Emir Shafri finds inspiration in Sin City: Day 3
Young & Rubicam Singapore’s Digital Lead Emir Shafri (pictured) was one of 100 young creatives at the recent London International Awards’ Creative LIAisons mentorship programme. Over the next few days Shafri will report insights from each day. Here’s his take on day three.
On Day 3 of the Creative LIAisons, we were given the rare privilege of observing the jury deliberations on the final round of the LIA statue discussions, which is probably the best part of the Creative LIAisons programme each year. It gave all of us young creatives a rare glimpse into how our work is evaluated.
I’ve had the opportunity of sitting on a few juries, but I’m by no means a seasoned juror. So this was also a really a great chance for me to learn from the masters, and see how I can get better at preparing my own work, as well as evaluating the work of others.
The young creatives were divided into three judging categories, and my group was assigned to the Non-Traditional jury, helmed by none other than Mark Tutssel, Global CCO of Leo Burnett Worldwide (pictured right). What struck us immediately was how much respect the jury gave to the work. They’d take the time to fully dissect the business problem, the insight, and how the idea works before deciding if the idea is metal-worthy.
We certainly learned a lot from the dissection. Here are five key points I picked up from the jury room:
1. Simplicity is Key
The ideas that won tended to be simple ideas told beautifully. No tech for tech’s sake getting in the way of the idea, and no multiple hoops for the consumer to jump through. Just a simple, elegant solution that would make the judges go, “Why didn’t I think of that?” This is where a sharp creative is your best friend.
2. Solve a Problem
This isn’t a beauty pageant. It’s an advertising award show, meant to reward great advertising. And great advertising should solve a client’s business problem. That’s what we’re paid to do. While some ideas were novel, they had judges questioning how it fit the brand and drove awareness or sales. The best ideas solved a client’s business and communications problems smartly. This is where a sharp account person is your best friend.
3. Start with a Strong Human Truth
The best ideas were born out of sharp human insights. They dived deep into what motivated the people they wanted to talk to, unearthed a unique consumer insight, and followed through with an execution that the consumer would want to engage with. This is where a sharp planner is your best friend.
4. Does the Idea Have Scale?
Another issue that seemed to come up a lot during the deliberations was scalability. Jury members questioned how easy it was to scale up the solution to solve the claimed problem and deliver the claimed results. Unless your idea is clearly a branded content piece or just a small-scale stunt, then you should demonstrate the ability to scale if you want to increase your odds of winning a statue. This is where a sharp producer is your best friend.
5. Skip the Case Film BS
One issue that seems to crop up in most award show judging is that the case films are ads for ads that seem to distract, rather than tell a story truthfully. It was good to see that the judges’ bullshit meters were fine-tuned to see past the beautifully shot case films. Of course, tell your story simply and beautifully, but make sure you clearly demonstrate the points mentioned above, lest you trip the judges’ BS alarms. This is where a sharp case film scriptwriter and producer are your best friends.
As you can see, there was one other thing I got out of the five key points: winning a statue doesn’t just require a good creative team. You need a smart account person who understands the brand’s problem and who can help you sell the work, a sharp planner who can unearth human truths, a resourceful producer who can help bring your idea to life and a brilliant case study producer to tell your story beautifully. You need to collaborate closely with everyone in the agency to succeed. And once you succeed, be grateful to everyone who has helped win that trophy with you, and not just the creative team.
It goes without saying that we certainly learned a lot from seeing first-hand how an award show jury judges work. I couldn’t thank London International Awards and the Creative LIAisons team enough for making this opportunity happen.