Our day at IPA Campaign Planning 2012

Sometimes, life at the School of Communication Arts can settle into a bit of a routine. That doesn't mean it's dull, just that it follows certain patterns.

So yesterday, despite the early start, was a welcome change. 14 of us dropped in on IPA Training's campaign planning conference, to act as creative guinea-pigs for the participants. They'd been working for two days on a brief to extend Tetley's brand appeal to middle and lower-middle class women in the south, who currently saw Tetley's as northern, irrelevant, out-of-touch, and outdated.

They'd split up into 7 strategy teams, so each one was assigned a team of 2 creatives. The brief Olly and I were given was to reposition Tetley "as a reassuring partner to support the ups and downs in everyday life" and make it a brand that "lets you embrace the unknown inherent to everyday life". The Tetley Tea Folk were to be killed and unceremoniously disposed of.

We developed 3 creative strategies for them in the morning session - a fairly weak one that met the brief, a strong one that met the brief but also took it into new pastures, and a third one that ignored the brief and found a way to keep the Tetley Tea Folk whilst appealing to a new set of customers. After much discussion, they plumped for number 2 - which had taken their strategy but substituted the word "extraordinary" for "unknown".

So the plan was to show that everyday life had changed since the timewarp-stuck cliches of the Tea Folk, and that behind the simple details of our life lie great talents, strange hobbies, unexpected friendships, and genuine suffering. And Tetley would position itself as a modern brand, providing a constant in these strange, disjointed lives we lead.

In the afternoon and after dinner, we got our ideas down on paper, and made revisions after discussion with the team. In the end we managed to churn out 4 characters, 4 TV ad synopses (including a twist that could extend the concept into a second campaign), 2 single page press ads, 2 double page press ads, a rough packaging design, and an online / experiential idea. Not bad for an afternoon's work (there's a photo at the bottom) - and it could even be something that makes its way into our portfolio.

The planning team pitched today in our absence to Tetley's marketing people - we're waiting to find out if we / they won. But even if not, the day was immensely valuable...

I learned that the brief you get from the planner can be very tight, and very focused. But I also learned that this could be inspiring.
This may not go for all planners, but I learned that challenging a brief, or at least pushing the boundaries, is always worth a try.
I learned that the more options you offer, the better the chance of getting one through.
I learned that if you knuckle down, you can produce a lot in an afternoon.
I learned that being able to articulate your creative strategy is as important as being able to produce it.
And finally, I learned that planners and account managers are absolutely lovely people, hard-working, enthusiastic, and as passionate as any of us about seeing great creative work hit the public. Or at least, the young ones are.

What Dee and Ady taught me

First off, an apology. This blog was required of me by my school, so I apologise if it comes across like one of those awful student blogs that is clearly a mandatory requirement of passing the course, complete with a clunking "what I learned" section at the end.

Last week was the deadline for the D&AD student awards. I managed to get an entry away before the deadline - with my partner Olly we've entered the "Peace One Day" brief, which asked us to find ways to raise awareness of International Peace Day, which is on September 21st. Look, I'm raising awareness even now.

The first thing that I learned is that D&AD operate with a level of control and paranoia I haven't experienced since I had a call from the Disney trademark infringement department a few years back. To be fair, their staff are lovely, but their rules and regulations are remarkably stringent. For example, you can't use any copyrighted images without permission except those of the sponsor - and as ours involved suggesting a corporate tie-in, this meant half our time was spent on the phone begging them to let us use their logo.

My belief in the strength of creative partnerships was reinforced considerably. More than any other project we've worked on, where very often the idea has been mostly down to one of us, this was one that we could never have produced without each other. The strategy - finding ways in which the themes of peace and conflict can be found in our everyday life - was mine. This then inspired Olly to have an idea - which I then researched and suggested an improvement to, including the name. And then we pushed the idea forward together.

You have to learn to be careful when asking for advice, because you can easily lose sight of the objective - winning the award. We spoke to a very helpful industry insider and used many of his technical hints, whereas the creative advice suggested was more appropriate for a business pitch rather than an awards entry.

And lastly, I learned that Olly Wood is the most talented, dedicated, and reliable Art Director in the known universe.

Thanks. I'll be gushing or sarcastic about another advert tomorrow.

D&AD Awards / Creative Circle Awards

Today Molly (just about) finished our entry for the D&AD student awards. We're feeling pretty good about it, we've had some great feedback from mentors at the school, and we've tweaked just about as much as anything will take being tweaked.

Due to D&AD rules, I'm not a liberty to show you the idea until we know whether it's won or not. But it was interesting to note that the advice was either given, or had to be taken, in two ways. Firstly, in terms of what you would do if actually approaching the client, and secondly, how you would convince an awards judge to put you through.

Which raises the question of what extent I might end up doing that as a creative professional. I'm not the first person to ask it, but it's a timely one, as the Creative Circle Awards are descending into booze-soaked chaos at the Roundhouse as we speak.

I haven't had chance to check through all their winners, largely due to their website's flashy but frustrating (ok, just plain fucking stupid) interface, but the Gold of Golds for John Lewis (by Adam&Eve) is fully deserved. And you can bet that the creatives' focus was aimed fully at the needs of the client.

But then there's work like BMB's ad for Thomson's Holidays, which won a Gold. I've critiqued it before, and the disconnect between the well-spoken, precociously articulate boy and his well-dressed family, the luxurious locations, and the instagram-y filtering on one hand, and the type of low-cost mass-market holidays that Thomsons sell on the other, still persists.

It feels like an advert the agency made for themselves, not for their client and certainly not for the audience (unless the creatives genuinely thought families watching the X-Factor were going to be captivated by a bit of cod philosophy over a piano re-working of The Pixies, in which case, can I have their jobs please?).

I have no problem winning awards. I just hope never to win an award and be ashamed of it.

My work - British Acupuncture Council

A little spec work I produced at the School of Communication Arts with Olly to promote acupuncture. The brief was to demystify it and make it more accessible for a western audience.

Probably not something the client would ever buy in real life. In fact, they can't really do advertising at all, because they, you know, basically sell a lie. But never mind, here we go...

My work - Toyota Auris Hybrid

Here's a little spec work I produced at school with my parter Olly Wood.

There's definitely room for improvement. I think the fantasy idea can be made more dramatic and exciting in the actual ads, though that's partly down to execution. We also need to make sure they're not too similar to a couple of ads that are already out there. But generally I'm happy with the creative strategy and think this one could end up in the end-of-year portfolio.

"Third World Debt" project

Here's a little project I produced as one half of Molly to promote taking action over debt in poor countries.

A New Term at SCA

"Where have I been?" you may be wondering. It's unlikely, but I'll tell you anyway.

I haven't updated this blog since December 15. I thought I would allow myself time off, as over the course of my first term at the School of Communication Arts, I produced over 60 blog posts. I think that's a pretty good standard. If I can keep to the same standard this term, I'll have a similar break over Easter.

OK so - what's been happening? The main news is that I've teamed up with an Art Director called Olly Wood to form Molly (Martin + Olly, geddit). We're going to work together this term, and hopefully beyond, in order to get placements and a job somewhere exciting. His twitter is @olllywood and together we've set up @wearemolly where we'll be posting all our work as it comes in.

Together we worked on a couple of assignments over the Christmas break - one on Third World Debt, the other on renaming a new charity. Neither ready to show yet, but we've had good feedback on the Debt project, and with a couple of tweaks it should be in shape. We've just been given two new portfolio briefs, one selling bread and the other promoting London tap water, with a live brief or two tomorrow. So there'll be plenty to keep me and you occupied.

See you tomorrow. If I behave.