Examples of Outdoor Advertising

Every year at around this time we welcome a host of excited, eager students who are about to get on a rollercoaster they hope will drop them in the centre of the Ad Industry three years from now.

It's a special time, welcoming a bunch of new faces into our family, and what better way to welcome people into your family than make them prance up and down wearing T-Shirts with their name on?

And what's even better than that?

Taking pictures of them and plastering them on the internet, of course.

So, here we go. A few of our new intake, looking very cool indeed.

The University of Lincoln end of year show is now up and running, showcasing the skill and determination of the final year students from the course. The work on display is of a very high standard and the staff team are very proud of what the students have achieved.

Creating a final year show is a big effort all round and involves making and decorating the display space as well as putting together a portfolio and show promotional material. All this hard work has paid off though as this years show is looking very smart and creates a vibrant atmosphere that many of the visitors have commented on.


The Private view was a great success, kicking off with a screening of the students self-promotional videos which were played out in front of friends and family in one of the larger lecture theatres down at the Brayford campus. This got the afternoon off to a great start and the private view for friends and family was held in the evening in the Creative Advertising studio where the teaching staff gave speeches in recognition of the students hard work and enterprise.


It was great to meet the families of the students who were there to see their sons and daughters work and we also met a few old faces in the form of past graduates. We are very proud of the close affinity old students feel for the course and it is a real strength of the programme that the alumni are so keen to stay in touch and help out the latest generation of graduates.

The show is open to the public to view on Saturday the 8th of June from 11.00am to 4.00pm and Monday the 10th through to Friday the 14th 10.00am to 4.00pm. The Address is Thomas Parker House, 13-14 Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1HJ

Please feel free to pop in and have a look at all of the work, we'll have staff and students on hand who will be only too glad to show you round.

With such a short amount of time to produce a large amount of work the pressure is really on.

Check back in late March when we'll be updating you on the students progress during their live client presentations.

Yesterday the third year art directors were lucky enough to have a full day workshop with world-renowned advertising art director Alex Taylor.

Acknowledged as one of the UK’s most respected and acclaimed art directors, Alex Taylor has gained an international reputation for her prolific award-winning work in advertising.

Our students like to embrace all culture, from Shakespeare to internet memes.

They also like to celebrate when they hit a deadline and hand in for a competition.

Finally-

-and perhaps more than anything-

-they like to dance.

In order to be good at Creative Advertising you need to be able to construct a good argument. Constructing good arguments requires looking at things from all sides and only when you fully understand your subject can you create innovative and persuasive advertising strategies.

That's why the Creative Advertising course holds an annual Great Debate competition between the Level 1 and 2 students. The students have to know the subjects they will be debating inside out and be able to present an equally good case for and against their subject matter. The students don't know which side of the argument they will be promoting until they enter the 'debating arena' and only have a couple of minutes to compose themselves before the battle of minds begins. Preparation is key and the students that have done the most extensive research will inevitably progress the furthest in the competition.


The competition runs at a hectic pace with second years and first years squaring off against each other whilst the third years sit in judgement and decide which teams proceed into the next round. The questions range from the esoteric to the plain bizarre and a successful debater doesn't allow their personal feelings to enter into the discussion – it's all about creating the strongest argument.

After much heated debate thirty six teams were whittled down to just two, Joe Lovett & Becky Cartey Vs Harry Price & Alicia Job making up an all first year final. After a titanic struggle Joe and Becky emerged as this years Great Debate champions and will get the chance to defend their crown in next years competition.


All this debating is great practice for developing a sound advertising brain and keeps everybody sharp. Now, which is best, poster advertising or social media?

At Christmas each year we have a conundrum: we need to set some work for the students in the 2nd year that is beneficial to their education but also keeps them busy and allows them to do what they do best – make a difference.

So we set them a challenge. Go home and get your head around what your local community needs. Then, motivate people, bring them together in some way to take action to make the necessary difference.

We embrace success equally to glorious failure in challenges like this – the key was they worked to make something happen and told their story when they returned to University.

Whilst we'd love to showcase all of the work it seems more appropriate to just pick a couple of pieces which best sum up the feel of the brief.

So, take a break and spend the next few minutes taking in some work from Suzi Paddison and Stanley Bennett. Suzi took something on that she cared deeply about and made sure her voice was heard. Stan tackled something a little closer to home but did so in a rather marvellous way.

Enjoy!

Last week Lincoln's Creative Advertising third years were lucky enough to attend a workshop by advertising education guru, Dave Morris (pictured above). Here's third year student Mike Barber to tell you more:-

‘We didn’t know what to expect but after Dave’s visit last year we knew it would be incredibly useful. We learnt so much throughout the day, it would be hard to cover it all in one review. The overall theme of the workshop was creating convincing arguments, something that is important in all decent advertising. Dave set us a brief before the workshop, that involved making some very strange or difficult arguments. We presented our persuasive arguments in front of everyone and the feedback we received was very helpful. The arguments that we made in our presentations were continued throughout the day in a range of fascinating and entertaining ways.

One of the hardest things to do as a creative, but busy, individual is keep a strong momentum. You constantly need ways to stay creatively busy by changing the type of activities you do.

Doodling, for example, is lots of fun but also very stimulating and, when that doodle is with a large group can be a great way of connecting people who do not necessarily know each other that well.

The Creative Advertising Society are always coming up with ways they can bring every year group closer together and recently they held a GIANT DOODLE event.



Everybody took their shoes off, gathered round some huge sheets of paper and let all their worries slip away as they responded, pen in hand, to the various DOODLE INSTRUCTIONS they were given by the Society team on hand.



What resulted was somewhere between an explosion in a Sharpie factory and Banksy's first graffiti lesson but it was nevertheless energetic, momentum building and very, very social.

On a wet October afternoon the Creative Advertising 2nd and 3rd years took over the studio to run a session designed to help new 1st years feel at home on the course.

The session, organised by Emma Thomas (2nd Year) paired new 1st years with their elders in the years above so they could have a students perspective on what it's like to be a student in Lincoln and particularly on this course.

Who knows? This could be the start of a (few) beautiful friendship(s) and the people our 1st years connected with in this session could be the contact the one to bring them in on placement when they leave.

Thanks so Emma and her team for such a rewarding afternoon.

This week we received a boatload of new first years, all eager to prove they have what it takes to make it in Adland (the industry, not the advertising related theme park, with such rides as the Barclays Waterslide et al.).

As usual we put them through their paces with a round of form filling and photographs followed by the greatest pub quiz  of all time, complete with miming, choirs and a little bit of Pictionary to boot.


From this point on the fun does not stop but the focus is turned dramatically towards rewiring their brains in the way only we know how.

Stay tuned: eager, hungry, energetic young minds have checked in for training.

A key part of the Creative Advertising programme's level three is the dissertation. Following the stress, strain and overwhelming sense of relief once it had been submitted for assessment, the students chose to let their hair down by doing 'Come Dine With Me' on a big scale. So, all round to Portuguese student Artur Deyneuve's house to sample his fine culinary skills....!

Here's level three student Philippa Beaumont to tell you more:-

'It wasn't just a 'dissertation celebration', it was a chance for the guests to experience the food of Portugal and enjoy a cultural injection into our typical Lincoln lives.
'We were transported to the Mediterranean for an evening full of good food, good wine and great company. It was one of the most relaxing and sophisticated of our social gatherings! Everyone was full of chatter and a specially chosen playlist got everyone in the relaxed spirit. The evening had a really friendly feel to it and just highlighted how the Creative Advertising programme is more like a community than just a university course.



'Guests were treated to five amazing dishes, including stuffed peppers, spicy chicken, crostinis and, probably the favourite of the evening, bread stuffed with peppers, cheese, bacon and mushrooms.

'The dinner party provided a much needed cultural escape from the workload of the third year, whilst reminding everyone of how lucky we have to have such supportive course mates!

'As the Portugese say, "Bom Apetite!"
Thanks Philippa. Sounds like you all had a great evening.

Last week saw the Level 2 students undertake Superbrief Day where they worked on a number of briefs throughout the day with only a short break for lunch. There's no time to mess around when you've only got an hour to come up with an idea, followed by an intensive critique.....followed straight away by yet another brief! This goes on all day. It's very demanding.

This is the tough schedule that runs throughout Superbrief day and everyone who participated agreed that they got a lot out of it. When you've sometimes been working on a project for a week or two it's good to blow away the mental cobwebs with an intensive session like this.

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to work like this every day but putting variety into your working practice stops you getting complacent and keeps you fresh. So whilst we won't be doing Superbrief Day every week we will be coming up with plenty of other ways to keep things interesting.

As regular readers of this blog will know, every year the Creative Advertising programme team run live students projects with local businesses to give the third years the valuable experience of working on a real client brief. And nothing beats that feeling of seeing your final ad actually produced and proudly displayed on a billboard or in a magazine! Previous projects have included campaigns for St Marks shopping centre and North Lincolnshire Safer Neighbourhoods.

This year's live project is with DoubleTree by Hilton who have recently opened a very nice new hotel in Lincoln. In November last year, the third years were set a brief to advertise the rather splendid top floor Electric Bar and Restaurant via the strategic positioning of 'sophisticated escapism'.

The third year students worked on the brief with each team developing a creative campaign. Following an initial selection of the best ideas, the shortlisted students prepared and gave presentations in the hotel's business facilities to the client team that was made up of Niki Shepheard - Sales and Marketing Manager; Dan Ralley - Food and Beverage Manager; and Andy Hallam - Bars Manager.

A few days later, all the shortlisted students were invited back to the Electric bar at the Lincoln DoubleTree by Hilton hotel to be thanked by the client team and the winning team was announced.