Ian Pearman, Managing Director - Graduate 1996
I started at AMV as a graduate trainee 11 years ago. I'm still unsure whether it was due to luck or improved timekeeping, but this year I was promoted to Managing Director of the agency. They will realise their mistake shortly so this may be my last entry on this site.
I came into advertising because I thought it would be a great deal more fun than any other career, but with intellectual challenge equal to any. The reasons I've stayed are the same - which is probably a good sign. You spend a lot of time at work so you kind of need to enjoy it, and a lot of the people I know in advertising are the ones who go very quiet when their friends in other classic milkround industries are moaning about their jobs. I've never really shaken off the feeling that this job is as close to still being at University as is possible (and be paid in real money).
It's inevitable that advertising is a business that runs on personalities, because the value we can offer brands lies wholly in our people. Other than phones and laptops, there is no equipment other than brainpower. The job is constantly stimulating because the intangible nature of working with ideas means that the ones we develop for clients could be, literally, anything. The challenge comes from working out what is the right thing to be doing. You don't get that in many other jobs - consultants have models for how to cut costs, auditors have a process to count numbers, and traders have values to base decisions on. But ideas can come from anywhere, appear from nowhere, and go anywhere. Creating them, judging them, defining them, expressing them and measuring them is an incredibly tricky process and takes a great deal of mental agility.
What we do for clients is pretty simple - we help them work out what their core business problem is, define how the brand can best serve that business problem, and then create communications - from ads and websites, to events and TV programmes - that can, in turn, serve the brand. Doing that well requires that agencies have a really wide range of abilities - from analytical business skills to high-end aesthetic craft - and as a graduate you are exposed to, and learn from, the whole spectrum. And you can't beat a bit of learning for keeping your interest.
This will be one of many sites you visit during your research into the business, and I'm sure you'll find many similar themes expressed which should be reassuring - anyone who claims they're doing something wildly different is fibbing. But that makes your task harder because it makes getting a sense of each agency much more tricky. My only advice would be to go out of your way to talk to people who work at the agencies you're interested in. What agencies do is broadly similar, but the culture in which they do it can be quite different, and finding one you feel comfortable with will give you a flying start to your career. Follow your gut feel because matching personal values with a company's values isn't something you can easily write a checklist for.
This may seem like a dereliction of duty, but I’m afraid I'm not going to spend any time selling AMV to you, because that would be painfully predictable. But if you are interested in us as an agency, do ring and talk to people who work here, and those conversations will give you a very good impression of the kind of place we are.
Good luck with your search.
Lisa Farr, Account Director - Graduate 1999
For me, AMV is all about the people that I work with. People who have incredible energy, fresh perspectives, creative ways of thinking about any and every problem, people who make me laugh, who interest me, who I love to be with. Account handler is a challenging role, but the people I work with keep me grinning, and coming back for more. I can’t remember being bored at work, and that is surely a testament to the people as well as the task.
Gau Narayanan, Account Director - Graduate 2001
AMV is a place…
Where ideas are the prevailing currency.
Where people are open-minded, self-assured and encourage ideas to come from anywhere and anyone.
Where you are intimidated by how smart the people are and reassured that they are here to help you learn.
Where the work speaks for itself.
James Drummond, Senior Account Manager - Graduate 2004
I love Sunday afternoons – lazing around watching a film, nipping out for a quick drink or spending some quality time with friends and family.
Yet so many of my friends dread the end of the weekend as it brings with it the dawn of a new working week.
I put this difference down to the fact that most of my friends seem to dislike their jobs whereas I really enjoy mine.
Whether it’s the free breakfasts, the great people you work with or the daily challenges thrown up on your accounts, you never have a dull day here at AMV. Don’t be hood-winked by the high starting salaries offered by all the banks and consultancy firms out there; enjoying your job and working with brilliant people is far more rewarding.
Adrian Baxter, Planner - Graduate 2006
AMV was my first choice of agency to apply to as a grad and was based on the excellent quality of the work it produces and its array of interesting brands.
However, the one thing which truly separates and puts AMV a league above the rest is its people. You won't find a nicer more motivated or talented bunch of people if you tried - I genuinely never thought coming into work each day would be such a pleasure!
To date I’ve worked on The Economist, Sainsbury's and Department for Transport's Think campaign - the work has been consistently challenging but always varied and interesting.
Rossa Shanks, Account Executive - Graduate 2006
I know no other work place which actively encourages Wii Wimbledon competitions on the 4th Floor, dance off competitions in the bar (technically I encourage these but it makes little difference), ‘I have never’ shenanigans, playing ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna when it’s raining outside, doing the ‘robot’ at any given opportunity… Need I go on?
Charlie Nelson, Account Executive - Graduate 2006
AMV has the broadest and most interesting collection of people put together in one building. Although we’re a diverse bunch of Northerners, Southerners, arty types, wordy types, Mums, Dads, cyclists, 4x4 drivers and dedicated pub goers we’re all after the same thing and that’s great work, it’s something we’re passionate about here and you’ll feel it if you come and visit. We’ve produced some of the best work in the industry and, most importantly, had a massive amount of fun doing it.