CREATIVITY interpreted by 10 ‘younger’ shops

AdVantage magazine decided to give 10 ‘younger’ agency shops an opportunity to portray their interpretation of creativity in advertising today, by giving each one a letter from the word ‘creativity’ and asking them to portray it, on a first response basis… Visually. Graphically. Through words. Whatever. Carte blanche…

C was chosen by digital agency Native, formed last year in a digital merger between Cambrient, Brandsh and Stonewall+. Native in its submission contains an augmented reality feature on the page – a first for AdVantage. MD Jason Xenopoulos on their definition of creativity: “‘X’ was the letter used to describe a generation in search of its identity. ‘C’ is the letter that best describes a new generation – a group for whom identity is not something to be found, but to be defined. Generation ‘C’ represents a growing number of people who (regardless of age) realise that as consumers, they are now in control. Empowered by the ‘Democratisation of Media’ (cheap cameras, computers and editing software, free distribution like YouTube and Flickr, and simple but powerful marketing platforms like Facebook and Twitter), this new ‘content generation’ has begun to recast the world in their own image. To them, community is more important than country. Collaboration is as innate as competition and context is the condition that gives their lives meaning. For this new generation, creativity is no longer an individual pursuit, but a product of the collective.” www.native.co.za

R went to Studio Botes, headed by Brandt Botes. His rationale is: “’Creativity’ eludes a specific description or formula. It’s not bound by rules and often resists being conjured up on demand. In advertising, creativity is the stuff that gives you goosebumps or makes you laugh out loud. It’s the stuff that evokes an emotional response. It moves us as consumers to do things, buy things. It influences us. It’s not the rational or reasonable and it most often can’t be measured or calculated. It has to be felt.” www.studiobotes.com

E was chosen by Mick Blore, who formed originalforever/imagineers after leaving Y&R. Imagineers is a consultancy that’s looking to turn into a mini yardstick kind of venture. The strat and creative will be the domain of originalforever. Credits: Mick Blore, mick at originalforever dot co dot za, illustration: Bradley Stapleton… They say: “Audiences like to be entertained.”

A was grabbed by amicollective, headed up by creative Mark van Niekerk, who gives this… er… explanation: “The plant is a device used by ‘Opperbeheer’ in charge of ‘Die Departement van Binne Sake’. It is an ingenious device first conceptualised by Holbrand van Verlange’s great grandfather. In essence it is a vibe scanning device that remotely reports back to ‘Opperbeheer’ the vibe status of individuals and whether they need to have a vibe adjustment. Since the late 1970’s these bio engineered plants became common devices found in homes, offices and public spaces throughout ‘Verstikland’. These plants are also known as ‘Die Teenwoordigheid’. This was a direct result from the turbulent emotional uprising of the early 1970’s felt throughout ‘Verstikland’.” www.amicollective.com

T the first ‘t’ was chosen by Derrick and &Co. Livio Tronchin, ex-Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town creative director, and his business partners Mark Stead (former CD at KingJames RSVP) and Myles Hoppé (former brand manager of Optimal Energy, the company designing the Joule, SA’s Electric Car), launched not one, but two agencies: &Co. and Derrick last year. Hoppé serves as MD while the other two partners serve as creative directors. Their creative deals with: “People, Profit, Planet.” www.derrickcapetown.co.za

I the first ‘i’ was grabbed by The Nest, recently launched by Gareth Lessing, gareth at the-nest dot biz, and Niki Cinnamon after they left DDB SA. They hope to create “a home, a nest, for those like-minded people who have the true fire for advertising in their hearts and who want to leave the bullshit out of it”. Their rationale is direct, as is apparent from their page…

V Owen Kessel are going “boldly where no one has gone before…” This full service agency, founded by Felix Kessel and Vaughn Owen, is making waves with innovative processes and client creative. They also decided to sponsor this supplement, ‘owning’ the covers and an inside DPS brand advertorial. www.owenkessel.com

I PenQuin’s payoff line is ‘Inspire the Individual’ and they chose the ‘i’ because; “We believe the future of advertising will centre around talking to the individual rather than big groups. A brand’s primary creative objective should be to inspire this individual to create brand affinity which will have a positive effect on sales and strengthen brand equity. We had our creative minds collaborate on this custom illustration. Each object was hand drawn, vector traced and coloured and then compiled and lit in Photoshop.” Contributors: Paul Salvage, Darren Leishman, Tamsin White, Ryan Wallis, David Doubell, Wayne Flemming, Stephan du Toit, Michelle Peake, Dylan Prentis, Mmeli Magubane, Dean Howard, Shaun Janssens, Veronica Weinstein. www.penquin.co.za

T Luma has risen to compete in the international arena with character animation, photorealistic visual effects, motion graphic design as well as high res print renders for magazine ads and billboards. Lead by Paul Meyer, Gerhard Painter and Jason Cullen, their rationale: “With everyone looking into the future, what is the last thing you’d expect to represent the letter T? Especially one that’s in as mysterious a word as CREATIVITY? This is it. A hairy, junction shaped monster that’s refined and proper, while secretly obsessed with 90 degree corners. This is an artist’s interpretation of him.” www.luma.co.za

Y 60 layers of cake, headed up by founder and CEO, Ben Wren, produced an interesting commentary… Their rationale: “As marketers, thinkers and creators our conversations invariably found a certain stickiness with ‘Generation Y’. Also known as the ‘Net Generation’, these millennials are shaped by an increasingly connected world and strongly driven by expression and acceptance. Our definition of creativity, and the essence of how we work, is based on three pillars: Innovation, Relevance and Collaboration. Project CreativitY seeks to explore and define creativity through collaboration. Participate and share your definition of creativity. We are what we share.” www.60layersofcake.co.za

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Voting has now closed. ‘E’ by originalforever/imagineers won the most votes, followed by ‘I’ designed by The Nest, ‘I’ designed by PenQuin, ‘C’ designed by Native, ‘Y’ designed by 60 layers of cake , ‘T’ designed by Luma and ‘R’ designed by Studio Botes. Well done guys!

Reprinted from the AdVantage Creativity 2011 supplement