Articles from: Industry

From Theo:
Looks like people are having fun with our New Blood campaign. The posters are popping up all over the place. Those of you who walk past Wieden + Kennedy in the mornings may have noticed one proudly displayed centre/front in their window. Apparently Dare, Mother, Poke and a whole bunch of others also have them up. Below are just a few examples of how our campaign has (umpromtedly - new word) taken a life of its own:

Here at LBi we’ve just launched the campaign to promote D&AD New Blood’s 10th Anniversary exhibition, at the end of June. Its been a labour of love, something that I’m really proud of for the best (in my opinion) and most important part of the charity.

This campaign is about getting industry down to New Blood to support graduating students. First off don’t let’s forget the message here - we’re trying to build our collective future. New Blood has been suffering from growing apathy amongst us agency-types for a while now. In the last downturn, internships and placements just evaporated for graduates. For a few years students stepped out into an industry that just wasn’t paying attention. These graduates went elsewhere, and as anyone trying to find mid/senior talent, particularly in digital, can attest to - the whole industry lost out, and work has suffered for it. Its our collective responsibility to grow one of the most dynamic and amazing industries out there.

Call me naive (and I’m sure you will) but we wanted to try to get us all off our arses (or out of them) and take a minute to think about what New Blood is all about, where we might have been 10 years ago, and to make a personal pledge to give these new talents the support that they deserve: there’s no denying its going to be really tough for them out there.

The hero photos represent only a small part of this campaign, but a lead that we hoped would put New Blood on the industry radar again, and cause some intense discussion about why its so important (job done there, I guess ).The images are tongue-in-cheek but the message they contain is seriously important. The point is that these people aren’t the seven most important people at the event, its the students, and its also each person that stops navel-gazing and actually contributes to its success.

These industry ‘icons’ were selected because they are actively helping New Blood already, offering their scant time (extra big thanks to Nadav) and profile to help get the conversation going, and who have committed to the New Blood event - they are the first step towards creating some solidarity with our brightest young stars by challenging you to do more yourself. And it’s working.

For those that haven’t seen the whole campaign, please check it out. For those lucky enough to be judging D&AD professional and student awards this year, there was a booth set up (using the 2 of 2006’s Best New Blood Winners - David Horwich & Paul Mansley) where everyone could pledge their support… and  of course the hub of activity is that everyone is encouraged to upload their own photos or video committing to being at the event. “I’ll be there”.

We’ll also be asking agencies to use their prime window real estate to create their own statements of support - a lot of us have the best street-level ad space in our areas.

On top of that we’re providing free space for all students to have a web presence within the same matrix, and a great digital system for tagging your favourite work at the event, so that all that fiddling about with trying to contact your favourite future teams afterwards is as painless as possible.

So please, continue with the discussion as much as you like, but know it came from the right place. Most importantly take a moment to think about what it was like when you were entering an industry with your vivid optimism and desire to do what we all do every day intact - and pledge your support.

After all, the more voices we get online, the more those you don’t agree with will be drowned out by the noise of the industry pulling together.

Its D&AD black pencil (and student award) judging time, and this year we’re very proud to host at LBi!

Here are some quick pics of the setup (we’ve even put a tablecloth on our coffee bar ) First on the list for judging are the student’s furniture design and professional product design categories tomorrow! Also pictured is my favourite piece of work from the students, a great stool-come-table…

Tonight we had a swathe of young talent pour into the office, when 24 New Bucks University students came for an evening of book crits, exchanging of ideas and cold beer.

Offering advice and being inspired in equal measures, the LBi creative crew left buzzing with creative energy - hopefully we had the same effect on the students too! It was particularly impressive to see some really BIG thinking from the teams - and a few ideas that we’d have been happy if we’d have come up with ourselves!

We’re all looking forward to taking on a couple of their teams later on in the year for placements. Special thanks to Amanda our Recruitment Manager for organising everything for us chaotic creatives!

As the Easter cliff-edge approaches (£Q1′09) an old trend returns. The Trends Research Institute reintroduces the theme: ‘The recession will fuel escapist revelry. It’s either that, or stay home and become really depressed’. 

You could say Economic Escapism is less of a trend, more of a reflex. According to the idyllically named Melody Brooke (a Texan therapist and compassionate relationship expert) ‘The escapist response is biologically programmed…’ it helps keep us in balance when things get bad.

Philip Graves of The Consumer Behaviour blog says in recessions ‘people cut back and reduce their spending significantly, but spending on escapist pursuits holds or even increases. People spend more on things like going to the movies, buying popular upbeat music, low-cost indulgences…’

So expect cinema attendance to go up - the livescience.com blog sites the box office success of comedies in hard times (you don’t have to go all the way back to Chaplin to prove that one).

We can expect lots more gaming - billsavings.com points to the fact that xBox 360 scored record sales on the Black Friday weekend.

All very interesting, but here’s the real trend: Today you can be the party monster of your dreams for free - if you have the right invites, vouchers and passwords… as well as a wirelessly enabled laptop.

With a Spotify invite and Hype Machine to guide you through the new music bloggersphere you’re already dancing. Google Video + Vimeo + You Tube leaves BBC4 & HBO the only reasons to have a TV license or cable subscription. iPhone users reading this will most likely be aware of the wi-finder app, and know that it can be set to actively scan for open nodes 24/7. Been into a ‘trendy’ restaurant chain recently? Wagamma, The Real Greek, Gourmet Burger world all have 2-4-1-or similar voucher schemes, and it’s eVouchers a-go-go with the internet the (viral) channel of choice - search for evoucher on google and you’ll see what i mean.

To end… who am I to resist a global trend? Goodnight Friday the 13th. The W.O.R.L.D. is full of M.A.G.I.C.  so let this be marked as the first insanely happy antidote to the credit crunch… think of it as the sound of Friday night reaching out for Monday morning. See you there.

The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C. (Mini-video) from The Sound of Arrows on Vimeo.

So you’re a “Key Online Influencer“, and you’re off to visit one of you biggest clients to talk about social media.  Upon landing in the client’s home town you fire off a Twitter post stating how much the client’s home town sucks.  Client is subscriber to your Twitter stream.  Client calls you out.  You’re an idiot.

I’m moved to include a lovely old Dilbert cartoon given to me by Dan Holder a senior art director here.

It raises a good point about “best practice.” If we’re honest with ourselves best practice is the last refuge of the unimaginative. It says we’ve stopped thinking about a problem and have settled upon a “lore”. Best practice is a sacred cow which we do well to sacrifice. More than ever, brands need brave ideas which cut through in what is undoubtedly a time of crisis. It’s time to dream to innovate, create and have fun. If you find a best practice document here’s a handy way of dealing with it.

So, to London’s trendy Hoxton for the party to celebrate the relaunch of Revolution Magazine, complete with free booze courtesy of the guys at Eyeconomy.

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