Rosie Stone + Tristan Viney’s Spikes Diary #1
Rosie Stone (left) copywriter at Loud and Tristan Viney (left), creative director at Eardrum are competing in the Cyber category of the Young Spikes competition. Here, the pair report for Campaign Brief.
The Never Ending Day 1
I know that as a relatively “young contributor” I’m supposed to write something funny yet insightful yet still funny but I’m very sleepy and my brain is mushy. Here goes/doing my best/pls be kind.
10:30am: Jayanta Jenkins, the Global Group Creative Director of Twitter, talking about “How do brands create culture not advertising?” His advice was to chase authenticity rather than cool. I feel this is a lifestyle choice that might come a little easier for Jay as he looked 1000 times cooler than all attendees combined – Google to confirm.
11:30am: BBDO’s Danny Searle on building ideas. Danny highlighted the need for acts, not ads. As much as we might think what we do is amazing, in reality the general population kind of hate us. Acts (like Fearless Girl for example) aren’t seen as ads so people are more likely to like it and get involved.
12:30pm: Lydia Lee, Chief Strategist at Weber Shandwick, on how China is transforming global communication. By far the most interesting (admittedly only…) talk I’ve been to regarding the Chinese market. She discussed how, in such a regimented society, freedom comes in the form of consumer choice. The ability to choose coupled with the democratization of shopping through online stores has led to a consumer boom and if you want to be a part of that boom you have to understand China and the Chinese.
1:00pm: A misguided noodle order. Sad.
2:00pm: Young Spikes digital briefing. In a nutshell: “How do we get Thai millennials to show they support migrant children’s right to an education in Thailand?”, followed by 24 hours of answering this question.
2:30pm (Now Day 2 of Spikes): Handed in our response. Very tired and thirsty. If you made it this far, my condolences.