Tag Archives: creativity
For most of us who work in the agency world, the majority of our time is likely spent on client projects. Although rewarding, many months focused on the same client may start to feel a bit, well, stale. Being creative is part of your team’s DNA.
Sometimes an internal project can be just the thing to spice things up. Seriously. When was the last time an idea was discussed that excited everyone within earshot? When was the last time that the thought of a company project made you tingle? If you can’t remember, or worse, you have never taken part in a company side project… you should be concerned about your team’s creative health. Internal projects can be lots of fun because your agency sets their own rules. Not to mention they’re a terrific opportunity for staff development, strengthening inter-office relationships and helping your team feel more connected to your brand. All work and no play can make a company a VERY dull place—and that’s just not how agencies operate!
This was how the CM Holiday Survival Guide initiative started. (Well sitting in the lunchroom with a bunch of folks drawing on tables and walls is where it really started. Crazy ass ideas, way too many to execute, and some, well, let’s just say were “off brand.”) So let me share how we progressed through that project to not only get all of those benefits for the team, but also produce a pretty sweet holiday experience.
From June 20 – 26 many of the most innovative global brands and communications leaders gathered at the Cannes Lions festival to discuss the latest trends in the ever-evolving advertising world. We decided to take an interview approach to share an insider look from our new friend at Contagious Magazine, North American Editor Nick Parish.
For those who are not familiar, Contagious is a leading global news and intelligence resource for the marketing industry that helps advertising professionals navigate their way through the new media landscape. Contagious was launched in London in 2004, covering topics like branded content, mobile-social-and viral marketing, and a bunch more. Essentially they’re most interested in all the ways ideas are transmitted outside of paid media. Nick helps steward Contagious NA from New York, where he’s worked in many forms of media since arriving in 2001. (Sports Writer for the New York Post, Silicon Alley startup Flavorpill’s Editor, Associate Editor of Advertising Age’s Creativity magazine, and most recently, Events Content Manager for Ad Age events like CaT: Creativity and Technology and the IDEA Conferences.)
We got together with Nick last week to discuss the week that was Cannes Lions 2010…
CM: Cannes is known for being the ultimate celebration of creativity. What was the most creative thing you came across?
Nick: Most creative thing? Single thing? Maybe people’s expense report strategies?
Seriously, it’s tough to nail down, and ultimately, even if you were to see all the work, that’s a really personal question. I enjoyed a lot of the Design work this year; that’s a group I haven’t paid much attention to since it was launched. But the category has only been around for a few years, so it’s pretty media-agnostic, and you get groundbreaking stuff that’s fundamentally aesthetically sound, like the Toyota IQ Font, which won Grand Prix.
Fundamental aesthetics will always be essential.
CM: What was a common theme running through the Cannes Advertising fest?
Nick: I think a common theme was re-building and re-thinking.
Everyone realized we had a bad run last year, and that undoubtedly affected things like resources and budgets, but the best projects, like Grand Prix winners Gatorade Replay and Best Buy’s Twelpforce, were ideas that became platforms that could stand on their own and grow.
In the instance of Gatorade, that’s changed the way PepsiCo structures that business, from a marketing sense, and Replay and Replay-esque things have become a serious part of their considerations. And it’s blossomed from episodic online content into events that are shot by Fox Sports Net just like they’d shoot any professional sport, in addition to a grassroots league and other side parts.
Another interesting theme is that we continue to see is the best work winning in multiple places. This happened last year with the Queensland Tourism Board’s “Best Job In The World” campaign, and again this year with Replay and Nike’s Chalkbot. All of a sudden we’re asking what each of these categories has to do with each other, and what applies best where.
Further, and this pains me a bit to say it, but the Cyber category feels like it’s really looking for direction. Digital is everywhere now—nearly every Grand Prix winner has a digital component, and most of them were really integral to their success. Even the ‘Film Craft’ winner, Philips’ “The Gift” from DDB London, was a webfilm. Cyber’s become a category for great websites, but now that everything moves digitally and lives everywhere it’s going to have to go through a bit of a renewal.
Emily Bontje | Critical Mass Calgary
Two weeks ago, I received an awesome opportunity to attend The Art of Marketing Conference in Calgary, compliments of Critical Mass. I was actually so excited that I canceled a trip to B.C. with my mom! I had read about this conference in Marketing Magazine, and I knew that one of the speakers was Mitch Joel, whose social media blog I subscribe to on a daily basis. Nicole Armstrong blogged last week about her takeaways on brand promises and customer engagement (read her post). However, the message that resonated most with me came not from the social media experts or the young technology wizards, but from a man who’s been in the business longer than I’ve been alive.
Sir Ken Robinson is a 60-year-old British man with a dry sense of humour and a passion for passion. He didn’t come on to the stage with props and pizzazz, but with a limp and a story about his flight being delayed. And I instantly liked him. After five wonderful speakers of the day talking about “what’s next” and the future of marketing and Web 2.0 and why you “must be on Twitter”, Sir Ken got back to the core themes of creativity and finding your passion.
Sir Ken talks about “The Element” as “the point at which natural talent meets personal passion.” When you are in your element, you will feel the most inspired and achieve at your highest levels, unleashing your imagination and creativity to excel in your field. Now sure, we’ve all heard this before, but it’s just not feasible for us to all be rock stars and World Cup soccer players. We grow out of those dreams about the same time we stop shopping in the kid’s department. But this is where Sir Ken has something new to say.
If we’re talking about dreams… Personally, if I could have any job in the world, I would be on Broadway. I’ve been singing and dancing since I could walk, and nothing excites me like being center stage in full costume with bright lights shining and an audience hanging on my every word. So, when I started university four years ago, I had a choice: I could take the practical, safe road with a Business degree, or I could chase my dreams and pursue a music or performance degree. Although I was fortunate enough to have parents who would have supported me in any path, I chose business. Does this make me a sell out? I think not. And Sir Ken agrees.
I purchased a copy of his book The Element, and as Sir Ken was signing it I briefly explained my situation. His simple response, “But music is always going to be part of your life, isn’t it?” This is very true. I still sing in choirs, audition for every community theatre musical I can, and I recently returned from a 2-week trip to New York to study music, where I saw 10 Broadway musicals and visited 5 famous jazz clubs. By finding a career in marketing–which I love–I am allowed the opportunity to pursue music on the side, without the added stress of relying on it for my next paycheck. If I had chosen music as my career, I most likely would not have the opportunity to learn about the world of marketing. Not to mention CM is every bit as creative as any theatre group (minus the costumes and group choreography). Now, I seem to have found the best of both worlds. As Sir Ken would say, I have found my Element!
Now my question for you: Have you found your Element?
Emily is an Account Management intern in the CM Calgary office, working on Nissan and Infiniti accounts.
David Fasullo | Critical Mass Toronto
Flash was only the beginning.
Today, if there’s one thing FITC is known for, it’s inspiration. In less than a decade since its first incarnation as a Toronto-based festival celebrating Flash, FITC has spread around the world and broadened its scope. Now, there’s something for everyone: writers, designers, developers, or creative explorers. It’s that spark of inspiration that unifies the speakers and attendees. I’d like to think it’s that same spark that inspired the entrepreneurs to create Flash (FutureSplash Animator, at the time), and possibly the same spark that inspired the first flock of flashy individuals to come together and create this event.
As if the speakers, networking and parties weren’t enough to bring people together, each year the event is centered on a theme. This year’s “Playground” theme was most evident in the speaker introductions. Each introduction was pre-recorded (and edited) by event creator, Shawn Pucknell’s young daughters. And while it would have been funny, I’m glad they didn’t do this introduction for the “Cool Shit Hour”. Alternatively, they could have just called it the “Cool Stuff Hour”. But that doesn’t seem to have the same impact.
The “Cool Shit” presenters included myself, Chris Allen (blog.ff9900.org), Didier Brun (@didierbyte), Joa Ebert (@joa), & Mikko Haapoja (@MikkoH). And in spite of some technical difficulties, great work was shown. Didier got the whole room singing “Hey Jude” with his great audio analysis prototypes, Joa live-coded a music visualizer with his notorious keyless keyboard. Mikko showed his devotion to creative development with a 3D painting app created using the Voxel Engine/Fancy Engine. And Chris demoed an awesome Star Wars Trench Run game for the iPhone. With each of the 5 presenters getting roughly 10 minutes each, I’m glad there wasn’t enough time for any Apple/iPhone remarks.
Last week, we learned that Idea Aid, with not-for-profit partner Heifer International, selected its top five idea submissions. In a bit of unexpected news, one of the winners came from Critical Mass – submitted by this very blogger.
The goal of 2009’s Idea Aid (the first of hopefully many to come) was to generate new fundraising models to raise $1 billion annually. The weeklong brainstorm benefit, organized by Mensa Process, resulted in 585 ideas from participants in 66 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Congo, Croatia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq. Heifer International will share the winning ideas with other like-minded organizations – after all, when the goal is to eradicate global poverty, sharing the idea wealth is a must.
The five winners include ideas that emerged multiple times over the course of Idea Aid week. (“Great minds think alike” is cliché for a reason.)
1. “Rounding Up Around the World” has an approach alá Bank of America’s “Keep the Change,” where users enjoy automatic savings derived from rounding their check card transactions to the next dollar. Here, consumer transactions would round up for the benefit of charities. This idea came from Tomer Ram of Israel – and based on the results of our brainstorm breakouts, it was a popular theme. An added thought from this blogger: Just as BoA offers a 100% match for the first three months and a 5% match thereafter (with an annual cap) to help motivate sign-ups, a similar tactic should be used here – with the help of a generous third-party entity (anyone have Richard Branson’s or Bill Gates’s number?).
2. “A Penny Goes a Long Way,” from Dr. Christina Bautista of New Mexico, suggests that an extra penny from consumers’ credit and debit purchases go to charity. Though consumers would hardly feel these micro-transactions, money would accumulate to a significant charitable sum. This theme was another popular one – in fact, more than a handful of brainstorming CM’ers referenced Office Space as silver-screen proof.
3. “Gift Cards: The little bit that’s left” proposes that the little bit of extra on retailer gift cards be funneled to charity. It’s a no-brainer – consumers could lighten their wallet of those pesky remaining gift dollars, to benefit those who need it more. This idea, from Jay Bassett in Georgia, had at least one idea doppelganger in Critical Mass’s very own Duane Wheatcroft.
4. “Global Online Auction,” a winning idea from Ruth Parvin in Oregon, combines art, charity, and the global reach of the Internet. Artists would donate works to an online auction, with all proceeds going to charity. Ebay would be the first tree to bark up, as they have the global reach this idea would thrive on.
5. The final idea was a submission of mine – originally called “Beautiful Change,” revised to “Destinations for Donations.” In this idea, artists, sculptors and/or architects would create fun, interactive money-collecting structures to appear in cities that get significant tourist traffic. This idea was inspired by the Chicago cows, an irresistible coin-spinner I experienced as a kid (a donation mechanism itself), and a similar thought from a coworker of mine (Senior Copywriter Jamie Toal, who, during one of our office-wide brainstorms, asked, “Why can’t we just clear out the change from the fountains of the world?”)
Needless to say, my Critical Mass cohorts and I are thrilled to have contributed a fundraising idea worthy of the hope and confidence of Heifer International and the Idea Aid organizers. If you asked me, I’d say it’s a lovely way to close out the year. We’re excited to see what comes next.
