by Xolisa Dyeshana (@XolisaDyeshana) I represented South Africa last month as a member of the Interactive Jury at global ad awards show, The One Show. It was an intense four days of early mornings and late nights, and as far as the work goes, this is definitely the year for extraordinary, hardworking campaigns that break through the clutter.
Dedication
We were a jury of 15 people from all over the world, which was great for debating the work. Prior to arriving in Mexico, we had judged over 400 entries remotely, so that meant that our time together was spent on evaluating work that had already made it through the first round. What I really enjoyed was the dedication of all of us jury members to truly apply ourselves to the work, even if it meant missing the evening’s activities.
On our first day, the CEO, Kevin Swanepoel (South African, I might add), started off by explaining the judging process to us. What were the major differences from some of the other awards shows I’ve judged in the past? There was no jury chairperson and there was no discussion of the work until right at the end — everything was done by secret ballot, and only on the last day were we told what had been awarded Gold, so we could choose our category’s “Best of Show”.
This last day of judging was the hardest; the debates were robust, long, enlightening, sometimes ugly, oh and did I mention, long. But, by the end of the day, once we had made all our points in the most-articulate manner we knew how, it all came down to a vote.
Trends
Without further ado, here are my three learnings:
- One of the trends that stood out for me is the ever-increasing pursuit of thinking bigger and differently about digital – my hardest-working example of this is titled Adoptable Trends.
- Is what I consider the stretching of an idea. This means taking an idea and pushing it to go so much further than just where it started, it’s almost like the “Second Life” for ideas. For me, it highlights how often we stumble upon a thought, execute it and pat ourselves on the back, when that piece still has so much potential for further expansion. My hardest-working example of this is titled #TacoEmoji. Part one of the campaign saw the brand lobby the Unicode Consortium to add a taco emoji to its keyboard; read more here. Part two saw the brand celebrating its feat by launching the taco emoji engine.
- The third one is the infusion of humanity back into technology-based ideas. It seems the world is realising that technology for technology’s sake isn’t worth much if it ultimately doesn’t make a difference in people’s lives or touch on a deeper level. My hardest-working example of this is Call Brussels.
PS We stayed at an amazing resort, which reminded me a lot of The Lost City, except everything was real.
- The results for the Interactive category of The One Show will be revealed in New York City on Friday night, 13 May 2016, along with Cross-Platform, Film, Intellectual Property, Mobile, Radio, Social Media and UX/UI.
- On Wednesday night 11 May, results for Branded Entertainment, Design, Direct, Print & Outdoor, Public Relations and Responsive Environments will be announced.
- The Young Ones Competition winners will be awarded on Tuesday 10 May.
- South Africa has finalists in: Radio, Design, Responsive Environments, Film and Print & Outdoor.
Xolisa Dyeshana (@XolisaDyeshana) is executive creative director and partner at Joe Public, as well as chairperson of the Creative Circle of South Africa. He is passionate about creating social change through advertising and he’s been part of many industry committees set up to help young people from underprivileged backgrounds gain access to the industry.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
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