Sam Cable: Cutwater, San Francisco Diary #7

Sam Cable is a copywriting student at Miami Ad School Sydney, currently interning at top US creative ad agency Cutwater, San Francisco as part of her portfolio course.

It is my second to last week at Cutwater and officially crunch time. In true Jurassic Park style, Sam must sink her teeth into one last juicy assignment before finishing the semester. I have swept up the prize for being the student who smiles the most in class, the intern with the biggest sweet tooth, and the tourist who likes to ruin perfectly good craft beer by adding grenadine. Also, I went camping. – Everything I set out to achieve.

As an advent cheesy-joke-lover myself, this week I had the pleasure of talking to the king of good humour and intentional misunderstandings. After graduating from the University of Oregon, Mike Butler jumped to Miami Ad School before picking up an Art Director position at Cutwater. Mike is also a frequent wearer of hats, watches and cites lip-syncing as one of his greatest skills.

“I like to create stuff that makes people laugh. Make it engaging. Make it memorable.”

Mike and I discussed the power of humour and the impact it has on audiences. Between us, it was interesting noting the common themes about what is considered actually funny. We came to the conclusion that sarcasm had no geographical boundaries. Mike also commented he enjoyed advertisements with a positive vibe and an attitude laced with good humour, rather than confronting scare tactics.

Entering the industry in January, Mike has a fresh perspective of internships and formed insightful tactics regarding job hunting. 

“Be proactive. Go up to creative directors and ask them what you can do to help.”

Mike emphasised the value of being a nuance noticer and keen people-watcher. We talked about the importance of being able to read people, and work towards the situation’s best strength. Mike observed that, with practice, you could interpret how an individual was feeling without even having to hear them talk.

When asked about giving advice to his younger self, Mike spoke about giving everything a go and never holding back.

“Rejection sucks. But it sucks for a reason. You can learn from it. Learning opportunities always come out of failure.”

Follow Mike’s journey at www.mikexbutler.com/.

This Week’s haiku:

When people watching,

Is it polite to smile,

When being watched?