Monday saw the festival move into full swing with a full day of insightful seminars. The pick of the day was Adobe’s ‘Is data killing creativity’? The strong themes coming through were that a balance needs to be achieved between the two, that data can identify the questions, but creativity must answer them and data must never replace instinct.
The ‘Contagious’ session in the afternoon was inspirational as usual with mould-breaking ideas being presented and a healthy push in the right direction being offered. This presentation through fuel on the fire of the rampant trend towards brands living beyond themselves by adding value to people’s (not consumers’) lives and the world they live in.
As for the awards, Promo n Activation, Direct and PR were handed out. Overall the winners felt a bit small, bar one or two. I personally felt disappointed that Ogilvy Cape Town’s Carling Cup work wasn’t more handsomely rewarded, receiving two bronzes, as I believe it pointed the way for where we need to go as a country. Big ups to Metropolitan Republic for the Gold and the silver they picked up for Wimpy Braille.
Au revoir.
Brad Reilly is creative director of Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg).
