I attended the Creative Shootout 2017 and I loved it
The most creative, buzzing with great ideas, fabulous, awe-inspiring. I could be listing the adjectives describing the Creative Shootout initiative for the next couple of hours. I was lucky enough to attend (and help organising) this year's edition of the CSO. And I absolutely loved the experience.
What is the Creative Shootout?
The Creative Shootout is the most creative industry event out there. It is organised annually by the brilliant Launch PR team. It squeezes the creative juices out of the Britain's best communications agencies. The Shootout also does it in a very challenging manner, as the teams are briefed with their task in the morning, and they only have four hours to come up with their idea for a creative campaign. After this short period of time to brainstorm, they need to pitch it in front of the live audience and the panel full of industry experts. Another brilliant thing about this initiative is the fact that the teams are planning the campaigns for the charities, and always raise awareness about the important issue.
Why did I like it so much
This year, agencies were challenged with creative campaign for Time to Talk Day, the mental health initiative from charity Time To Change -- run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. Mischief PR triumphed, with their idea of using a toilet paper roll as a medium, and ‘Giving a s***.’ Hotwire did a phenomenal job pitching the campaign that would involve using radio. Ready10 was also commended and secured the third place.
During the BAFTA-hosted event, we've also heard from the other bright teams, such as FleishmanHillard Fishburn. The team led by Kev O'Sullivan presented us some brilliant ideas, making incredible impression on the audience. It even involved some exercise on the BAFTA stage!
Others inspired us, too -- we learnt a lot from the pitches of Bottle, a second team from Mischief, Text 100, and all the way from Scotland Wire Media. The judges' decision must've been really tough!
Why is volunteering so important
Noteworthy, I volunteered at the event. I was a runner and my main task was to make sure that the show goes smoothly -- that involved making sure that the teams are miked up, and they have everything they needed during brainstorming.
The Creative Shootout was not the first event I was helping with. I can't emphasise enough how beneficial volunteering is and what the opportunities and advantages of it are (this might be another post in the future). Once the tweet about the CSO appeared in my feed, I decided to reach out and offer some help. Remember that any organiser of the major event is most likely to need some extra pair of hands.
Volunteering with the luminary Launch PR team benefited me hugely. If I were only attending the event, I wouldn't be able to meet some really inspiring people. I also wouldn't be able to get a bunch of insights into event planning, and even some elements of crisis management.
Thanks so much for having me, Creative Shootout (Launch PR) team!
The picture in the header depicts one of my favourite pitches of the evening from FleishmanHillard Fishburn. And their creative director, Kev, performing push-ups.
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Check out the Creative Shootout website, and follow them on Twitter!
If you have any suggestions, would like to guest post or give me a feedback, feel free to email me at kl.marcel [at] gmail.com, tweet me @marcelkl or see my LinkedIn. Thanks for stopping by, have a splendid day!
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ALSO: I have a confession to make
A tiny digression here, but I also wanted to briefly tackle the infamous fake news. They are just not cool. I need to confess that my Facebook circle could've witnessed my post on me "becoming a motivational speaker," and dropping out of the university course! At least I've actually revealed that it was just a hoax...
