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Well, there’s lots of ways. We’ve a fab team of creatives but as those in the industry know well – you need to top up your inspiration regularly, reenergise with new environments and intersperse all that with regular dollops of new impetuses. So, for a couple of days in May we sent some of the creative crew down to London on a good old fashioned field trip to visit the D&AD festival – a global event for the creative industry. The star-studded line-up of rockstar brands (think Coca-Cola, Squarespace, TikTok just to name a few) shared insights and answers to some of the industry’s most asked questions.
After a long journey back to Hull (and many, many coffees), a vast number of steps clocked up on the pedometer and a wealth of information taken in from talks and workshops, some of the team have summarised their key takeaways for both our team and our clients.
How can what they’ve learnt inspire our daily creations and campaign work?
What a fantastic couple of days taking it all in at the D&AD festival. From Squarespace CCO David Lee and his top tips for putting creatives at the 'adult table' in the corporate world, to the captivating workshop session combatting 'fluffy feedback' from Simren Degun.
And not the ones you immediately think of. I’m talking digital cultures as well, your TikTok sub-cultures, what are people into and where do they feel belonging? Authentic creative collaboration with people that are part of those cultures is a fantastic way to then show your brand’s true values, and live them instead of using them as a quick win to spike your site traffic. Or as Leila Fataar beautifully put it in her session “Culture is the stuff of life. A reflection of reality. A connector of communities.”
How consumers, viewers, and or engagers want an authentic first experience. They will be able to spot a brand or business being unauthentic easily. Calling out those who ‘tick a box’ because of the social pressure, rather than truly understanding and believe in the cause. Authenticity takes time. But you build stories together. During his talk, Brad Cooke perfectly pointed out that “The best stories are always told by the people they are about”. If you are telling a story, engage those people the stories are from. It will be truly authentic.
Carla Taylor, Designer
The D&AD Festival was an amazing and immersive experience, full of speakers with differing perspectives and insights. It felt good to be around so many creative individuals gathered in one place from around the world. Having never been to a similar event, it was interesting to see current trends in design and where this could go in the future.
Common themes which emerged ranged from culture, equity and diversity, to sustainability, AI, and pushing creative boundaries into something unexpected and unique. Seeing perspectives from other design sectors such as film was refreshing and inspiring – I still have the music from Apple’s ‘The Greatest’ campaign stuck in my head!
What I found most useful were the workshop style talks which involved the crowd and made memorable moments. In particular, Nick Eagleton’s talk ‘Ideas Unlocked’ was interactive and thought-provoking from the start. His tips helped me think in new ways and how I might apply this in my role at H&H.
I will definitely use my experience at the D&AD Festival to push myself as a designer whilst carefully considering real-world issues in my work.
Andrew Worrell, Art Director
What does TikTok have to do with IC? In all honestly, not a great deal. However, this session with TikTok’s Stephanie Hulbert-Thomas was one of the most insightful of the day. It was interesting to hear what the ‘young cool kids’ did to stand out in a hugely saturated world – a world where new trends are created, and where the creators are key to this happening.
Stephanie spoke about working with big corporate clients like Tesco – and how restrictions within their brand almost have to be broken to create something new and stand out. And she touched on how, for Tesco, being bold enough to push their brand sparked a high profile, albeit accidental, campaign that ended up bouncing back and forwards between Tesco and Aldi.
I suppose to some extent the life span of some social media campaigns are very short-lived. And if you over think the process, you’ll never get anything out into the big wide world. So be brave. Experiment but don’t complicate – keep it simple.
The takeaway from me (as a creative) was that you must push the boundaries. Take something as far as you dare – making sure it stays true to the brief. That way, you’ll create something authentic that raises its head way above the parapet. And your clients will respect you for that.
Jardine International Motors
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