Bradbourne and Jack: a head full at the Caxtons
This was the first Caxton for Rob Jack and Tony Bradbourne, joint creative partners at Special Group, Auckland, the creators of the multi-awarded Orcon+Iggy campaign, which won the Direct Grand Prix at Cannes this year and also a Caxton on the weekend, in the new multi-media category. Here’s their report:
“Yet again I get to the end of a Caxtons feeling like someone’s opened my head and vomited the entire contents of Google into my brain. Thanks guys”. These were the closing words of Caxton seminar organiser and silver-tongued Aussie, Rob Belgiovane, thanking the ten guest speakers who had travelled from all over the world to share their insights on creativity with us.
He had a point. It was an intense weekend. Five speakers a day, talking for up to an hour. Powerpoint, hype vids, case studies, history lessons, You tube clips, short films…and no two perspectives the same.
Here are some of of the bits that stuck in our brains over the two days; the diced carrots if you like.
Client/agency relationship consultant and TrinityP3 founder Darren Woolley: “The small amount of money left in agencies’ production processes will be the next cost to be cut. There are agency funded print production facilities currently gearing up in India that will be able to create finished artwork for $1.” And on a positive note (thankfully), “No pitch I’ve ever been involved in has been won on which agency is the cheapest. That might be what the losing agencies get told, but it’s not the case.” He went on to give some very practical advice on how agencies could raise the value of their product in spite of the commoditization of the industry. “Agencies should charge clients for the value of the idea rather the time it took. Look at other creative industries. Actors don’t charge by the hour. Nor authors.”
Nick Law of R/GA New York: “The days of the advertising metaphor are numbered when we’re trying to drive folks towards big scale interactive platforms. Increasingly, the platform is the core of the idea”. The platform in question was the hugely successful Nike+ online training program.
Switched-on head of marketing for Lion Nathan Australia, John Bradshaw:
“How do we sell more product to more people when no-one is listening? Generation M (Generation multi-task) are currently consuming 8.5 hours of media a day (soon to be 10), but in 6.5 actual hours”. They sit in front of the TV with their laptops open, flicking between emails, Facebook and video content. “They’re watching, but are they paying attention?”
He suggests the key to effective marketing is “Come up with a brilliant creative idea that really cuts through and demands attention, make sure people can connect with it, then get that idea out to as many people as you can. TV and newspaper are still the best way to reach a mass market. Give me 10 million TV viewers over 10,000 Facebook fans any day.”
To be honest I absolutely loved it. This is the stuff you just don’t get time to think about when you have your nose to the grindstone day in day out. So a big thanks to Robert Munro from the NAB for making the trip possible. I return with a headful of inspiration.