Steve Coll’s Spikes Asia Diary: Day 1

Spikes Asia is underway in Singapore, and day one of the Direct and Promo & Activation Jury has just finished. Australia is represented by Steve Coll, executive creative director at Euro RSCG, Sydney, who writes exclusively for Campaign Brief.

The first thing I can conclusively confirm is that 87% humidity and the Irish constitution are not even remotely compatible. And apparently it’s cool for this time of year. Jaysus!

So thank god for the air-conditioned sanctuary of the Spikes jury rooms, where we spent a good twelve hours compiling the shortlist for Direct and Promo today.

In general, the Digital and Promo categories have attracted a lot of strong, non-traditional, idea-led work. And, as you’d expect with entries up by close to 20% on last year, it’s a high standard.

There are eight different nationalities on the jury, represented by eight different jurors, and led by the unflappable Daniel Morel, Worldwide CEO of Wunderman.

At the beginning of the day, we are briefed to watch out for scam, and encouraged to single out work we suspect of not being entirely genuine.

But the weaker entries have already been ditched in a preliminary round of judging, and only one campaign is questioned during the course of the day. It turns out to be genuine, and goes on to make the shortlist.

When the eventual short-list is put together, it favours original thinking over campaigns that are focused on technical innovation. And I feel there is a good, broad representation of creative thinking from across the region. It’s a strong foundation for the awards discussion tomorrow.

That’s it. Incredibly, I’ve managed to make it though this report without mentioning the Rugby once. Except just there, obviously.