According to Ad Age more than 35,000 advertising professionals have been laid off or furloughed due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. That’s a lot of art directors, account people, creative directors and copywriters out on the street.
In turn over the past few months, Reel 360 has reported on a new renaissance of creativity on the part of agencies and creatives.
Take Evan Maranca who is the cofounder of the infamous Handy Awards. Maranca was laid off last month from his job as a senior copywriter at MullenLowe U.S. Now, Maranca has taken his job hunting to a whole new level – truly leaving his great ideas behind – by printing his “crappy portfolio” on toilet paper.
Teaming with online vendor Pro Paper Products to create it, Maranca is now selling the roll on Amazon for $150,000 in hopes of landing a new gig.
The product description on Amazon states: “Now that I’ve been laid off I don’t have anyone to crap on my work. My Crappy Portfolio lets you crap right on my work with soft, 2-ply toilet paper. Condition is brand new but the work featured on it might be a little dusty. One year of work from yours truly included with purchase. Because you need toilet paper and I need a job.”
The roll has a mini portfolio of his selected works printed on it and repeats after six sheets.
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Maranca explained that the idea came to him one night because he missed the back-and-forth of creative directors “crapping on my work.”
“I was laid off by the pandemic,” Maranca told PR Week. “It was unfortunate. I liked it at MullenLowe a lot. But it seems like that’s pretty common these days.”
“Originally, I wanted to just send it to the creative directors I wanted to work for,” said Maranca. “But then I realized I might not be able to get my hands on more of the rolls, and I didn’t know if they would want to receive it unsolicited with the pandemic raging.”
“That’s how you grow as a creative and improve your craft – having people tell you that you suck,” he said.
Maranca is looking to relocate from Boston to New York.
SOURCE: PR Week
