Creative Networks

Tonight was my first opportunity to help out at the Creative Networks event, it turned out to be pretty awesome. I was positioned on the front desk along with 2 other new helpers and the two girls who have been helping out for the past year or so. It didn't take long to get my head around the system of logging people in and registering new visitors and then (I know this may come as a shock to some) it was simply a case of maintaining a sickly sweet smile.

This month's speaker was Sir John Hegarty, who - dare I admit - I had never really heard of before this event (I'm not exactly tight with the advertising industry if I'm honest..). Initially I wasn't planning on staying for the lecture as I had a prior engagement but I can definitely say I'm glad I did. Hegarty is the mastermind behind such ad campaigns as 'Vorsprung Durch Technik' for Audi and Levi's famous laundrette advert. As well as conventional TV campaigns it was really interesting to see the variety of new methods created by BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) in response to the ever evolving contemporary culture. For instance, as an alternative to spending millions on prime time TV ad slots the company tried investing best part of a budget on production and relying on the video streaming phenomenon to do the rest. This campaign for Smirnoff Raw Tea is simply genius - all BBH did was to upload it to YouTube and it swept the nation with so much more volume than a TV ad ever could; a cost effective way of testing your audiences reaction to a particular campaign.

Even though my interest in advertising is minimal at best I was riveted throughout the entire lecture because it was evident that he held a true passion for his subject matter. 'Ten reasons to be in advertising' damn well made me want to be in advertising. Bloody advertising buggers, sucking me in with their shiny adverts and funny jokes.