LEADERS OF THE NEW: Ryan Dzur

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.


Name: Ryan Dzur

Career Path: Advertising Art Direction

Education: Seneca College – Graphic Design, Creative Advertising

Advertising Experience:
• 2 years of quality advertising education at Seneca College
• Graphic Design Education
• Has participated in real world projects
• One week internship at Cundari in Toronto
• Various other advertising events & exposure

One Thing About You: I can’t stand people who don’t understand the concept of a line up.

Contact: 647.802.6737 – ryan.dzign@gmail.com or silentd@ryandzur.com - ryandzur.com

Full interview after the cut!


When did you know that advertising was for you?

I was interested in advertising before I took the advertising program at Seneca but within the first semester I knew I was where I belonged. I guess when I realized that I LOVED going to school everyday was when I knew advertising was what I was meant to do. Then when I won the first semester IMC agency pitch to Cundari with a group that for the most part hadn’t made much of a contribution, was the moment that really solidified that I was doing what I was meant to do.


Do you think you could have pursued a career in advertising with just your Graphic Design experience?

Yes, but it would have been very difficult and the margin for failure would have been quite large. Taking an advertising program teaches you what is good and bad advertising, and how to think like an advertiser. Plus you learn a lot about the advertising industry as a whole, which is also very important. All that said, it isn’t impossible to get into advertising with just a design education… just ask Joe Piccolo, CD at Draft FCB Toronto or Anthony Chelvanathan, award winning AD at Leo Burnett Toronto. I have met both of them and they have both given me a lot of advice about art direction and getting into the industry, and they both got into advertising out of an education in graphic design.


Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

That’s a loaded question.

To be honest, I don’t have a set method of thinking/brainstorming. I feel that to be a creative thinker you need to be flexible in how, when, and where you brainstorm. Sometimes ideas hit you out of nowhere like lightning and other times you really have to wrestle with the problem to come up with a solution. Whenever I really have trouble coming up with something good I always go back to the “Lisa Atkins school of advertising.” I run through the target, sweet spots, problem etc. That often helps me a lot; I also look at the product and try to visualize it in different ways and the target interacting with it in different ways. That can be a useful exercise to come up with ideas.

Keeping track of my ideas isn’t too hard for me. I get an idea, I write or sketch it down in my Moleskine and there it is forever.

As far as knowing when an idea is good there are a couple stages that I think an idea should go through. First when you come up with it, you as the thinker should be very excited about the idea. Then you should have tons of visions of how the idea could be shown, this means it has legs and that you can use it in a variety of ways. After you’ve done that you should run it by a couple people to get their reactions, hopefully people respond positively. The last stage is to come back to your idea a couple days later and see how you feel; do you still feel excited? Yes? Then you probably have a great idea.

Well as I said before, when I get stumped I use the “Lisa” technique. If I’m really stumped and I can’t think of anything, I leave it alone. I take a break, watch a movie, play a game, or watch some stupid clips on YouTube. This helps my mind relax a bit and sometimes that’s when an idea comes.


You’ve competed in a few advertising competitions. What were those experiences like?

They’re fun! It’s cool to do these competitions like the OneShow College Competition or the Young Lions Competition. Your work competes against a lot of serious talent, so if you get any sort of recognition you know you have some serious talent yourself. I look forward to seeing the result of all the competitions I have and still will enter this year.


You have a website, http://ryandzur.com. There’s not much there at the moment. What do you plan on doing with the site?

Well my hope is to make it an online portfolio of my work; I’ll hopefully have it up and running by the end of April. I plan to have it done in flash and to be looking pretty slick, so stay tuned. For now if anyone wants to see my work I can send them a pdf version of my book.


What one campaign out right now makes you say, “Damn it, I wish I thought of that?”

For some reason I always have trouble answering questions like this. I don’t know if it’s because there’s so much work to choose from or because my memory never really serves me well when I have to answer.

I’d have to say something that’s somewhat recent that I really wish I were in on is the campaign that John St. advertising here in Toronto launched for Michelina's frozen entrées. It was a very smart campaign and their use of facebook was outstanding. John St. is an agency that is really producing some great work; I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the agency and meeting a lot of great people who work there.

The most recent thing I’ve seen that I found I really enjoyed was the new TV campaign “Living Notoriously Well” for Jose Cuervo by JWT. It’s not ground breaking work but the copy is clever and the subtle details in the art direction are fantastic, not to mention Jeremy Piven who plays Ari in Entourage is the narrator.

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/jose_cuervo_negotiation
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/jose_cuervo_check_roulette
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/jose_cuervo_knowing_when
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/jose_cuervo_be_yourself


What do you hope to achieve during your advertising career?

Ultimately I’d like to be a Creative Director in an agency, or open my own shop and be the Creative Director there. Before all that I just want to be known as an art director who really loves what he does and works very hard to make his work the best it can be. I want to produce work that both sells and entertains and gains the appreciation of the consumer as well as my peers in the industry. I would be lying if I said I don’t dream of winning some big awards for my work, but the most important thing to me is that I’m respected as a person and a professional, and that I always love what I’m doing.


E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

I’m currently trying to break into the very difficult to break into industry of advertising as a junior art director. My epic struggle to see you, the Creative Director of the agency I want to work for is my life. I have shown my book to many creatives in the industry, and with each piece of feedback I receive, I use it to improve my book with the hopes that the day my book comes across your desk is the day I hear you say you’re hired. I won’t give up, because I love advertising. (This is over 140 characters… so I guess I’d just have to hit the stop button so I can finish what I have to say.)


If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com