I discovered the brilliance that is Kendall Allen a few years ago. For me, her MediaPost content qualifies as ‘must read’ and it’s a good thing I live a few states away, because if I didn’t she’d have serious stalker issues . I’m a fangirl of the highest order and, although she’s a bona fide hottie, I have a massive girl crush on the gray matter that’s between her ears. Oh, and when I see her posts, I want to stop what I’m doing and read them. Holy crap, why she’s not paying me for that kind of devotion I seriously do not know.
I’m a huge proponent of collaboration in the creative process – actually, I think it’s great in just about any process – and if you’re not doing it, well, that’s your bad. Personally, I collaborate every chance I can. It allows me to produce better results for my clients and learn from the massively intelligent people I’m lucky enough to know and who deign to work with me. Enough about me.
Having read a great AdAge article recently about The Google 5, and being fortunate enough to have a creative client (T2 + Back Alley Films) who gets collaboration (which means I get to live it), Kendall’s post An Old Love Comes to Town on a Rainy Day really resonated with me.
The Big Ad Gig is brilliant. Powerhouse agencies creating opportunities for young minds and fresh talent to work on and present a multi-dimensional campaign and, in the process potentially parlay that into an ad agency creative job ROCKS. It not only allows talent to be crowdsourced and the opportunity to spread through both traditional and non-traditional channels, it supports young talent in the best way possible. It gives them a chance to learn, a chance to shine and has a big, fat reward at the end of the tunnel. And, I’ll give you dollars to doughnuts (what does that mean, anyway?) that there’s not just one winner in The Big Ad Gig. I’ll bet that all the participants get serious consideration (and jobs) as a result of the exposure that participation in the event brings.
The competition is over. I shared the YouTube clip because it made me laugh. Four women and four men gave it their best shot and, given the tragic events surrounding Tyler Clementi’s suicide, made more compelling by the the fact that the client was Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
According to Kendall, their presentations were nothing less than “professional poetry.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see the outcome. But no matter the official “winner” — all the participants, and the process itself, are winners in my book. And a hat tip to Kendall for the back story. Oh, and if you’re not reading her MediaPost column or stalking her on Twitter, you don’t deserve her. ‘
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
