The Chicago Portfolio School

Chicago is a three-peat town. AGAIN!

Explaining the Big Ad Gig would take five sentences. Go the website for the full story. In short, it’s a competition between ad students. Winners get a freelance gig at one of five prestigious creative-type places. Hence the name: Big Ad Gig.

Last year, first place went to a CPS grad. Two years ago, ditto. This year, THREE of the eight finalists are CPSers. I’m liking our odds…here’s who’ll be representing our school at the final presentations in NYC.

Steve Stenholt made a funny video.
Sara Nitz also made a funny video.
William Shandling also also made a funny video.

10/6/11 UPDATE:
William was one of the Big Winners and will be working at Martin Agency in Richmond, VA!!!

I’m the copywriter that graduated from your school.

Meet Josh. He graduated from CPS in 2007, and he started working at Leo Burnett shortly thereafter.

He’s the writer behind this, this, this, and this. He’s the co-writer behind this.

Allstate’s campaign has been extremely successful, both commercially and creatively. Meaning it won a pile of awards, and it sold a lot of insurance. Josh’s job was to write sports-related spots for Mayhem. My opinion doesn’t count for much, but I’d say he did a great job.

But hey, the One Show judges agreed with me. And their opinions count for a lot.

Josh has moved to C-K, where he’s kept busy by Corona and Heinz. His advice for current students: take school seriously. Treat it like a job, and never stop pushing your work.

Wise words. Congrats & best of luck to Josh.