by Rob Deutsche 05/29/09
Wiredrive recently flew out to the Windy City to attend the Boards Creative Workshop and to meet attending clients. We were lucky to have beautiful weather and warm sun the whole week, which made for high spirits and cheerful people at the event. The workshop was held at the Park West, a beautiful theater in Lincoln Park that has been in the same spot since the 1920’s.
Keynote speaker calls innovation silver lining in tough economy
Opening remarks kicked off around 1:30 pm, with Dan Fietsam, the EVP/ Chief Creative Officer of Energy BBDO Chicago welcoming everyone to the event, and letting us know what was in store for the day. He first welcomed to the stage David Baldwin, who is the Chairman of the Board for the One Club. David went on to explain that while economic times may be grim, if you look at advertising statistics and data, you might realize that things are not as bad as they seem. Also, a lot of innovation has happened during tough times, so now, more than ever, the creative industry needs to remember why they are here, and look at this current economic situation not as an impediment, but as an opportunity to shine.
David also spoke about the upcoming film, entitled “Art & Copy” which was produced by the One Club, and looks to be very interesting. The film is a documentary on the rise of the creative industry, specifically the creative revolution that began in the 60’s with campaigns such as VW and iconic images such as the covers of Esquire magazine. This revolution carried into the 70’s and 80’s, with campaigns such as I Love New York and Wendy’s, and to the present, with iconic ads such as those for Milk and Nike. In fact, the campaigns that we see today can be traced back to these pioneers, and the bold moves by the agencies discussed in the film. Wiredrive is pretty excited about this film hitting LA soon, as it looks to be really interesting.
Social media and experimentation helps bring success
Next up was Doug Jaeger, who recently became the Innovation Director of Taxi, New York. Doug’s previous company, the Happy Corp, was responsible for the MoMA Atlantic Pacific Subway Campaign, a highly experimental cross-media experience that hit the New York Subways earlier this year.
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Doug spoke about how experimentation is always a good thing and he really stressed the importance of the experience and the build up to the experience as being key elements to a successful campaign. Check out http://youlookgreattoday.com/to see some more of the Happy Corp and Doug’s work.
Tony Hogqvist was next to speak to the attendees. Tom’s focus was on the impact of social media and why some social advertising experiences work and why some don’t. He cited a campaign that his company, Perfect Fools, did for the H&M clothing chain as a successful social media experience. The campaign resulted in scores of Facebook fans and thousands upon thousands of comments on the existing social network.
Tom argued that a brand should really find a way to embrace what is already there and use that which already exists to propel a clever campaign and garner high levels of user interaction. Brands should avoid trying to force the social aspect or create a community of a brands own.
Perfect Fools also oversaw the Mentos “Kiss Cam”, which was also incredibly successful. There is a lot of neat stuff to be read at http://www.perfectfools.com/ and I’d encourage all readers to visit their site.
Simple Scott chalks Obama campaign success up to agility
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The closing speaker was Scott Thomas, a man more commonly referred to as Simple Scott. Simple Scott was the design director for the Obama for America campaign.
He described the importance that the idea of “constant evolution” played in the campaigns’ success, and how applying that same round the clock, all hands on deck and working together mentality can really make the difference. Constantly reacting to the campaigns ever changing needs, as well as user experience feedback, allows for more agility. This theme permeated the work that they did leading up to the November 4th victory.
Scott is part of a design collective called the Post Family, a Chicago-based design and art collective that does some visually stunning work. Scott’s website can be found at http://www.simplescott.com/.
Craft beer rounds out the event
The next night, Wiredrive headed to the Clark Street Ale House to have some craft beers with come of its clients. The bar itself is old school Chicago and actually allowed patrons to bring in their dogs; something like this is much-needed in LA. We sipped on Midwestern craft brews and chatted about life, the business, and the unusually warm and sunny weather of the week. I was particularly blown away by the Matilda ale, a Belgian-style pale ale made by Chicago’s own Goose Island Brewery.
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