Claire Davidson takes in the day two seminars at the AdStars 2015 Festival in Busan

Claire Davidson (pictured centre) is back at the AdStars Festival in Busan, South Korea. Davidson is taking in the seminars and reporting for Campaign Brief Asia. Here’s her round up of the sessions on Day Two:

It’s been raining for the past 24 hours here at the seaside in Busan, but that hasn’t dampened anyone’s day or deterred any of the diligent delegates from making their way to the Bexco Exhibition and Convention Centre for Day 2 of AdStars 2015.  In fact it’s been quite cozy in here all day.  Today was once again a full schedule – packed with seminars, forums, workshops, tech talks, creative schools and panel discussions, all continuing to revolve around ‘the spirit of opening and sharing’.

 

Fabio Saboya, Creative Director of Loducca, reminded us today about our fundamentals.  The topic of his seminar was ‘Don’t Forget The Basics”.  To go beyond is great, but first let’s remember that you need to practice the tools of your trade… and you need to practice those a lot.  You don’t have to always go, and shouldn’t always go, beyond boundaries.  Don’t underestimate the basic requirements.  Learn to think INSIDE the box. You have to look down and stumble.  Really, really… don’t forget the basics…

Loducca is the fifth most awarded Independent Agency in the world, and number one in Latin America.  Clearly Saboya is then well versed in practicing what he preaches, to have built an agency of such aclaim.  We looked at case studies from Loducca about Dani Alves and that provocative banana throwing, John Frusciante, The Empty Project, Cupom Fiscal, #NoFilter, Poetweet and Easy Way.  These were projects that went beyond cultural barriers, both online and offline, and often shifted the paradigm between agency and client.

 

Next up for me was a seminar on a subject that really interests me:  budgets! Yes, budgets o’ budgets. They really do interest me. I use them day in, day out, and I love them to bits. I’m a budget nerd. Gabor Spielmann, Creative Director and Partner at Kaboom, brought us “Give Me The Freedom Of A Tight Budget”, which is a somewhat reworked quote of David Ogilvy’s “Give Me The Freedom of A Tight Brief”.

 

How can low budget projects inspire creative people? How do we turn this negative into a positive?  Clients these days always want us to create a big hype but with a small budget.  Spielmann knows this all too well, hailing from Hungary and working across Eastern Europe where the small advertising market prevails.

 

Why should we embrace low budget briefs?

~  It’s fun.

~  It’s the purest type of challenge

~ Clients appreciate results more

~ It helps new business

~ Less risk with execution

~ It allows you to look for a new media

 

We viewed examples of work Spilmann was behind, for clients such as Scrabble, Audi, BNV, Ballers, Matchbox, as well as some NGOs and local festivals.

 

Make budgets your friends, regardless of their size.  Remember that the budget is a friend that we often have to learn to live without.  But friends can sometimes help us, big time!

 

Low budgets can make agencies spread their wings, rather than tie them up.  (But if they do, at any time, want to give me larger budgets to work with, I won’t be knocking them back.)

 

“Opportunity in Difficulty” was the seminar topic discussed today by Nkanyezi Masango, Creative Director of Y&R, Cape Town. Masango explained how and why living in South Africa has influenced his journey and paved the way for his creative career.

 

South Africa is a beautiful country, which has had endless difficulties. Thinking as an optimist is a necessity. Masango referenced a quote by Winston Churchill ‘A pessimist sees the difficulty in opportunity.  An optimist sees the opportunity in difficulty’.  Difficulties come in all shapes and sizes in our industry – from the tight budgets to the tight deadlines.  Our way of thinking will be a lot more inventive if we look at these obstacles from a glass is half full perspective.  Embrace them.  Clients today always want more but for less money, and it is these created boundaries that force you to be more innovative and more inventive.

 

Simplicity too is absolutely key, although it’s actually very hard to achieve.  Don’t overcomplicate.  And whilst you’re at it, look to start celebrating writing again.  Think beyond the brief.  Don’t limit your thinking on just actual advertising.  Go beyond.  Solve problems and issues.  Masango has just done that in his work in South Africa.  Difficulty can create better work.  Creating excellence takes longer, but it’s worth it.

 

In line with all speakers today, we looked at case studies worked on by the speaker.  Masango (pictured left with Matt Eastwood) showed us campaigns for Hope Soap, Land Rover, Johannesburg Zoo, Operation City Smart, and Edward Snell’s Reflector Protector.

 

Incidentally, Nkanyezi means ‘star’ in Zulu.  So he was always destined to be here with us at AdStars this week.  ‘AdNkanyezi’ is quite fitting for this very talented creative.

 

Finally for me today I caught the very inspiring Matt Eastwood, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of JWT, who brought us ‘Curiosity – Not Being Afraid to be the Dumbest Person in the Room’.  Thank goodness for that!

 

There is a lot of power in asking questions.  When we are young we want to know what everyone else knows.  Curiosity is a fundamental human trait.  We need to discover new things.  Embrace the environment you live in.  Imagine if Jimmy Hendrix didn’t wonder what a guitar could do.

 

Curiosity is the one thing that makes us human.  What if I push this button?  What if I open this door?  What if I plant this seed?  What if I don’t listen to my mother?

 

How?  What?  Who?  Where?  Why?  Begin with questions that probe the world, and then build on those, that are then further built on, and built on and built on, that in turn then lead to more questions.

 

Curiosity is the engine of the business we’re all in.  Curiosity is the best way to approach everything we face.  It’s the best way to engage in every given day.