the world

Since Goldsmith has lead what he calls “the first truly modern advertising program in the world,” ArtCenter’s track record of placing graduates in top agencies has significantly improved.

During a collaborative partnership with Wieden+Kennedy, considered by many to be the top advertising agency in the world, students developed creative content targeting the youth market for a variety of the agency’s clients. The collaboration resulted in several student concepts being implemented as part of a digital multisite campaign for Coca-Cola, one of the most well known brands in the world.

“We’re developing an essential pipeline to the industry for our students,” said Goldsmith. “Not only are they gaining valuable real-world experience, but they're creating work that will help their portfolios stand out in today’s competitive entry-level job market.”

“Leaders in the creative industries are acknowledging that there’s a golden opportunity to tap into a connected, rapidly growing community of savvy young influencers,” said Goldsmith. “The Wieden+Kennedy partnership is an important lesson and confidence builder for our students to learn that they have real value and insights to offer - not just when they graduate but while they're still on campus.”

ArtCenter advertising faculty, all working professionals, have played key roles at such firms as Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, R/GA, twofifteenmccann, AKQA, Deutsch, Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy & Mather; and have created award-winning work for Chevy, Burger King, eBay, Google, Adobe, HP, SBC, Ace Hardware, Saturn, Volkswagen, PlayStation, Target and countless other companies.

Information about ArtCenter’s undergraduate advertising degree program can be found here.

About the author A leader in advertising for more than 25 years, Goldsmith has created memorable campaigns for many of the world’s most respected brands, including IBM, Mercedes Benz, Heineken, Sony, UPS, Coca Cola, Volkswagen, Everlast and ESPN. He has won multiple awards from every major international advertising competition, including The Cannes Film Festival, where he twice represented the United States as a judge. He was featured in The Wall Street Journal creative leader series, and his work is included in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art. In addition to his role as chairman and chief creative officer of his own internationally recognized agency, Goldsmith/Jeffrey, he has served in top leadership positions at DDB, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Y&R. He served as chairman and chief creative officer of Lowe North America following that agency’s acquisition of his own. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin (BA) and ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena (BFA), he is currently a founding partner of Underhead.com (the opposite of overhead), a virtual, global creative network.

About ArtCenter College of Design Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, ArtCenter College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. ArtCenter offers 11 undergraduate and seven graduate degrees in a wide variety of industrial design disciplines as well as visual and applied arts. In addition to its top-ranked academic programs, the College also serves members of the Greater Los Angeles region through a highly regarded series of year-round educational programs for all ages and levels of experience. Renowned for both its ties to industry and social impact initiatives, ArtCenter is the first design school to receive the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status. Throughout the College’s long and storied history, ArtCenter alumni have had a profound impact on popular culture, the way we live and important issues in our society.