The school of advertising and creativity

I started training at The Atomic Garden Vilnius as soon as I returned to Lithuania after several years abroad. To be honest, at the time I had no idea of what I wanted to do here and in what field I wanted to work. Having worked in fashion and journalism before, the world of advertising seemed like the right fit for me, so I decided to give it a go. Apparently, my goal was to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to work in an advertising agency. However, although I later realised that I was more suited to other activities, the knowledge and skills I acquired here are still vital in my daily work.

It was a real school of contemporary life. As I hadn’t been involved in advertising before, this gave me a basic understanding of the threads that go into one or another type of advertising and the kind of material that can be produced from a single sentence of a task. Our brain is an unstoppable machine if you just let it work. I have seen it hundreds of times. You can generate lots of innovative ideas that change people’s perceptions of what has been normal for them. And this, strange as it may sound, can be achieved even through the most concise, one-word advertisement. All you need is the creativity to find it.

In short, the course gave me the courage and the understanding that I can try and make mistakes over and over again, but that it only makes me more creative and productive. Not just at work, but also in my life.

After spending some time at school, you realise that you know even less than ever. It makes you feel anxious that you weren’t previously interested in this horrible but wonderful thing called advertising. And then comes the real breakthrough. You become an avid reader, experiencer and listener of all things related to advertising. You become more open to life in general and, in the end, you start to create appalling, and maybe sometimes brilliant, advertisements yourself.

After completing the Creativity in Advertising course, I began to work with in-house digital product teams, so my creative work started requiring a deeper understanding of numbers. Hence, the newly launched Creative Performance course immediately appeared on my must-do list. I really liked having more than one course leader, because we got twice as much insights and relevant information, applicable to digital creation, planning and analytics.

Creative Performance MyBee After completing the Creativity in Advertising course, I began to work with in-house digital product teams, so my creative work started requiring a deeper understanding of numbers. Hence, the newly launched Creative Performance course immediately appeared on my must-do list. I really liked having more than one course leader, because we got twice as much insights and relevant information, applicable to digital creation, planning and analytics. The most interesting aspects of the course for me were their flexibility and the students themselves. The backgrounds of all the participants were quite different, and it allowed me to look into a lot of areas that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. Although the sessions were held after work, motivation was constantly boosted by the lively nature of the classes, which were tailored to the real world issues and needs of the time. It is only because of this flexibility that I have unexpectedly found a new topic of interest, which will certainly be easier to delve into with my fresh knowledge and contacts.

I can only say one word about The Atomic Garden Vilnius – amazing! To be honest, when I decided to come to this school, I did not expect to learn that much. My main goal here was to get to know people in the industry. I had a strong opinion that creativity cannot be learned, because it is either given to you or it is not. But, oh man, I was wrong. There are layers of strategies, inner things, concepts and techniques that lead you to creating good advertising. Not only did I meet really interesting teachers and students, but I also experienced the most interesting lectures. All of my expectations were exceeded. What is more, I got my dream job at one of the best advertising agencies in Lithuania.

For everyone, but certainly not for those who just want to listen passively. I have to admit, I didn’t expect that much work myself. Now you have lectures, and now, look, you’ve got an assignment to do and you’re spinning around like a bee. There were some stuck moments when you don’t know where to go next, then you call Clare, the course leader, who breaks the ice from your thoughts, leads you out of all the (not only comfort) zones and bang! A few hours later, you have 3 pages of ideas on where to go next. It wasn’t easy, but it was a good, very good process.

The brand management course was like a springboard to my dream job. From the beginning of the course, I had the goal of finding a job, so I tried to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible. And it just so happened that on the day of the presentation of diplomas I could also celebrate the first day of my dream job! I chose this course knowing exactly what I wanted to learn and gain, but it exceeded my expectations, opened up pathways and gave me confidence in both myself and my knowledge. The teachers of the course – extremely diverse and exceptional personalities, true specialists in their field – after systematizing and selecting all the necessary information, perfectly involved both in distance learning and in discussions and workshops. I feel that I have gone through brand building and repeated the entire marketing course from A to Z. I am very happy that I chose this particular course. It’s experience and knowledge that you won’t get from reading books.

When you come to the Creativity in Advertising course, you turn into a weird person (if you weren’t already): you turn off your adblocker, wait for adverts while watching TV and startle your friends by speaking non-stop about the best campaigns.

The Atomic Garden Vilnius is a school that introduced me to the world of advertising and made me think differently. Here I have gained knowledge that I cannot find in any book, explained in such a broad way. The atmosphere here was motivating and encouraging to learn. Here I learned to tame my creativity, so that it’s not just one-off flashes of ideas. I was also surprised to discover how widespread the Atomic community is – practically everywhere in the advertising field I find people who have studied or teach at the school. It’s great to see that if you don’t let go of your passion, the advertising industry is waiting for you.

I would like to say that I discovered this school unexpectedly, however, it would be more accurate to say that it was the school that discovered me. The Atomic Garden is an entirely unique phase in my life, which has thrown me onto the merry-go-round of the advertising market.

During my studies, I met my teacher Arnas Aukštikalnis, who invited me to become the art director at DDB Vilnius, and just a few months after graduation, having gained the knowledge from The Atomic Garden, I won Lithuania’s Young Cannes Lions competition and went to Cannes to compete among the world’s best young talents. I came back ranked in Top 9 and very eager to catch my own lion in advertising.

My experience in Lithuania helped me to enrol in the Master’s programme at the Miami Ad School, where I am gaining international experience and striving for new achievements.

I trained at The Atomic Garden because I thought that later on, like on Mad Men, I would have a secretary and wearing a suit, with a cocktail in my hand, I would be explaining to clients what women want.

During the course, I realised that this is pure nonsense. It’s a good thing that my teachers and my creative partner helped me to notice these things when I was 22 and not much later in life.