ADMA 30Below 2014 Young Creative OTY winner Brendan Graham on tips to win comp + NYC trip

With entries now open for this year’s ADMA 30Below competition, last year’s ‘Young Creative of the Year’ winner, Brendan Graham (right), shares his thoughts on the award, the prize trip to NYC, and his tips to win.

This blog isn’t about me. It’s about you.

It’s about convincing you (if you haven’t decided already) to enter this year’s Young Creative of the Year or Young Marketer of the Year award.

Having benefited greatly from winning it myself, here are 3 no-brainer reasons why you should enter, 3 things I learnt in NYC, and 3 obvious tips for creatives hoping to win.

Why enter:

1.    The title is awesome.

In an age of endless niche award categories, the individual title of Young Creative of the Year is so all-encompassing it does all the heavy lifting for you. I’ve mentioned it in pretty much every email I’ve sent since winning, to drum up new career opportunities, connections or side projects. Even non-ad people can understand the award. It’s very valuable to have against your name.

2.    The prize. Oh the prize.

NYC. Free. Spending money. R/GA. Anomaly. Google. Lunch with senior marketers at Telstra. ‘Nuff said. Read the post on AdNews by Allister Hercus (above, left), winner of Young Marketer of the Year last year, to get a great breakdown of the trip.

3.    You’ll learn a lot from your travel buddy.

If you win Young Creative of the Year, you’ll tour NYC with the Young Marketer of the Year. This person is legitimately a gun. They win based on their entire career accomplishments (not just one good idea like the creative does). My counterpart was MEC strategist Allister Hercus. We spent a lot of time walking the streets of NYC reflecting on each agency visit and our careers. Having so much non-competitive time alongside someone from a different agency is rare. Make the most of it when you win.

What I learnt in NYC:

1.    Culture matters.

‘Culture’ has become part of corporate wankology, but this trip opened my eyes to its significance. I don’t mean just good vibes vs bad vibes. I’m talking about the subtle nuances that make an agency unique. Never again in my life will I get to soak up the atmosphere of a new agency everyday; meeting with senior leaders, chatting with young staff and just simply observing how people interact and how offices are laid out. A big realisation for me was that people really do fit places – and no one place is perfect for everyone. I’ve been lucky enough to always be part of great agency cultures, but I’ll now consider it a lot more when thinking about my future.

2.    There’s no magic process.

If you think the great agencies have perfected the art of going from brief to solution, stop. The world-renowned companies we visited all admitted to be constantly experimenting with process – and having no perfect solution. But what they did demonstrate was their commitment to the culture they wanted to create – through both the values they upheld and the financial commitments they made. I got a sense of how a good culture lets great ideas bubble to the top. They harness (not fight) the nervous and uncertain energy of an agency – and they make this experience part of the fun for the clients.

3.    You might learn more working in Australia.

Having worked in independent agencies all my life, in both Australia and Singapore, I’m used to doing lots of jobs, across lots of clients. But in the USA, the things that make it appealing (big agencies, big clients, big budgets) can also come with downsides – like being assigned to only one or two clients for a year, and being given a very specific role. I say ‘downside’ because for me, that lack of flexibility isn’t good. Maybe you’re experiencing this in Australia. Maybe you even like it that way. Food for thought anyway. Just because the scope is bigger doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be exposed to more learning opportunities.

My tips for entering:

To win ADMA Young Creative of the Year, you need to come up with next year’s campaign to promote the 30Below competition. If I could offer any advice, it would be:

1.    Make it a BIG idea. I say this because a judge said to me, “We were looking for a big idea.” Common term. But what does it mean? I think it means an idea that can work across ADMA 30Below’s range of channels: website, social, EDM, DM etc. They want to drum up participation in as many ways as possible. Ideas that only work in certain ways limit the reach ADMA can achieve.

2.    Idea trumps craft.

Seriously. Watch my entry video. It’s mostly text and some bad Photoshop mocks (in fact, I may have even done the mocks in PowerPoint). See Tip #1 above… you only have 1 minute to communicate your idea. Focus on communicating its merit.

3.    Make it executable.

ADMA need to run this. They need to fund it. You personally need to execute it. Don’t be lured into thinking the judges want ‘innovative’ (aka borderline impossible or phenomenally expensive) thinking purely because it is a competition for ‘young’ and ‘digitally savvy’ people. A good idea will drive entries, work hard in each channel and be affordable.

I hope my learnings have in some way helped you too. Good luck. See you on the winners’ podium. And thank you very much ADMA and Telstra for the trip of a lifetime. -Brendan

Brendan has just started a new role as head of digital and innovation at the Brisbane Lions AFC. When he won Young Creative of the Year last October he was a strategist and copywriter at Soap Creative.

To learn more about and enter the competition, visit http://www.30below.com.au/awards/.