Glastonbury.
Reading and Leeds.
Kettlewell Scarecrow
Festival.
Now another name can be
added to this illustrious list of UK gatherings, the IPA’s Eff Fest. A day of
inspiration and celebration of effectiveness in commercial creativity, it was a
chance to learn from some incredibly interesting people as well as getting out
of the office on a sunny Tuesday.
The event was hosted at
the top of the Millbank Tower, with stunning views all across the capital. Here
was a collection of planners from a vast variety of agencies, lots of coffee
and a fortune telling booth not too dissimilar from that in the Tom Hanks film
‘Big’, however this featured a bearded planner who instead imparted knowledge to
help you in your quest for an insight. Mega lolz.
The day was split into
four parts:
The Value of Learning
in other Industries
Highlights included a
fascinating talk from Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre,
about how she went about creating a place that people desired as well as the
power of unlocking creativity within everyone and anyone. Unfortunately, her
speech was shorter than it should have been as Mary Portas had been on first
and had run over while talking about herself for too long. That’s perhaps a tad
harsh; her thought that 'Nothing
is dead if there's a possibility of reimagining it' was positively optimistic.
How to structure your
organisation for effectiveness
Special mention here goes
out to ex W+Ker Russell Davies who is now doing wonderful things with the
government’s digital services, Gov.uk. He did manage to squeeze in several
videos of dramatic chipmunks, so it appears a little of 16 Hanbury St. is still
lurking around somewhere inside of him.
How understanding
modern consumers could increase effectiveness
This was the sciency bit,
where Mark Earls chaired a discussion on how science and our knowledge of human
behaviour can impact creativity. I won’t attempt to go into too much detail, as
I probably wouldn’t do it justice, however I would recommend reading either
Phil Barden’s ‘Decoded’ or Marks Earls’ ‘Herd’ if you want to swot up.
Launch of the
#IPASocialWorks
Now, this was the bit that
I was really interested in. As an interactive strategist, I spend a lot of time
working to try and explore how we can more effectively measure our digital
creativity. The IPA, as well as several agency folk and some of the bigger
social networks, are looking into how we, as an industry, can prove worth in
social media activity. This is of unparalleled importance when it comes to
social as without it, marketing directors will surely become tired of investing
money in something that it is impossible to prove reward from. It’s something
that we at W+K are completely vested in and are constantly working with clients
to show the worth in exceptional creativity.
All in all it was an
insightful day. Well done all of the speakers and thank you to the IPA for
hosting. High fives all round.
