Adfest 2015: 'One good campaign can make your agency enter folklore '

The sessions and workshops kicked off today at Adfest 2015. I’ll first talk about the good parts.

 

The session that stood out for me was from Nick Law, the global chief creative officer of R/GA. His talk on ‘how to make a brand badass’ was excellent. He was thorough, exciting and inspiring in his presentation.

 

Another learning I got was from the session by Emma Wilkie, managing director, The Gunn Report. She gave the example of the ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors and how it has entered agency folklore with that great campaign, the Epic Split, for Volvo. She spoke about how one 30 or 60-second TVC can help you enter and win multiple categories at various advertising awards.

 

The Cheil session from Chung Su Ko, ‘Bad is bad’, wasn’t bad. He spoke about what the Samsung brand is doing. The current work they’re doing is interesting, but I believe that they could do better.

 

The other trend I observed with some of the sessions today was that agencies are using the platform for ‘self-promotion’. They talk about their own work instead of sharing knowledge and insights with the audience.

 

The opening gala followed the sessions. I think it was laidback. The weather was slightly too hot. The excitement during opening galas from other global festivals was missing slightly. The fact that I’m back in my room at 9:30pm writing this, emphasises that!

 

And yes, I met up with fellow Indians – Sonal Dabral, Pradyumna Chauhan, Raj Kurup and Prakash Verma.

 

More updates to follow!