PlatformLive pitches
On the 13th July I attended the pitches of a 'competition for young creatives' at PlatformLive, backed by NESTA. There were 4 teams, consisting of 2 young people (between 16-21) and each team had support and guidance by a major ad company. The companies involved were BBH, TBWA, Grey and McCann and Erickson.
The teams were given a genuine client brief by aids charity (Red). They were asked to come up with a campaign and plan that could play out across multiple channels to create awareness.
I chose to go very last minute, not just for the promise of canopies and refreshments, but it would give me the chance to see the ideas of a younger, more media savvy generation. A lot of teenagers are massively entrepreneurial; having their own blogs, websites or video channels, and they all know which social networks they can market themselves on successfully. Could they do this for a charity based on the most serious worldwide disease? I wanted to see how they pitch; would they be able to follow through with their ideas so it would be understood after only 1 day of preparing it?
Miles ahead of all of them, was the BBH pitch led by Aaron Shaw and James Rotimi. Their pitch was clear, concise and just a really good idea! They decided that their target market would be people in their teens/20's and wanted to develop their idea via celebrities and social networks.
I remember once on Facebook, some women wrote the name of a colour as their status. As more and more women were writing colours, everyone started asking why. People were talking about it, men confused, and women wanting to get involved too. An e-mail was mass-forwarded on to all women friends, explaining that it was what colour bra you were wearing at the time, and that it was to raise awareness for breast cancer. This was similar to what Aaron and James wanted with their statement - "(I know)". Justin Bieber could tweet "(I know)", Kate Middleton and William could wear badges with the words "(I know)", Lady Gaga could release a song called "(I know)" and so on. It was a simple yet great idea that I could see catching on and becoming widespread if it was well executed.
Deservedly, they won.
It was a great project and I'm always a big supporter of companies that give young creatives a chance to get their foot in the door. The event also reaffirmed my moto: Know your audience, product and your aim, keep it simple and it will grow.
The teams were given a genuine client brief by aids charity (Red). They were asked to come up with a campaign and plan that could play out across multiple channels to create awareness.
I chose to go very last minute, not just for the promise of canopies and refreshments, but it would give me the chance to see the ideas of a younger, more media savvy generation. A lot of teenagers are massively entrepreneurial; having their own blogs, websites or video channels, and they all know which social networks they can market themselves on successfully. Could they do this for a charity based on the most serious worldwide disease? I wanted to see how they pitch; would they be able to follow through with their ideas so it would be understood after only 1 day of preparing it?
Miles ahead of all of them, was the BBH pitch led by Aaron Shaw and James Rotimi. Their pitch was clear, concise and just a really good idea! They decided that their target market would be people in their teens/20's and wanted to develop their idea via celebrities and social networks.
I remember once on Facebook, some women wrote the name of a colour as their status. As more and more women were writing colours, everyone started asking why. People were talking about it, men confused, and women wanting to get involved too. An e-mail was mass-forwarded on to all women friends, explaining that it was what colour bra you were wearing at the time, and that it was to raise awareness for breast cancer. This was similar to what Aaron and James wanted with their statement - "(I know)". Justin Bieber could tweet "(I know)", Kate Middleton and William could wear badges with the words "(I know)", Lady Gaga could release a song called "(I know)" and so on. It was a simple yet great idea that I could see catching on and becoming widespread if it was well executed.
Deservedly, they won.
It was a great project and I'm always a big supporter of companies that give young creatives a chance to get their foot in the door. The event also reaffirmed my moto: Know your audience, product and your aim, keep it simple and it will grow.
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