Sarah Muscat + Marina Vasilieva’s Spikes Diary #2

Sarah Muscat (left), freelance creative and Marina Vasilieva (right), junior art director at McCann Sydney competed in the Print category of the Young Spikes Competition. Here, the pair report for Campaign Brief.

Singapore has been a sweaty, humid, hot mess of a trip, but I’d like to think the sweat made me look like I was glowing. It probably didn’t.

Today began with the train doors shutting in Sarah’s face as we were rushing to present our work at the final pitch. I got on the train, but then turned around to see the doors had closed with Sarah still on the platform – we could do nothing but look at one another through the train window in defeat as it left the station. It was a funny moment now that I look back on it, but when I was still on the train with no international roaming, with only 30 minutes left to get to the pitch on time, I failed see the humour in it.

As with most things, it all turned out okay.

Trying to think of something for this piece definitely hasn’t been an easy task as I think I’m still catching up mentally from being awake for 38 hours, but the heat hasn’t helped much either, so apologies for the lack of witty banter that you’d usually expect in a diary piece on Campaign Brief.

The brief Sarah and I were given challenged us to get more young people building homes for the less fortunate. During the briefing when I heard them ask us to “make it go viral” with a budget of $0, I visibly cringed. Being in the front row, I don’t think I managed to hide it that well either.

Fast forward 24 hours, we had an idea that we were happy with and were on our way to hand in. The feeling of taking the train to submit our work was reminiscent of feeling incredibly hungover and foul in the morning as the rest of the world around you is unusually fresh and perfectly put together. As everyone looks ready to start the day, the most you can do is try to cover the noodle stains on your jeans with your sweater.

Again, as with most things, it all turned out okay.

The whole process was incredibly humbling and challenging, leaving us a lot more resilient and quick on our feet at the end of it all. Maybe also in serious need of a good night’s rest, but that can wait for after the wrap-up parties