What a Creative Head did, to leave senior management red faced...
Once a very well known creative head of an award winning agency got together all the senior management of a leading global FMCG brand and narrated 10 TV commercial scripts, without revealing that all of them were Cannes Gold winners.
The members of the senior management team were quick to reject the scripts. They found all kinds of faults, from being off brand to being creative for the sake of being creative. The Creative Head graciously accepted the criticism and went back.
After a month or so, the Creative Head went back and got the same members of Senior Management together. This time he showed them 10 TV Commercials on a large screen TV. In one voice the entire senior management team said that they would love TV Ads like those for their own brands. They in fact expressed concern that their own TV Commercials were boring compared to these.
That is when the Creative Head brought out the scripts he had presented to them in the last meeting and told them that these were the same films after being executed.
The result was that the agency was able to get better TV commercials approved by the client.
The point to make here isn't that management needs to be more imaginative, the point is that creative execution is critical.
Bad execution can utterly destroy a brilliant idea, while good execution can turn a mediocre idea into a brilliant one.
Opportunity
A leading national newspaper wanted to highlight burning social and environmental issues and called for creative ads.
Thinking
Why not show the impact of deforestation through the greatest icon of wildlife conservation.
Result
Bronze and Finalist, Portfolios/CCA
Opportunity
World Association of Newspapers wanted to launch a campaign to propagate their motto - Silence kills democracy, but a free press talks.
Thinking
Juxtapose simple everyday activities with faces to powerfully bring out wrongdoings against the press.
Result
Best Campaign till date for WAN, Selected over many others
Opportunity
A leading restaurant wanted to promote their unlimited beer offer in the evenings.
Thinking
The ocean is never ending, so a beer ocean would convey unlimited beer very effectively.
Result
Finalist, FAB
Opportunity
Shiv Nadar Foundation, one of the largest educational philanthropic foundations wanted to propagate their vision on social media.
Thinking
The Foundation's core is to educate rural youth and send them to the world's best institutions, who will in turn help more from their own communities. The thought ‘Raise to rise’ was a great fit along with the common sight of students raising their hands to answer a question.
Result
The online Facebook campaign built a vibrant social community of 240,000 within a few months.
Opportunity
HCL Technologies wanted to inspire some special performers. Ones who had been recognized as brilliant not once or twice but over six to seven times.
Thinking
An ordinary film would not inspire the truly extraordinary, so we took the glory of sports and the class of black and white, to get their adrenaline pumping.
Result
The video received standing ovations across all top cities, by thousands and thousands of viewers.