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In 'Sleepless in New York, Zurich, Eindhoven...', Fraser Bailey reveals the ups and downs of mixing working and travelling as a freelance copywriter.
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SLEEPLESS IN NEW YORK, ZURICH,EINDHOVEN,ETC
Page 2www.copywritercollective.com
This campaign was created while
on the road by globetrotting
freelancer, Fraser Bailey. Here he
discusses how mixing travelling
and working has both up- and
downsides.
Page 3www.copywritercollective.com
Fraser’s a busy man but that’s the way he likes it. Even
while putting this article together he’s also getting ready for
another trip – this time to Rotterdam where he’ll be
working on a new pitch for another client. What is it,
though, that appeals to him about combining his working
life with travel? For most people doing one thing at a time
is quite enough.
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Fraser explains that there’s a sense of excitement or
even glamour about this freer-than-freelancing
lifestyle: “I love jumping on planes and trains to work
for agencies in different cities and different countries. I
actually created my first online content in New York in
1996 which was a great experience.” Travel brings
other benefits too, like awards, friendships and the
chance to discover new cities and new cultures. As
Fraser puts it, “I won awards and made lifelong friends
on a big project in Warsaw. And while working
in Hamburg I discovered my favourite part of any
European city – the Schanzenviertel in St Pauli.”
What’s not to love about this way of life?
THE UPS
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THE DOWNS Although working ‘on the road’ takes you
out of your normal routine and brings you
into contact with some great people and
great places, it’s not always easy. You
frequently arrive tired and hungry after
getting a very early plane. You don’t know if
you’ll be staying in a good hotel or a
cardboard box. Sometimes the agency
doesn’t even know who you are or why
you’re there. In the middle of all this, you
are expected to bash out a bunch of world-
class campaign concepts for a review at four
o’clock that afternoon… No pressure then.
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PLAN AHEADOf course, it doesn’t have to be like this. A bit of planning goes a long way to avoiding many of the pitfalls. It helps, for a start, if you don’t begin your trip with an exploration of the local nightlife which might also contribute to your ‘red-eye’ look the morning you turn up at the agency. There’ll be plenty of time for that at the end of the job. Clients, too, could do more to help the weary and wide-eyed freelancer and to make their life as easy as possible. Fraser’s advice for clients is born out of bitter experience: “Don’t, for instance, arrange for your freelancer to stay in a Dusseldorf guesthouse that’s located above an all-night bar favoured by karaoke-loving Japanese businessmen.
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Try not to put them in a motel on a traffic
island near Eindhoven with rooms less
spacious and comfortable than a North Korean
prison cell,” he ruefully suggests. Some places
even fail at providing the most rudimentary
essentials like a desk or (in your dreams!) an
office. It can also be a bit lonely turning up in
an unfamiliar place so wouldn’t it be great if
more clients made the effort and took the
freelancer out on that first night to check out a
couple of good bars?
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It sounds trivial but there’s a serious point to
this. After all, clients pay freelancers good
money to solve difficult problems so it makes
sense to ensure that they are well rested and
comfortable.
To that end, it’s much better to have
travel arranged the day before the
assignment starts. That way, you
arrive at the agency after a good
sleep and a good breakfast, eager to
promote products and services to a
grateful world. Remember, it’s always
worth discussing things like this with
the company employing you and to
point out that it’s in their interests to
give you the optimum conditions to
work under.
IN CLIENTS’ INTERESTS
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WORKING AND TRAVELLING AND ENJOYING LIFE
Clearly, there are ups and downs to the
travel-work lifestyle but, according to
Fraser, “On the whole, working away
from home has been a wonderful thing
thanks to the many wonderful agencies
that have actually made the effort”. So,
zipping up his suitcase and checking his
passport once again, he’s more than
happy to be getting back on the road
one more time.
THANK YOU
www.beacopywriter.org