Spikes Asia 2014: Claire Davidson reports on day one and a packed program of stories, creative entrepreneurs, the future of design and why creative people should lead companies
The Sweet Shop’s Claire Davidson’s take on Day One of the seminars at the Spikes Asia Festival (Claire is pictured on right with BBDO Singapore ECD Ronald Ng).
Spikes Asia 2014.
~ 4 days
~ 4,984 entries and pieces of work on display
~ 18 categories
~ 90 judges from around the global, including 12 jury presidents
~ 104 speakers from 88 countries
~ 49 Hours of content
~ 39 seminars
~ 15 forum sessions
~ 7 tech talks
~ 4 nights of organized networking events
~ 1 gala awards ceremony
It’s going to be a big four days celebrating the best of the best in all things creative from the Asia Pacific. This is the sixth Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity here in Singapore, bringing together our advertising, communications and entertainment industries to gather, learn, communicate and debate.
Additionally this year Spikes Asia is offering six training courses, known as ‘academies’, designed to give young talent in our organisations the tools, skills and knowledge to perform in their jobs at a higher standard – and thus produce more effective work. These include:
~ The Young Marketers Academy, with a focus on communications
~ The Young Craft Academy, with a focus on copywriting, art direction and digital craft
~ The Young Media Academy, with a focus on media channels and consumer behaviours, combined with new technologies
~ The Young Digital Academy, with a focus on creative technology
~ The Young Account Executive Academy, with a focus on brands and clients
~ The Young Creative Academy, with a focus on innovative and visionary skills
Other new elements this year include the entry categories of ‘Health’ and ‘Innovation’.
Young Spikes 2014 is broken into three competitions – Young Spikes Digital, Young Spikes Integrated and Young Spikes Media. There is also the Student Creative Award for Print. We will see 72 competitors from 15 countries compete.
Right. Got all that? So let’s begin.
I was at the Suntec Convention Centre bright and early to take in the first seminar “More than just a story” brought to us by Henry Chen, and Ssong Yang, Founders and Directors of Luckysparks. When we’re young and starry-eyed, ready to enter this industry of ours called advertising we are just SO excited. This dizziness and exhilaration stays with us for a few months, and sometimes for a few years, before bewilderment appears and we start to see some cracks. What is created is not what we expected.
Chen and Yang told us not to let this distract us. They said to just ‘fuck it’. Let everything go. Oh I’m LOVING this advice! Listen to your intuition. Rise above the situation. Create. Collaborate. Give and receive criticism with an open mind. Know the value of artistic integrity. They took us on a journey back to their university days and their belief systems at that time. They implored us to stay true to those beliefs today and bring them to our work and creative flow. Allow them to always resonate with you and within your professional endeavours. That’s the key they tell us. Stay fearless. Stay positive. Clients will appreciate this.
Above all tell stories.
Chen and Yang feel very passionately that to successfully reach out to an audience you need to start by telling stories, and of course, adopt this ‘fuck it’ mentality while you’re about it. Allow your intuition to take over. Remember your beliefs. By storytelling through social media, brand stories or the advertising creative itself, you can create that position where ideas and emotions make an impact in this big bad world of ours called advertising.
So un-tap your inner ‘fuck it’ mentality and bring it to your workplace. Hopefully your boss will be cool with it.
The Network One next delivered “Creative Entrepreneurs in Asia”, focusing on producing home grown creativity within our business in Asia. Introduced by Julian Boulding, President of The Network One were panelists Andrew Lok, Founder of Civilization and Daryl Arnold, CEO of Newton Circus.
A lot of divisions are appearing within our industry. Which side of the line do we stand on? Are you global or are you local? Are you the lead agency creating the strategy? Or are you the local agency adapting that strategy? It’s no longer strategy and adaptation. It’s now creativity and engagement. You do it from being on the ground and inspiring the people around you. Creative people are the entrepreneur, and the data people are the analyst. The entrepreneur tolerates risk and is flexible, the analyst seeks predictability and is siloed.
Are you Google or Microsoft? Are you Apple or Nokia? Do you desire or do you obligate? You decide which side of the line you are on.
Andrew Lok left the world of big agencies two years ago to set up his own shop, Civilization in Shanghai. He was nervous entering small agency life but knew he had to do it. He’s become a success, an example of what it takes to build a new agency without the support of a large network. He already has an annual revenue in excess of RMB 20 million, blue-chip clients and 30 staff. He gave us some tips for taking the leap.
~ No local (outside) partner. No way.
~ Don’t invest too much.
~ Learn to share with other agencies.
~ Nobody has the answer.
~ Marketing in China is a small place.
~ Don’t out-Chinese the Chinese. Not possible.
~ Trust everybody. Once.
~ Hire young second jobbers.
~ Promote and fire quickly.
~ Wherever possible, produce it yourself.
Lok left us with one of his favourite quotes from T.E. Lawrence: “All men dream, but not equally”.
Arnold came to the stage asking the audience to be open to innovation and making the world a better place. Excellent. We like people like Daryl Arnold. Use your creative process to relate to climate change, poverty, or rapid urban development. Pick a topic. Pick something that you want to participate in. Brainstorm around these big challenges. Share. Learn. Be productive. Engage. We can help to change policy. Get involved. Arnold’s technology company in Singapore has a focus on inventing communities and services designed to make our world more liveable, competitive and sustainable. If only there were more companies like Newton Circus and people like Daryl Arnold on our planet and in our business. Arnold’s mantra is ‘doing good is good business’. His company wants to leave the world in a better place than we found it. Hear! Hear!
Rei Inamoto, Chief Creative Officer and Vice President of AKQA next brought us “Design for the Future”. Inamoto commenced today talking about architecture, food and branding. These have a lot of similar qualities and threads that cut across, but there’s one key characteristic that they have in common – they were designed to endure.
Some businesses and brands become longstanding success stories. Others disintegrate into bygone times. As technology moves forward at lightening speed, the success or failure of an idea can happen more quickly than ever before. So how can we flourish?
In order to become the best you have to endure. 81 out of 100 of the world’s best global brands of 2013 have existed for more than fifty years.
Be relentless.
Be fearless. You first have to be fearful before you can be fearless.
Be unforgettable.
And follow two key commandments: change and be consistent.
Does the idea make you uncomfortable? If it doesn’t, you won’t be good enough. You need to be pushed outside your comfort zone. Ask yourself this, will the world miss your work if it doesn’t exist?
Business, as in life, is all about how you make people feel. A lot of times a better (and brighter) world begins with you just making an impact on someone within a three metre radius. What can you do within your three metre radius? What positive impact can you have? Think about this. Thank you very much Mr Inamoto.
Next I checked out a forum brought to us by Al Moseley, President and Chief Creative Officer of 180 Amsterdam. The theme today was “The Creative MBA – Why Creative People Should Lead Companies”.
In today’s market, some of the most successful companies are led by creative people. Take Mark Parker at Nike or Steve Jobs at Apple. With creativity being our currency, should creative people be running the agencies of today and for the future? Should your CEO suggest weird ideas and ask stupid questions? (I’m thinking that would be quite nice so that it wouldn’t be me asking all of the stupid questions all of the time.)
Creative leaders have the capacity to make the world a more beautiful place. They also have the capacity to change our economy. Ideas are the fuel for a catalyst for any business. We are living in an economy of ideas. The trend today is a move from shareholders to idea sharing employees. It’s a move from hierarchy to co-creation. We think of ourselves as a creative industry, yet there has always been a mistrust of creativity. However, there is a way forward. The two sides of an agency can come together – business and creativity.
Creatives understand better than anyone what brings about ideas and the conditions for how to execute those ideas. Our clients come to us for our work. Our audience likes us for our ideas. Creatively awarded campaigns are 11 times more successful. See – it’s not just about the cabinet full of shiny hardware!
Moseley left us requesting that we ask ourselves one simple question when thinking about the business and creative side of our companies: does it make the work better? Look at weird things and ask silly questions.
On that note it’s a wrap for me today. I’m off to Campaign Brief Asia’s Legendary Party to kick off Spikes Asia, hosted by The Sweet Shop, Method Studios, Song Zu and Arcade. It’s sure to go down in Spikes Asia 2014 folklore. See you all tomorrow. I hope.
Claire Davidson, Executive Producer ASIA & MENA @ The SweetShop, reporting for Campaign Brief Asia at Spikes Asia 2014.