For our Experiencing the Creative Industries module we have the opportunity (and the challenge) of entering the D&AD New Blood Awards competition. Our task is to choose a brief put forth by a company and submit our solution to the contest.
There are 19 briefs to choose from, which seemed overwhelming at first but I quickly realized that many of them were either not interesting to me, weren’t in line with my career aspirations, or didn’t match with my capabilities.
From the beginning I was seriously considering the brief for giffgaff. What attracted me to this brief were the parameters set on the brief overview. Giffgaff used key phrases that got my attention and made me think that my capabilities were in line with the objective(s) of the company.
The phrases:
“Storytelling is a powerful thing. How can you use it to give giffgaff a voice?”
“How to use the power of words.”
“Giffgaff doesn’t do things by halves. They’re disruptive (in a good way). Your copy-led campaign should be too.”
The related disciplines stated (copywriting, advertising, and communications) were also a good fit for me. However, after reading this single page I was still hesitant and still considering other briefs, such as Workforce and Microsoft. Writing copy is what I have always done so this brief seemed too obvious a choice and too comfortable a fit. I decided to read through all of the materials and resources of each of these three briefs before making up my mind. Through reading these I discovered how digitally-led my copy would have to be for giffgaff and the various forms that the copy could take (other than written), such as audio. There is also a lot of visual design expected from the submission which is something that I would like to get better at. Giffgaff provides lots of templates and doodles with their additional materials, which would be very helpful for a beginner like me.
One difficulty with this brief is that I didn’t choose to do it because I like the company. In fact, before researching giffgaff I was indifferent to it. I have a good mobile network and don’t feel the need to even explore other options. I know that in order to succeed with this brief I need to get myself into the state of mind of loving giffgaff and what it stands for (even if I do not plan to become a member myself).
Overall, I feel confident in choosing the giffgaff brief and I am excited to complete it using my existing capabilities and the new skills that I will be learning as part of the creation process.
Womble On 