London week - Creature
Following on from the last post, here's a student review of the third year's recent visit to Creature.
Creature - Lucy Eldridge & Liam Nicholson
The second agency our group visited during London week was Creature - the spawn of three ex-Mother creatives: Ben Middleton, Ed Warren, and Stuart Outhwaite.
Before the visit we were set a brief to list insights on a product that we buy and love. We then were asked to choose one of the insights - one that hadn't been used to advertise that brand before.
After a good chin wag with Lincoln Creative Advertising graduates Ruud and Brooke about their journey into Adland and how they finally secured a job at Creature, @CreatureStu (we tend to refer to people by their twitter handles...) graced us with his presence and immediately inspired us, talking about what he loves/hates to see in portfolios and how insight is key to reach out to people.
After a good chin wag with Lincoln Creative Advertising graduates Ruud and Brooke about their journey into Adland and how they finally secured a job at Creature, @CreatureStu (we tend to refer to people by their twitter handles...) graced us with his presence and immediately inspired us, talking about what he loves/hates to see in portfolios and how insight is key to reach out to people.
Stu told us how the best adverts tend to find a refreshing way to say something obvious. We looked at the insights everyone came up with and were advised of certain brands to stay away from as they have such an obvious benefit/adjective that the ads write themselves... e.g Buy a Porsche because they are fast-er.
Stu proceeded with a truly inspirational rant about finding the enemy of a product and using them to show why your product is so bloody good. This was expanded on with examples, i.e Lucozade's enemy is Red Bull. With the use of strange but well practiced character voices Stu clarified his point well.
Overall, his energy and enthusiasm was great to see in someone that has been in the business for years. We guarantee that everyone walked out of Creature that day thinking, "Ah yeah, that Stu! What a lad. Definitely someone I would love to answer to as my creative director".
Stu proceeded with a truly inspirational rant about finding the enemy of a product and using them to show why your product is so bloody good. This was expanded on with examples, i.e Lucozade's enemy is Red Bull. With the use of strange but well practiced character voices Stu clarified his point well.
Overall, his energy and enthusiasm was great to see in someone that has been in the business for years. We guarantee that everyone walked out of Creature that day thinking, "Ah yeah, that Stu! What a lad. Definitely someone I would love to answer to as my creative director".
His love for insights and looking at things in a new exciting way sold Creature as an exciting place to work, full of helpful, friendly and approachable people; an all round relaxed environment where creativity f**king thrives like bacteria. Sorry. We're getting all excited and fidgety just thinking about it.
London week for third years - AMV
The third years have just returned to Lincoln following a very busy and intense week in London where, between them, they visited 8 top London ad agencies and a recruitment agency.
During the week they visited The Talent Business, AMV BBDO, DLKW Lowe, Creature, Mother, VCCP, Ogilvy, Inferno and 4Creative.
The next few blog posts are reports from the students telling how they got on and what they learned.
AMV BBDO - Lucy Everett
AMV BBDO’s mission when it first started was to simply be the best communications agency.
With this in mind, when we were all set a brief to advertise the Museum of Childhood via digital media as well as ambient, we knew the message needed to be clear and simple.
Our agency visit consisted of a morning critique of the work that we had produced for the above brief with Creative Partner Mark Fairbanks followed with a new brief to complete during the course of the day. We were split into groups, given a middleweight creative team to use for their vast knowledge and were to complete the task of convincing people our age to start their pension scheme.
The day allowed us to tackle the brief, learn more about how AMV’s creatives tackle new briefs as well as learn how the industry works.
At 5pm we had our final crit with the other teams and Mark, each team presented their numerous ideas and we discussed which ideas were the most effective, learning about how best to target the audience, how to present in an agency and what worked best.
Overall the day was a huge success as we each learned all about new aspects of the industry, AMV as an agency and how our teams work under pressure. It was a fantastic opportunity for broadening our knowledge and advertising skills.
During the week they visited The Talent Business, AMV BBDO, DLKW Lowe, Creature, Mother, VCCP, Ogilvy, Inferno and 4Creative.
The next few blog posts are reports from the students telling how they got on and what they learned.
AMV BBDO - Lucy Everett
AMV BBDO’s mission when it first started was to simply be the best communications agency.
With this in mind, when we were all set a brief to advertise the Museum of Childhood via digital media as well as ambient, we knew the message needed to be clear and simple.
Our agency visit consisted of a morning critique of the work that we had produced for the above brief with Creative Partner Mark Fairbanks followed with a new brief to complete during the course of the day. We were split into groups, given a middleweight creative team to use for their vast knowledge and were to complete the task of convincing people our age to start their pension scheme.
The day allowed us to tackle the brief, learn more about how AMV’s creatives tackle new briefs as well as learn how the industry works.
At 5pm we had our final crit with the other teams and Mark, each team presented their numerous ideas and we discussed which ideas were the most effective, learning about how best to target the audience, how to present in an agency and what worked best.
Overall the day was a huge success as we each learned all about new aspects of the industry, AMV as an agency and how our teams work under pressure. It was a fantastic opportunity for broadening our knowledge and advertising skills.
YCC visit third years
Andy gave some great advice on how to find placements, portfolio content, life after graduation, networking tips and some of the differences between regional and London agencies.
Not only that, he showed us some of the latest work he's completed at a range of agencies as well as showing us some of the recent activities of the wonderful YCC.
Thanks Andy - very entertaining and very much appreciated!
2nd Years work with 'sugru'
I'm sure the first question you have is. What is 'sugru'?
Well, take a look at this video for a lively introduction!
For the next 5 weeks students from the 2nd year of the Creative Advertising course will be working on adding some energetic and insightful advertising thinking to sugru's already impressive product design.
In groups they will be working out who they think the target audience is, how they see sugru fitting into their lives and then producing a range of creative solutions to communicate that, from billboards to radio ads.
They'll then be presenting this work to sugru in two days of client presentations in March.
To kick this project off, last Monday we had a live Skype briefing from James Carrigan (who you may recognise from the video above) who talked to us about the story of 'sugru', how it was invented, the long journey to turn it from a great idea into a great product and fielded a host of questions from the students.
Here's what 2nd year Jenni Trotter had to say:
'I think it is safe to say none of us were sure as to what to expect from this mysterious 'superbrief', and I don't think any of us imagined 'sugru' to come along.
After watching the 'What the flip is sugru?' video we experienced our first live briefing over Skype from James at sugru HQ. Encouraged by his enthusiasm for the product and even more so when we recieved our own packs of Sugru to play with, our 'superteams' were ready to go.
Now a week into project, momentum is as high as ever. We are all fuelled by the excitement of the chance to make something creative and interesting for such a great product.'
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.
Art Direction workshop with Alex Taylor
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.
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.
Alex regularly visits the Lincoln Creative Advertising course and it's great to give the students the opportunity to learn from the best.
Here are a few photos from the day. We're not showing the work that was completed in the workshop because it has been known that people have copied the work completed by our students (naughty, naughty!). If only you had seen it! It was brilliant stuff!
The Great Debate
Viki 'what are you looking at' Willis in full debate mode.
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.
'A-Levels easier to pass now, yes or no'?
'Which would win, a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?'
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.
Two Norwegian internationals were on the first year team this year.
180 minutes, 36 teams and 5 debates all leading to...... the final!
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?
You have to draw the line somewhere...
Over the past couple of weeks CA1 students have been exploring marker visualising and how to communicate effectively with Senior Lecturer, John Stocker.
Having a great idea is the thing - but 'telling it' convincingly helps loads. We have looked at how, with just a little practice, it is straightforward to add even more conviction by being able to visualise using a confident style. Here's just a small selection of what has been done over the past two sessions.
Having a great idea is the thing - but 'telling it' convincingly helps loads. We have looked at how, with just a little practice, it is straightforward to add even more conviction by being able to visualise using a confident style. Here's just a small selection of what has been done over the past two sessions.
Copywriting workshop with Roger Horberry
Over the past couple of weeks the third years have had two workshops with professional copywriter Roger Horberry. The first of the workshops focused on writing for brands via storytelling and the second was called 'sticky lines'.
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Roger is currently co-writing a book with course leader, Gyles Lingwood, called 'READ ME - 10 lessons on successful copywriting for brands' being published by Laurence King Publishing in April 2014.
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Roger casts his beady eye over the copywriters' work...
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...and offers some great advice on improvements.
Do Good, Brilliantly
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!
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