School may be out for summer, but not for seven final year students at Miami Ad School. They're getting some extra lessons - and all important advertising dirt under their fingernails - at Fallon Minneapolis.
Fallon have teamed up with the Miami Ad School to create a ten week programme for final year advertising students. AdKare will allow students to gain some invaluable work experience - they'll be working full-time on special projects and current clients.
The group hard at work
The scheme is being overseen by Fallon copywriter and AdKare director Roberto Lastra. A Miami Ad School graduate himself, Lastra had also taught at the San Francisco branch of the school while he was working at Goodby Silverstein. He kept in touch with the school's founders Ron and Pippa Seichrist, and talked to them about the possibility of creating some kind of partnership with Fallon.
And for Lastra the project has been particularly exciting. "When I came to Fallon I can honestly say I felt like a student again. I literally work with advertising legends that also happen to be great human beings. Guys I used to read about when I was at ad school. Guys that have 25 One Show Pencils on their shelf and still come to work everyday and work harder than anyone I've ever met. That's inspiring to me and I am confident that it will be inspiring for the AdKare students."
AdKare's class of 2008 are: copywriters Nathan Marholz and Mark Gaspar and art directors Ainara Del Valle, Sitha Ngym, Lucas Greening, Charles Lalo Carter and Liz McAuley.
The seven students, who come from Miami Ad School bases in Miami, Madrid and Minneapolis, are now in their third week at Fallon.
According to student Mark Gaspar, the real world agency experience has been priceless. "The most valuable thing I've learnt is the emphasis of looking at the big picture and finding the undeniable truth in each brief we're given. This has been really useful because I think we as students are kind of used to just finding the most original way to execute something regardless of whether it holds true to the facts of the brand."
And while the students are sure to learn a thing or two from Fallon, Lastra too has been finding the experience educational. "We're learning everyday from them. They have this 'everything is possible' attitude. They're hungry. For us, it's a daily reminder of how we have to approach everything we do."
