Studying Advertising at Bucks New University gave me good understanding of ‘ad land’. I was privileged to be taught by a lecturer who had actual experience at a media agency, not just an academic who referred to the textbook whenever he or she had the chance.
Vic Davies, just so I don’t have to refer to him as ‘my lecturer’ all the time, made sure that we were exposed to the advertising industry as much as possible. End-of-year projects generally consisted of being briefed by integrated ad agencies and pitching our ideas to ‘industry experts’. As daunting an experience as that may sound, it gave us a taste of what we signed up for.
Now that I’ve landed at Arena, I felt it was my duty to replicate this and have a look at the future of this exciting industry together with colleagues and clients. On the 24th April, we invited Vic and his 2nd year undergrads to Arena and gave them a real life brief from Kopparberg, a brand that is fun and innovative that would inspire and motivate the students. The 26 students split themselves into groups of 7 mini agencies and had four weeks to develop a creative multi-media communications campaign.
The pitches were on the 21st May and it would be an understatement to say we were shocked by the standard of the ideas and most of all their execution of these ideas. They showed real passion, conviction and experience that belied their years. I was impressed by a group called Quantum who diverted from the usual route by making us watch their presentation play their research findings instead of physically speaking about it. Although this would have been better presented had they introduced themselves first, lessons for next time.
Of course we also saw the naivety that eager students show. For example, one group suggested a solely outdoor campaign for their ‘Human Guide to drinking Cider App’ that would be downloaded off a QR code. Unfortunately, people aren’t going to be intrigued enough to download it off a billboard, especially when they’re driving past it at 80mph on the motorway…
Either way, we encouraged them to let their imaginations run wild and they did not disappoint. I’m not able to tell you about the winning idea yet, because the client may actually look into taking it further.
We definitely saw stars of the future, and initiatives like this will allow us to dip into a pool of talent and offer students the opportunity they crave. Personally, I thought it was brilliant to have the opportunity to run this initiative at Arena. A special thanks has to go to Todd Baker, our Innovation Strategist, who played a major role in making it happen, and Kay Tasker, for playing a great task master. Tasker, Task… Get it? NO, OK!