As you read this, I should be on way to Pattaya answering the Adfest war cry ‘BE BAD’. With Pattaya that sounds just great. On
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deeper thoughts it is asking you to be bad in a good way. Quoting from the fest site ‘Take up the rallying cry and take your clients out of their comfort zone. Shake it up. Be bold. Get them in your corner, fighting for provocative work and the art of creativity. Join together and make something you are proud of and that makes them great. “Be Bad” more often, for the sake of your clients and for the hearts of their customers and aim to win awards….. Success demands commitment and bravery from both clients and agencies. It needs the conviction that finding a new angle will disrupt the status quo; an instinct that bucking the system will shake up the market; the passion to challenge the norm, the average and the mediocre. It needs more of us to “Be Bad” – in a good way!’ I am always impressed by long copy and such powerful speak to say ‘Have Balls’.
Now, the best way to take most out of such engagements is to pre-lock-in the sessions you plan to attend. Here is my interesting initial short pick.
1. WE WILL FIX IT IN POST by Adam Tunikowski (CEO & Creative Director), Michal Dwojak-Hara (Head of Animation & Creative Director), Michal Misinski (Art Director) and Natalia Lasota (Producer). Something we always hear during projects. Session will us help understand the importance of postproduction and the value of the Creative Agency team working closely with the postproduction team. We in India know that already. My interest is anchored on a statement ‘It’s not always the truth that if you make something for a smaller budget, in a shorter time, you will have to compromise on quality, they promise to present a fourth element, which makes it possible to create great quality projects in a short time and with a small budget. And we will explain why we have to be bad to make it happen;. Something we all would want to know.
2. ROI OF THE BAD: DO SHOCKING ADS REALLY WORK?’ by Hando Sinisalu, Ceo Estonia. Addressing a long due debate on award-winning ads. Do shocking ads really work. Do they actually harm brands? My interest lies in the session promise to share the secret ‘what kind of ads are actually harming the brand’. See the ROI on Pattaya improving with each session.
3. STORYTELLING IS THE NEW BLACK. By Jonathan Samway. I would personally agree with the thought ‘We’ve moved further and further away from our most important job, to tell stories that engage people. We’ve been seduced by quantity over quality. How many eyeballs did we collect? How much media space did we have to buy to collect those eyeballs?’… the days have changed ‘We watch what we wanna – anywhere, anytime… and in this time brands are better telling stories that the people chose to engage with’. And you know its all about the art of storytelling that pulled me in.
4. YOU ARE THE HERO NOT A TARGET. THE NEW ERA OF STORYTELLING. Creative Directors Kazuaki Hashida and Takahiro Hosoda are going to expand on the thought ‘It’s no longer appropriate to consider consumer to be a “target” that simply accepts or receives something. Instead, we should conceive of them as heroes who actively live out rich narratives, which we call lives… we need a story for our hero: Not media to communicate, but a stage on which our hero can act’
5. THE TIDAL WAVE OF TRANSMEDIA. Chung Chung Chan, HK Design Institute. ‘All media are merging while the lines between the technology sector and the entertainment, media and communications sectors are blurring thus context of media today is evolving a methodology called Transmedia’. Transmedia storytelling encompasses a range of factual and fictional story forms including stories with multiple strands that take place across diverse media platforms, including film, television, internet and mobile devices as well as live events and alternate reality game, Transmedia acts both as a creative technique for story extension and as a marketing tool to reach a broader and more diversified audience.’ I agree this been mismanaged. THIS WILL BE PRIME LEARNING TIME.
6. LET’S GET REAL WITH AUGMENTED REALITY. Exciting advertising opportunities that Virtual & Augmented Reality bring to brands . Playing real blind in this one.
7. CIRCLE OF TRUST. Sidharth Loyal; Brand Strategist. My most favourite subject and issue within the industry. ‘The enemy within is trust, and it is a key ingredient missing from most client/agency relationships, which causes and explains inconsistent work, frequent pitches and high people rotation in the industry. The session expects to create that awakening to make us “Be brave” in widening our circle of trust; giving people credit; and sharing ideas.
In the time that is left- which is quite a lot. I AM GOING TO BE BAD… NOT TOO BAD. There is the ‘Pattaya International Music Festival’. May be scuba. May be another skyjump. When I come back I will have stories that could begin with, Once upon a time in Pattaya…..
The article was first published in MXMINDIA.COM as coverage to Pattaya Adfest2015. You can read weekly column in mxm under KOTMARTIAL and they are also reproduced in the blog. Check published articles.
