Generation Next Is Old School, I Belong To Generation C

Julius Osumah, group head of Creative at FKG:2, shares with Yetunde Ogundipe how he has had to change agencies to get one that suits his personality.

My name is Julius Osumah. I’m from a family of four. I was the most stubborn in my family because I had a mindset of things I wanted to do. But as I grew older, I dropped the stubbornness for toughness. It is the toughness that has placed me in the new school of copywriters, writers with slang and a swag that is above the Generation Next. Generation Next is old school. I belong to Generation C, which talks about content and creativity. And I must say that creativity is not creativity until a writer knows and sees beyond his nose that he must be a business man, because creativity without a sense of business can be useless.
I schooled at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, where I read Mass Communication for my ND and HND. But I learnt so much about marketing during my youth service in an audio production company in Maiduguri. I studied Mass communication, but marketing was a fresh angle to it. So in trying to learn more, I discovered marketing communication and advertising. It was then I realised that that is the line I will really like to thread on. From then on I started working on it; I called on a friend of mine at Rosabel, who put me through things I needed to know about advert agencies. Through his influence, I wrote my first test and had my first interview in Rosabel. Though they didn’t pick me, but it was like a learning call for me.
My break into the agency was quite dramatic. While talking with friends about my interest in advert agency business, someone directed me to a particular agency (pardon me, I can’t really remember the name). On getting there, there was no more space, so I checked an agency close to them called UB40. At UB40, I was allowed to write a test, after the test I was called back by the MD, who couldn’t believe I wrote the first one. He asked me to write another test, and two weeks later I got an appointment letter and I resumed a week later.
I started nursing the thought of being an advertising person with a brand conscious flair when I enlisted myself into Lagos Business School, where I studied The Effective Brand Management. At the school my mindset was changed and the urge to learn more was so great. So I opened up at UB40 to the tutelage of Shola Lawson. He was great and he taught me so much. I owe him so much. At every point, I wanted to challenge myself because the agency is not just about copywriting; copywriting is a minute part of the whole game. I went to Vega, the Brand Communication School in South Africa, where I studied Creativity and Innovation – The Power of Ideas in Building Brands and Business. I came out tops in the course. Some how I found myself back in Vega to study the A-Z of Branding, and went back again to study Brand Audit and Brand Contact Management. I had lots of experiences, and this has over time built my confidence.
From UB40, I moved to LTC JWT. LTC was also nice; I took all the experience and inspiration from Mr. Shola Lawson to the agency. From LTC I went to IMS Advertising, IMS was of course good; it was fully marketing based and I’m grateful I took that route. After IMS, it was definitely SO&U for me. I had heard so much about them. At SO&U, I learnt something new, I got eyes for details, my conceptualisation skills was as well more rounded, but the mystery wasn’t just there for me. Though, the greatest job I have ever done was at SO&U, it was one simple copy I wrote. It was ‘I Choose Greatness’, for the Greatness Campaign. It became the rave of the moment and I loved it.
Having learnt a lot around, I wanted a place that will be bold to communicate and that happens when the client and agency are willing to create out of the box. So I moved to SO&U’s sister company, Soul Comm. I loved Soul Comm. The MD and GM were young. They had vibrancy in their way of strategising. Apart from UB40, I would say I learnt some major part of running business in Soul Comm. Getting accounts was common place with them. A year later, somehow, without soliciting for any job, Troyka Group called me, and they wanted my services at FKG: 2 as the group head. FKG: 2 was a challenge. People were leaving, but I was happy. I like working in a place where things are going wrong, where there is so much at stake. Then, your input will be seen. You will even be more at alert to develop strong, soft and rock ideas because you can’t afford not to win an account.