Jason Williams’ Clio diary from Las Vegas
Jason Williams, executive creative director of Leo Burnett Melbourne, is Australia’s representative on the exclusive Clio jury in Las Vegas. Jason writes exclusively for Campaign Brief.
The Clio’s are the second oldest show after Cannes and one of the largest in the US, so it’s a real privilege to be judging here.
I fly into Vegas, literally right in front of the boarding gate people playing slot machines greet me. Another 100 metres into the airport and a billboard with a girl holding a huge machine gun invite me to “Come shoot guns”. Welcome to Las Vegas!
We’re judging at a self-contained casino 20 kilometres outside the strip, there’s no need to leave as all amenities are perfectly planned around the casino floor. So when you have breakfast at one of the cafés, you can also have a role of the dice.
The jury assembled is truly global, which means you get very different and genuine opinions. As you’d expect it’s brutal and efficient in the early days. So if you’ve entered work and it makes it through, it’s deemed very worthy and you should be proud.
With iPods in hand we get cracking, we have one of the largest categories in the show, Print, Posters, Direct, Out of Home, Student and Innovative. The standards are high and much of the first two days and now day 3, has been spent sifting through the mass of work to create the shortlist for debate.
You see the usual long-winded case studies, which can be painful. Call me sad, but I enjoy the sifting process, it’s good discipline. But when will we learn?
You only spend money making a case study if your idea is fresh and original. And when you’re writing it, just tell a good story.
For all students out there, remember creativity starts with an idea! Please, the best thing you can do is be sure you have something fresh. So many student submissions are well polished, but lack the most important ingredient, an idea.
Days 4 and 5 are going to be intense and rewarding. With the afternoon off, I may do my next posting Vegas style, direct from the Gun Store.
A big thank you to the Clio guys, great people and a very well organised event.