- Welcome :)
- Lecture & Discussion: A Brief History of Advertising
- Intro: D&AD New Blood Briefs
- Workshop: Breaking Down A Brief
- What's the plan? Make sure you subscribe to the calendar feed!
- What can you learn?
- Keeping a journal to record your creative process is extremely important. Don't let your ideas and thoughts fade away! Think of your project blog as your digital sketchbook. More on that here.
- Reading lists and perusing the library (I'll also share some PDFs).
What is [Advertising?] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising)
What are your thoughts?
What does D&AD stand for?
- Digital and Analogue Design?
- Design and Art Direction?
- Directors and Assistant Directors?
The D&AD New Blood Awards are for new talent entering the advertising and creative industries. Each year 16 briefs are supplied by industry and students (as well as under 24's) are invited to respond.
Why enter the D&AD awards?
- Industy recognised award in creative advertising.
- High standard of entries.
- Shows savey and ambition to enter.
- Great opportunity to show work on live industry brief.
- Good opportunity to make a project of a high standard for the degree show.
Key Dates:
- March 22nd 2017: D&AD Submission deadline (Note this is after summative and you will need to enter through Rave to have your entry paid by the course.)
- 6th July: Awards announced.
##The Briefs
This year there are 16 briefs put forward by the following industy leaders:
- Adobe
- Amazon
- Arjowiggins
- BBC
- Crowne Plazaa
- Desperados
- Hasbro
- John Lewis
- Monotype
- MUBI
- Nationwide
- Pearson
- Respect for Animals
- Squarespace
- The British Army
- The National Autistic Society
You will need to sign up for the [D&AD New Blood Competition] (http://www.dandad.org/?next=/) to enter and view the briefs from home but for now I have them on a hard drive to share with you.
As there are 16 briefs and 16 of us, lets each take a brief, and read the key paragraphs to the group.
This way we can cover each quickly.
Note, some may be more relevant than others as we will be working toward making a digital campaign or product as a response.
Discussion
Now that we have heard each brief, which will you choose? Consider:
- Which briefs are most likely to be chosen by other students applying? It may be an advantage to tackle on of the less popular options.
- Which briefs call for a digial response? Are there any breifs that rules this out?
- Which briefs speak to you? Which will encourage your creative thinking?
Words of Wisdon
Wise words from previous judges on D&AD awards (Advertising industry professionals) looking at students work are:
- **The idea is King.** Spent time thinking about what to suggest for your brief.
- **Treat Tech with Caution.** This will be key for us as our responses will be digital. Let's make sure we have good reasons for using the web / mobile app / online platforms. Explain these clearly.
- **Tell A Story** Stories are a powerful tool in human communication. Tap into this wherever possible with your campaign.
We will touch on these points in more depth later in the course but using these early to help craft your concepts will be useful.
Let's get started by choosing one of the 16 D&AD briefs and leaning how to break down the brief.
Briefs are essential but they can be overwhelming, so lets deconstruct our brief so get to the heart of what we're being asked for.
Before we start, read your brief one more time so it's fresh in your mind.
##Task 1: 5 Mins
Reread your brief but think about the essential points are, what specific words communicate and key pieces of info that stand out. Highlight them.
You are not going to break down the brief into just 16 words. These 16 words should communicate what the brief is asking you to do. Imagine you are giving this to someone instead of the full brief. How can you get them to understand what the task is in the same way but in only 16 words? Pull in any of the specific info or words you highlighted to help you.
Note down your 16 words only.
##Task 2: 2 Mins
From your 16 words, really think again about what the crucial points are.
How many words could you shave and still communicate what the brief is asking you to do?
Let's try do it in 8? Ok, let's do it.
In 8 words, what is the brief asking you to do? Rearrange the ones you have, use 8 new words or mix it up.
##Step 3: 1 Mins
So now you've got it down to the bare bones right? Those 8 words are all gold and they are completely vital. But which ones could you do without?
Try and get it down to just 4 words. Remember, you are trying to communicate as much of the information from the full brief as possible.
Think about which words carry the most meaning.
##Step 4: 1 Mins
What next? Let's slim it down to 2 words.
Now you have your whole brief squeezed down into 2 words. You have identified the heart of your brief.
It wouldn't be a good idea to use only these words when building your concepts, but now the other words and context of the brief should feel like a luxury.
As you work on ideas for your brief, refer back and ask, "Is my idea / campaign communicating the 2 word, heart of my brief?"
Working on your own or in your chosen group of 2:
Sign up to take part in the 2017 [D&AD New Blood Competition] (http://www.dandad.org/?next=/). Ravensbourne will pay for your entries if you want to make a submission at the end of the course :).
Choose the D&AD Brief that you will respond to for this unit from the list below:
- Adobe
- Amazon
- Arjowiggins
- BBC
- Crowne Plazaa
- Desperados
- Hasbro
- John Lewis
- Monotype
- MUBI
- Nationwide
- Pearson
- Respect for Animals
- Squarespace
- The British Army
- The National Autistic Society
Or write your own brief and:
- Create **20 concepts / ideas** for a campaign that responds to your chosen brief.
- Choose the **5 strongest** ideas and explain how they "stand out".
- Detail how these 5 respond to the **heart** of the brief that you've chosen.
- Bring your 5 ideas ready to explain to the class next week. You will have **max 2 minutes** to explain each idea.
- Watch Seth Godin’s TED talk on [**How to get your ideas to spread.**] (https://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread) and reflect on the content of the lecture and key themes. Note your thoughts on the lecture and how this might relate to your own work.
- Choose 3 "stand out" digital advertising campaigns and explain what makes them "remarkable" in comparison to other campaigns.
