Meet the Creative Who Got Hired Through Fortnite (And One Who Didn’t)
We all know that the standard routes into the advertising industry are a little stale. Young creatives come through the same schools and end up showing the same kinds of books to the same kinds of creative directors.
Knowing this, when Paris and Berlin-based agency Dare.Win decided they would take on a creative team for a six-month internship at its Paris office, they decided to look at what was big in culture. They landed on this summer’s gaming sensation - Epic Games’ build-and-shoot-em-up with over 125 million players worldwide, Fortnite. Enough people were booting up the gaming phenomenon. There must be some budding advertising creatives there too, right? Keen to find talent that was plugged into the Zeitgeist, Dare.Win opted to conduct its recruitment through the platform of the moment.
As the agency said in its statement in August of the successful applicants, “With us, they will be creating experiences for brands such as Spotify, PlayStation, Bacardi, YouTube or even their favourite artists and TV shows. You got it, we love entertainment, that's why this year, we'll pass the interview on the worldwide battle royale game: Fortnite!”
All applicants had to do was add @DarewinFr on PSN (Playstation Network) and the agency would schedule a game together.
But the agency didn’t want to be excluding anyone on the basis of their taste in online battle royale games. There was a (slim but real) chance that some good creatives might not play. So they did include a backup option where candidates could simply email IDontPlayFortnite@darewin.fr.
They were right about keying into a cultural moment. It caught the world’s interest. In one day, the agency got more than 350 account requests on PlayStation and more than 600 after a few days. People applied from all over the world, from different nationalities and backgrounds (applicants came from Turkey, Sweden and Mexico, for example).
Approximately 250 candidates reached out (the ‘boring’ way) on IDontPlayFortnite@darewin.fr. In total, the agency conducted 50 interviews on Fortnite.
The Fortnite job interview was a no-budget commercial success and more importantly the agency found its creative team, recruiting two interns to help them build more exciting stories like this one - Mallory Walle is an art director and Vincent Pollet will be his new copywriter creative partner.
LBB’s Alex Reeves caught up with the new team to learn more about how it went down.
LBB> Tell us about your backgrounds. When did you decide you wanted to work in advertising and what attracted you to the industry?
Vincent> I have a bachelors with honours in the sociology of consumption, communication, and media from Paris Descartes University and a masters degree in marketing and audiovisual distribution from Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Before Dare.Win, I was a mix between a strategist and a creative for two years at Monkyshot, a video creation agency.
Mallory> I did a lot of different studies after I graduated. I studied economics and law for a year, in addition to psychology. After two years, I finally decided to do a BTS [a national diploma of higher education] in communication, and it was during this training that I learned more about advertising. We had some DTP [graphic design] courses and advertising analysis and I loved what was behind a good ad, the concept and how it can be visually impactful.
I decided to go to an ad school (Sup de Pub in Bordeaux) for two years to learn more about advertising creation and specialise as an art director. I was really attracted by the fact that advertising is an infinite creative field and you can promote a product in so many different ways.
I began a startup in Bordeaux (GEEV) one year ago, worked as an art director at HumanSeven (Havas Group) and now here I am!
LBB> When did you start playing Fortnite and what do you like about the game?
Vincent> I started playing Fortnite a little over a year ago. The first thing I liked about this game was playing with my friends and trying to survive together. This game is a little bit like advertising, the survival of the fittest (joke!).
Mallory> I never played Fortnite! I’m probably one of the few people that never did haha!
LBB> How did you hear about the Dare.Win Fortnite interview?
Vincent> I heard about it on Facebook. I’d been interested in Dare.Win for some time before then and when I saw the operation I jumped on board and that’s about it! I sent an invitation on PSN with a link to my book and they reached back to schedule an interview.
Mallory> I was following the agency for some time (since #NarcosBills). I graduated and I was looking for a position to keep going in the magical world of advertising!
I was looking for an opportunity and this Fortnite interview popped up in my feed.
Even though I’d never played this game, I used the classic way and sent an email. They answered me and after some discussions, I had an interview at the agency which obviously came out well as I’m answering these questions here!
LBB> How much preparation did you do?
Vincent> I watched all their campaigns on their YouTube channel, ironed my lucky shirt, and played some games to be ready for a Victory Royale!
Mallory> I watched all their work to make a recap of what they did and that’s pretty much it! I came to the agency with my book, my motivation, and my ambition.
LBB> What was the experience of the actual interview like?
Vincent> In the beginning, it was really strange because I wasn’t really in a professional context but I was trying to land a job. Usually I play with friends but this time I had to be a little more cautious about language.
It was also hard because I had to concentrate on two topics: the game, and the interview. Even so, I was more concentrated on the interview. It wasn’t my best score on Fortnite that day.
But I think it was a very interesting experience in how it changes the interview to a more fun experience. Usually two or more people are in front of you, separated by a desk, asking some boring and tricky questions which nobody knows how to answer, like: “if someone who hates you speaks about you what would they say?” (True story).
In the end, I think this type of interview provides more about the real personality of people because they get out of their comfort zone and have a harder time using made-up answers.
Mallory> As I’m not a player, I didn’t have the chance to get the full experience of this Fortnite interview but it was still cool enough in a classic way.
LBB> What sort of work do you hope to do with Dare.Win?
Vincent> I hope to do very creative campaigns in the DNA of Dare.Win. There’s a very strong creative requirement in this agency. They pursue a vision to make what nobody has done before. That puts a little pressure on but it’s very challenging and formative.
Malory> I have nothing further to add to what Vincent said. We hope to do our best with the agency and we will work hard for this!
LBB> Vincent, what's your greatest Fortnite achievement ever?
Vincent> It’s not a great achievement but rather a funny story. It was at the beginning of the game, I wanted to land on the top of the mountain with the house near Fatal Fields. As I was landing near the treasure, near the ravine, I started to open it and right at this moment a guy lands and picks up the gold SCAR-H (the best weapon) right under my nose! And I just had the time to get a repulsive grenade. The enemy started to shoot at me, I jumped and threw the grenade which blew him away from the hill to a deadly fall. Then I went down and got the gun back.
