Challenging students to “keep it fresh,” 1980 Boston University College of Communication graduate David Lubars advised students on “How Not to Ruin Your Career Before It Begins” last night in a packed lecture hall in the Kenmore Classroom Building.
Lubars focused on diving into the work force after attaining a BU education.
“It’s not like I’m talking from some place that I don’t understand where you’re coming from,” he said during his lecture.
Lubars is the chairman and chief creative officer of advertising firm BBDO, which represents FedEx, eBay and BMW. During his 25-year career, he has won two Emmys, including one for Best Commercial.
During his speech, he said keeping the craft rather than the money was what motivated him to success in the competitive advertising industry. His advice was not only geared toward aspiring advertisers but applied to any student wishing to launch a rewarding career.
“What we try to stress is that successful leaders, thinkers and doers were students themselves not long ago,” Alumni Officer Robert Grimes said in an interview before the event. “These people who are shaping the communications industry are people who were in the same shoes as current students.”
Lubars also pointed out distractions that keep students from success, recounting his experience at a low-paying job.
“Even if you have to give up your acquired, sophisticated BU tastes, focus on the craft,” he said. “All the good things follow.”
Despite his accomplishments, Lubars admitted he had once made the mistake of staying at a dead-end job. But he maintained that ups and downs are inevitable and must not erode motivation.
“If you go up and down with every win and loss, you’ll burn out,” he said.
Lubars addressed advertising students about the need to keep people from getting “flushed down the 20th-Century toilet and out of date.” He showed television ads on a projector screen to illustrate his message. The ads, he said, portrayed how workers in the industry are “thinking outside the box and not using just those few colors on their palate.”
Lubars cautioned students about the risk of being inflexible.
“Don’t hang onto ideas for too long, or they’ll become obsolete,” COM sophomore Betsy Brand said, recalling Lubars’s message.
AdClub organized the event, asking Lubars to speak as part of the Communication Guest Lecture Series. AdClub is an on-campus group geared toward freshmen and sophomores in the advertising industry.
“He has a good understanding of the very direct, clear things at BU students can do to get a good advertising career,” AdClub President Anand Chopra-McGowan, a COM senior, said.
Lubars gave students tips on furthering their careers and made sure students were aware of detractors from success.
“Hearing it from him is a good thing to hear before I start making those mistakes,” COM sophomore Katy O’Melia said. “I wished he would have talked for another hour.”