Industry Q&A: Western Sydney Ad School Founders

Tell us about yourselves?

Rocky Ranallo has over 45 years experience in advertising spending 20 of those years at The Campaign Palace during its most successful creative period. Winning 4 Agency of the year awards along the way. He has worked as a deputy CD and Creative Director at The Campaign Palace, DDB, Clemenger/BBDO and BWM/Dentsu. In 2011 he was voted in the Top 20 list of Australian Creatives in ‘Australian Creative’ Magazine. And was voted best art director in Australia 2 years running by Campaign Brief magazine.

Matt Smith’s diverse 35 year creative career has taken him from running his own creative shop The Hairy Banana to Regional Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Paris across the CEEMEA region. He’s worked at BWM as Creative Group Head on Telstra. Leo Burnett Sydney, Whybin TBWA Sydney and Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand.

What is Western Sydney AD School all about?

MATT: Our school’s mission is to offer an advertising course that’s affordable and more accessible to creative people who wouldn’t normally consider an advertising career. Offering marketing departments, a new wave of creatives from all walks of life with different perspectives and diverse ideas.

ROCKY: We’re in our fourth year and are based in Parramatta, making it even more accessible for students from the Western Suburbs.

Who makes up the team at Western Sydney Ad School?

ROCKY: Western Sydney Ad School is run by us, Rocky Ranallo and Matt Smith. We have a combined 80 years of marketing experience and we’ve both taught and mentored students at other advertising courses for over 20 years.

All our other tutors are highly experienced, awarded and have proven themselves as creative directors in an industry that they still work in. They fill in for us when we are unavailable, which is very rare.

Why did you decide to start the school? Think about why you started. Why are you still here? What’s kept you going? What inspires you? What is the point of difference with your school?

ROCKY: There’s a definite class divide in Sydney.
From those in the Eastern suburbs to those in the West, it’s called the Red Rooster line, and this really shows up in the make-up of the creative departments in Sydney and the sort of student that is accepted into other ad schools in the city.

MATT: More specifically we wanted an alternative school that is more inclusive of all of Sydney, not just those who know someone in advertising, can afford the high cost or already have a job in an agency.

And of course disrupt the status quo while attracting a more diverse creative student from the part of Sydney most agency people have never been too.

ROCKY: Every Thursday night we love watching people younger than us develop into junior creative art directors or copywriters that understand what an idea is and how to create them. The course runs every 3 months for 12 weeks. So unlike other creative courses you don’t have to wait another year to join a course if you miss out the first time.

We’ve even got at least 12 of our students into full time jobs. Changing their lives along the way.

The industry has been very helpful to us, agencies like DDB, CHEP, OGILVY, DENTSU and many others (thank you again) have offered to pay for students to enrol and also guaranteed 3 month internships for the best students from the West. This is something that’s unique to our school.

Who is WSAD for and how do you get in? What is the application process?

ROCKY: There is no entry criteria, and the cost is a third of that of other similar courses. We have to charge a measly $900 as we have to pay for meeting rooms and everything else.
To apply, students simply go to westernsydneyadschool​.com​.au and sign up.

And you’re in.
It’s open to all of Sydney but with an obvious bias to students who are genuinely from the Western Suburbs.

Describe what a student can expect on a typical Thursday session with you?

ROCKY: Every Thursday we give out a new brief go through some world class examples of that product or service in the media the brief is for, then we discuss it in detail the task before critiquing the students work from the previous weeks brief.
It’s a collaborative session with everyone encouraged to get involved, what happens is the students can see how ideas can develop into a campaign even from the smallest thought.

It’s about ideas, everything needs an idea.

What is the future for Western Sydney Ad School?

MATT: Hopefully when we are gone someone else in the industry can dedicate their time and energy to keep it going. You don’t do it for the money.
And at some stage it would be good for AWARD school with their experience and resources to collaborate with WSAS as another more diverse creative pipeline.

ROCKY: AWARDSchoolWest? If AWARD with all their resources and know how could open a school in Parramatta or Blacktown we’d gladly step aside because after all it’s about giving people the best opportunities for a job, in an industry that’s crying out for new and more diverse talent.

What advice can you share with up-and-coming talent/creatives that are looking to step into the industry?

MATT: It’s a fantastic creative career. It’s an opportunity to influence popular culture and society in a positive way. The ad industry is full of fun, talented and hardworking people. You can work all over the world with other like-minded humans and be paid well for it.

ROCKY: Do great ads and have a laugh.

What has been the most embarrassing or funny story from your time in Ad Land?

ROCKY: The time Naomi Campbell called me out for listening to the cricket instead of concentrating on my shoot for Nokia phones. She was naked on a bed. In front of me. The cricket was more interesting apparently.

MATT: Dancing semi naked in the Young Gun’s Award Peep Show tent at their Cannes Lions party when the Saatchi & Saatchi global guy, whom I’d just interviewed with earlier that day, peeped in the window. We both got the fright of our lives and I got the job working in Europe.

What is something people would never guess about you?

ROCKY: With friends I started the first frisbee club and the first paintball club in NSW.

MATT: I photograph men wearing my gold sequined gown. Which reminds me, I must get the zip fixed.

Contact the Sydney EdenMarsh team at hello@​edenmarsh.​com.​au or take a journey to our “about” page and email one of our lovely Sydney team members with any questions and if you’d like to chat about exciting opportunities with us.