Despite the recession, there will always be feisty young graduates
beating a path to adland's door. And after countless stringent
interviews, the shiny-eyed bairns probably think they've made it -until
some bastard comes along with a list as long as your arm of
"character-building" tasks.
At least that's what happened to three gutsy youngsters keen to make a
lasting impression at Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper. Yes, Clare Toolan, Katy
Donald and Eleanor Cartwright have been set a series of challenges
designed "to enable them understand and experience the consumer
first-hand" - or so the suitably vague brief sheet given to them
burbles.
While agency chiefs would doubtless answer the charge of "looking at
problems from alternative angles" by changing their table at The Ivy,
our young heroines instead have to apply themselves in more humble
surroundings.
First off the starting block for all was the charge to learn an
instrument they'd never played before. Not too taxing you might think,
but the girls have to give a Christmas concert to the whole of account
management after only six weeks. "I did think I'm a lot more musical
than I really am," Toolan admits sheepishly. "But Katy's managed to get
a fairly un-squeaky noise out of her sax," she adds brightly. Better
book those tickets now, punters.
Next up for the three girls, the task of making a five-minute video
advertising Euro's graduate training scheme, followed by some
complicated riddles.
And finally, the young Euro hopefuls were packed off one Friday night to
that most glamorous of locations, Ilford, to find out what powers 16- to
24-year-old boys. In the name of research, our intrepid explorers
scoured pubs, clubs, bhangra nights and a curry house to get into their
counterparts' complicated psyche. And what was the girls' illuminating
verdict? "The boys were so drunk. It was quite astounding how much vomit
there was on the street," Toolan says.
Boys like beer - brilliant. Just what three years of training at
university must have taught them already.
