I believe that the initiative was called Teachers into Industry (TiI) and for a brief spell it received substantial government funding. I jumped at the chance and was able to specify that I wanted to experience work in the advertising industry.
Of course the beating heart of all advertising in Great Britain is London but some advertising agencies do and did exist in other parts of the country. Unbeknown to me, Sheffield was home to a thriving little business called Camel Advertising. They were housed in a big stone house on Queens Road.
I worked there for two weeks and enjoyed every minute. There were no switched off children in sight and every member of the thirty strong team was pulling in the same direction - keeping the company above water and spreading its tentacles into new fields. There was a real buzz about the place. It felt like being a bee in a productive hive.
Outside in the car park, leading members of the team parked their shiny new cars. There was a yellow Ferrari and a silver Jaguar. Camel Advertising was proud and profitable and what I liked best is that it was a hotbed of creativity. There were graphic designers, a photographer and a creative director. They had begun to specialise in promoting computer games.
In the late 1970s I had investigated a potential alternative career in advertising and even sent out speculative letters. Camel was all that I hoped an advertising agency might be and I know this might sound stupid but in my two weeks with them, I sought to make a good impression partly because in the part of my brain marked "Fantasy", I was hoping they would offer me a job.
Then I would be able to get off the treadmill of secondary school teaching and leave behind all the pettiness of school politics and recalcitrant kids who were resistant to education. Drawn from a large neighbourhood of social housing, there were many such pupils. Sometimes it could feel as though you were banging your head against a brick wall. Couldn't I use my energy and natural abilities in a more positive, creative workplace?
Anyway, my ploy did not work but they liked me right enough. I even appeared in our local newspaper "The Sheffield Star" as the project was deemed newsworthy and it reflected well upon Camel.
Amongst other tasks, I wrote the copy for a few double-page magazine spreads, including two computer gambling games called "Casino" and "The Big Deal" - "Enough to get Cool Hand Luke hot under the collar".
On the afternoon I left Camel, they presented me with a framed version of that very advertisement. On the back was a label that read: "To Neil - from your friends in The Camel Group". I received it gratefully but it was not quite as good as being offered a career switch.
The building on Queens Road that was once home
Nice to see how the other half lives, even for a couple of weeks, eh?
ReplyDeleteYou are right.
DeleteThis, I believe, is the first time you have mentioned your short stint in the world of advertising on your blog. Funnily enough, while I was considering career options for the time after I'd finish school, advertising was something I could see myself doing, too. And when I left the library, I did indeed apply for a job at an advertising agency in Ludwigsburg, housed in a mansion-like place that used to be a rich businessman's family home in the past. I was invited for an interview and was told I'd left a good impression, but in the end they decided on someone else who apparently had some previous experience. Who knows what course my life would have been taken, had I been offered the job...
ReplyDeleteThe house where "Camel" used to be looks old enough to be listed, not demolished. Shame!
We could have formed an Anglo-German advertising agency jetting weekly between Ludwigsburg and Yorkshire.
DeleteYour post prompted me to remember all of the "teaching initiatives" that came in with great fanfare and then silently withered away after a few years. Some of it was very political. After about three years of teaching, I decided that I needed to do something else as the pay was pretty lousy. I signed up for a course at a local university called "alternative careers for teachers." The course was on Saturdays. We did various activities and took some personality tests, etc. At the end of the course, everyone got their supposed right fit in a career. Ironically, mine was to be a teacher...by far. The second ranking choice (which I don't remember) was light years behind education. So I stayed in education, and looking back I have few regrets. I think advertising would have been a good career choice for you. You definitely have the creativity trait!
ReplyDeleteIf I am totally honest with myself, I feel I wasted my talents in teaching. This is sad to say but it is true.
DeleteAll of the twists and turns in our lives, led us to where we are today. At times it was a bumpy ride, and left a few scars on our beings. But all in all, we are in good places with lives well lived. If you reached one of those kids and made a difference in thier lives, you made the world a better place.
ReplyDeleteOkay. I did "reach" many of those pupils as you suggest but after almost forty years of teaching even "reaching" becomes tiresome.
DeleteProbably my favourite writer Peter Tinniswood once worked and wrote for the Sheffield Star.
ReplyDeleteYou are right.
DeleteQuestion- if you had to do it all over again, would you have gone into teaching?
ReplyDeleteAnswer - A resounding, "No!"
DeleteThat's what I figured.
DeleteIndeed you can't keep everything, but digital copies are the next best thing. I digitise nearly everything I throw away.
ReplyDeleteDo you digitise your teabags?
DeleteI've been told there is no such thing as a stupid question, but I think that one qualifies.
DeletePretty cool that you got your chance to try your hand at advertising. My alternative life to nursing would have been working in a lab, doing research. It would probably have bored me out of my mind:)
ReplyDeleteYou could have been a dancer in Las Vegas Pixie.
DeleteDid you get any of your students interested in advertising or graphic arts? I wonder if any of them were inspired by your stint in advertising.
ReplyDeleteI talked about it and even constructed a short module for the careers programme but there are not very many openings in advertising in South Yorkshire.
DeleteBlogs are a good place to put your memories!
ReplyDeleteAs long as Google do not pull the plug on "Blogger".
DeleteHow wonderful that you got to dabble in the industry, even though only for a fortnight. Neil, what an interesting life you've had.
ReplyDeleteI had almost forgot about Camel until Shirley brought that frame up from our underhouse. Nice to hear from you again Elizabeth.
DeleteThat was terrific to have the opportunity to try a completely different work experience. Is that ad company still in existence? Shame that the building is gone, looks like it had quite an interesting history.
ReplyDeleteNo. The advertising company blossomed for a while and then merged with another company. Such businesses are forever evolving.
DeleteThat was an interesting look back at education changes and possible career changes. Fads come and go here too. Somebody seem s to think that kids should be taught about money and budgets. They don't get it that very few kids are ready for those issues
ReplyDeleteI found myself having to teach 12/13 year old kids about alcohol and how it can damage your body but they did not seem ready for such learning. It was almost impossible for me to say, "No! I won't do that!"
DeleteI can't believe they didn't offer you a full time job! After all, advertising is fantasy and you are great at that, aren't you?
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I live in a fantasy world and you are a goblin!
DeleteWhen I think of camel I think of cigerettes.
ReplyDeleteSound like an advertising slogan for Camel!
DeleteI don't recall ANY part of my education readying me for work after school, it was all aimed at finishing high school and going on to "Higher" education, meaning university where you then studied for years to get into the career of your choice. Back then I hadn't even made a career choice as I knew I wasn't going to be allowed to stay at school past leaving age, I'd be getting a "job" and earning money until I married. Possibly many of your "social housing kids" had the same outlook/choice that I had. There's not much incentive to study when you know your immediate future is factory work.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion you are very right Elsie. School can be so demotivating for many youngsters.
DeleteThis has brought back memories of a summer when I worked for an advertising agency off the Kings Road, in London. I can remember thinking “Head of Creative” was a strange job title. I saw my first fax machine there. The type that you wrapped the paper around a cylinder. It seemed incredible that the paper would be printed out on the other side of London.
ReplyDeleteIsn't "Head of Creative" God Almighty? Glad to have jogged your memory Traveller.
DeleteIt's very sad that the building was demolished. I think the world might a better place that you did not go into advertising and continued to do your best for your students. The scheme of getting teachers into workplaces to experience how business works sounds suspiciously Tory.
ReplyDeleteI disliked the wrong notion that teachers knew nothing about "the real world" where most of our family members and friends worked. It was somehow insulting but I took advantage of the scheme anyway.
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