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Creativity: a word with the judges of ADC*E
What language will European creatives speak to keep up with the times? And what does European creativity mean today? Difficult questions to handle. We tried to pose them to professionals of the sector: the judges of ADC*E Award 2012, the award of the Art Directors Club of Europe. In Barcelona they assigned the Grand Prix 2012 to tv ad "Bear", developed by agency BETC for Canal+.
The award goes to a fun and artfully made ad that however relies on a traditional narrative mechanism. Perhaps it’s a sign. The job of European creative director – and not only – has new territories to explore. Such as transmedia storytelling, to use an example that seems to be popular these days. But also new values and behaviors to interpret. The same judges are divided into those who see very few really original ideas and those who foresee novelties from Eastern Europe. Who will surprise us with new and contemporary routes to creativity?
Grand Prix ADCE 2012: "The Bear" by BETC, France.
Franco Moretti (ADC*E President 2008-2012, Vice Chairman and Group Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Italy)
The language of the future belongs to young European creatives. Because the market is changing and so is the way of conceiving business communication and advertising, influenced by new media.
The youth are the consumers of today and tomorrow. How can their behaviors change? That’s the starting point and from there you have to engage the attention of the current and future consumer, considering that the mechanisms to do so change case by case. In general though, the mechanism is always: to surprise with an intuition, identifying the latent behaviors that accompany us every day, but observing them from a new point of view.
In the past creativity was developing in so called developed countries. Today it’s moving towards the nations of Eastern Europe, who have less resources at their disposal and less prejudices towards new digital communication opportunities. The fresh, new ideas that attract public attention are coming from those areas.
"The Solar Annual Report" for Austria Solar by Serviceplan, Germany
"The Solar Annual Report" for Austria Solar by Serviceplan, Germany
Andy Cheetham (ADC*E Jury President, Creative Director, Cheetham Bell JWT - UK)
We all will speak in code because everything is digital. That is the future without doubt. Which means paper won't die but it will become more specialist, more of an art form and a special value commodity. Also packaging will be as efficient as humanly possible.
I think that today in creativity very little is new. So great design is important but visuals are even more important. Which means, less words and more visuals. But I think we are in good shape. I think graphic design is one of the greatest products of Europe. We have got style in many diverse cultures, and real styles set global cultures.
“The CNN Ecosphere” by Heimat, Germany
Martin Spillmann (Founder and Chairman, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnet - Switzerland)
I think the language we creatives have to speak with each other throughout Europe has to be a very simple one, because we are still so different. It should be rooted in something we all believe in, not tied to consuming and monetary concerns, but dealing with the quality of life, with real communication: talking and looking into each other's eyes. So in a way it's simplicity we are looking for, but on the other hand I think we have to find new values to believe in.
European creativity is strong in terms of design and look, but I think there is still much of an effort to be made in terms of trying to understand human behavior. We still behave in a traditional, old way. So we have to think more about what we want to change and how to accomplish it, and design will follow accordingly.
"Curators of Sweden" for Swedish institute/VisitSweden by Volontaire, Sweden
Johannes Newrkla (ADC*E treasurer, founder and CEO of Bluetango - Austria)
Everything, including language, starts locally. But once you find a universal style, a local idea can go global.
European creativity is something we have to pepper and to be very careful with. As the European statute declares, it's about unity and diversity. We have to really look after diversity to keep it. And this is the European approach. Because a Spaniard will never become French and a Frenchman will never become Italian, but an Austrian can become an American.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Octav Gheorghe (Creative Director of Gavrila&Asociati - Romania)
I hope it will be a language based on elegant graphic design. On print, online or on the tv screen, it doesn't matter. I think there's a great future for Europe in this area.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Eda Kauba (Creative Director, Euro RSCG Prague, Czech Republic)
I have no magic formula with which to predict our future language. There's no advice, only one possible solution: to do things differently. Don't copy what you admire or what you intuitively want to reinterpret. Just don't do it. Forget it and do your job in your own way, which is the most difficult thing to do.
Creativity is something surprising. It's something we don't expect. But today I think there's nothing that could influence the rest of the world.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Hans Peter Albrecht (General Manager, hp albrecht werbeagentur gmbh - Germany)
It will be a language composed of images, images, images, and a bit of digital. I think images will be even more important than they are today because European creativity is without borders now and people want to communicate more than in the past, so images are the language.
"Results" for Adris Group by Bruketa&Zinic, Croatia
Piia Põldmaa (Art Director, Rakett OÜ - Estonia)
I would say the future is about integrated media. So not only print, posters and old media. It's a whole new connected and convergent world.
Creativity means being cynical and funny at the same time.
"Results" for Adris Group by Bruketa&Zinic, Croatia
Mireia Luna (Co-founder and Creative Director, Estudi Luna, Spain)
A warm digital language. I think that what's important is not the technology used but how sensitive the message is and how close it is to the audience. But always experimental and emotional.
"Against the tide" for Fish & More by Leagas Delaney Hamburg, Germany
Hördur Lárusson (Creative Director, Atelier Atli Hilmarsson - Iceland)
I think it will be the same language of the last years or decade. It's going to be a visual language that makes sense without any text or explanation. It's the language of a brilliant idea that everyone understands, even if we Europeans are different from one another.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
Renos Demetriou (Creative Director, Daedalus Creative Services - Cyprus)
The language will be something similar to musical notes, where creative sounds can be comprehended by all cultures in communication. The sounds will be multi-platform. It will be more like sign language, and it will deal more with mood and emotional opinion.
European creativity today is a cultural expression, with an emotional attachment based on geographic locations. Somebody coming from the north has different emotional ambitions traveling to the south and vice versa. I would like to see that formulated in a creative manner, where the movements from north to south and vice versa blend smoothly into each other.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
Mario Mandacaru (Brand Design Creative Director, Brandia Central)
We are selling contents, otherwise nobody would pay attention to us, so often creativity doesn't need words to communicate. The language will be a balanced mixture between the good mood of South Americans with the North European focus and some Asian out of the box, which is new for us, because they really live in another world.
If the design category is reflecting something, I think it’s that it is very oppressed by the crisis. I don't see any outstanding piece of work right now. But I think crises are an opportunity to invent something new. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened, yet.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
"Happy nature lamp" for Panasonic by Scholz & Friends, Germany
"The Face of Marathon" for Adidas GR by HEIMAT Berlin, Germany
Photos & videos via adceurope.org
The award goes to a fun and artfully made ad that however relies on a traditional narrative mechanism. Perhaps it’s a sign. The job of European creative director – and not only – has new territories to explore. Such as transmedia storytelling, to use an example that seems to be popular these days. But also new values and behaviors to interpret. The same judges are divided into those who see very few really original ideas and those who foresee novelties from Eastern Europe. Who will surprise us with new and contemporary routes to creativity?
Grand Prix ADCE 2012: "The Bear" by BETC, France.
Franco Moretti (ADC*E President 2008-2012, Vice Chairman and Group Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Italy)
The language of the future belongs to young European creatives. Because the market is changing and so is the way of conceiving business communication and advertising, influenced by new media.
The youth are the consumers of today and tomorrow. How can their behaviors change? That’s the starting point and from there you have to engage the attention of the current and future consumer, considering that the mechanisms to do so change case by case. In general though, the mechanism is always: to surprise with an intuition, identifying the latent behaviors that accompany us every day, but observing them from a new point of view.
In the past creativity was developing in so called developed countries. Today it’s moving towards the nations of Eastern Europe, who have less resources at their disposal and less prejudices towards new digital communication opportunities. The fresh, new ideas that attract public attention are coming from those areas.
"The Solar Annual Report" for Austria Solar by Serviceplan, Germany
"The Solar Annual Report" for Austria Solar by Serviceplan, Germany
Andy Cheetham (ADC*E Jury President, Creative Director, Cheetham Bell JWT - UK)
We all will speak in code because everything is digital. That is the future without doubt. Which means paper won't die but it will become more specialist, more of an art form and a special value commodity. Also packaging will be as efficient as humanly possible.
I think that today in creativity very little is new. So great design is important but visuals are even more important. Which means, less words and more visuals. But I think we are in good shape. I think graphic design is one of the greatest products of Europe. We have got style in many diverse cultures, and real styles set global cultures.
“The CNN Ecosphere” by Heimat, Germany
Martin Spillmann (Founder and Chairman, Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnet - Switzerland)
I think the language we creatives have to speak with each other throughout Europe has to be a very simple one, because we are still so different. It should be rooted in something we all believe in, not tied to consuming and monetary concerns, but dealing with the quality of life, with real communication: talking and looking into each other's eyes. So in a way it's simplicity we are looking for, but on the other hand I think we have to find new values to believe in.
European creativity is strong in terms of design and look, but I think there is still much of an effort to be made in terms of trying to understand human behavior. We still behave in a traditional, old way. So we have to think more about what we want to change and how to accomplish it, and design will follow accordingly.
"Curators of Sweden" for Swedish institute/VisitSweden by Volontaire, Sweden
Johannes Newrkla (ADC*E treasurer, founder and CEO of Bluetango - Austria)
Everything, including language, starts locally. But once you find a universal style, a local idea can go global.
European creativity is something we have to pepper and to be very careful with. As the European statute declares, it's about unity and diversity. We have to really look after diversity to keep it. And this is the European approach. Because a Spaniard will never become French and a Frenchman will never become Italian, but an Austrian can become an American.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Octav Gheorghe (Creative Director of Gavrila&Asociati - Romania)
I hope it will be a language based on elegant graphic design. On print, online or on the tv screen, it doesn't matter. I think there's a great future for Europe in this area.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Eda Kauba (Creative Director, Euro RSCG Prague, Czech Republic)
I have no magic formula with which to predict our future language. There's no advice, only one possible solution: to do things differently. Don't copy what you admire or what you intuitively want to reinterpret. Just don't do it. Forget it and do your job in your own way, which is the most difficult thing to do.
Creativity is something surprising. It's something we don't expect. But today I think there's nothing that could influence the rest of the world.
"Gustav Mahler Lied Collector's Edition" for Departure by 3007 agency, Austria
Hans Peter Albrecht (General Manager, hp albrecht werbeagentur gmbh - Germany)
It will be a language composed of images, images, images, and a bit of digital. I think images will be even more important than they are today because European creativity is without borders now and people want to communicate more than in the past, so images are the language.
"Results" for Adris Group by Bruketa&Zinic, Croatia
Piia Põldmaa (Art Director, Rakett OÜ - Estonia)
I would say the future is about integrated media. So not only print, posters and old media. It's a whole new connected and convergent world.
Creativity means being cynical and funny at the same time.
"Results" for Adris Group by Bruketa&Zinic, Croatia
Mireia Luna (Co-founder and Creative Director, Estudi Luna, Spain)
A warm digital language. I think that what's important is not the technology used but how sensitive the message is and how close it is to the audience. But always experimental and emotional.
"Against the tide" for Fish & More by Leagas Delaney Hamburg, Germany
Hördur Lárusson (Creative Director, Atelier Atli Hilmarsson - Iceland)
I think it will be the same language of the last years or decade. It's going to be a visual language that makes sense without any text or explanation. It's the language of a brilliant idea that everyone understands, even if we Europeans are different from one another.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
Renos Demetriou (Creative Director, Daedalus Creative Services - Cyprus)
The language will be something similar to musical notes, where creative sounds can be comprehended by all cultures in communication. The sounds will be multi-platform. It will be more like sign language, and it will deal more with mood and emotional opinion.
European creativity today is a cultural expression, with an emotional attachment based on geographic locations. Somebody coming from the north has different emotional ambitions traveling to the south and vice versa. I would like to see that formulated in a creative manner, where the movements from north to south and vice versa blend smoothly into each other.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
Mario Mandacaru (Brand Design Creative Director, Brandia Central)
We are selling contents, otherwise nobody would pay attention to us, so often creativity doesn't need words to communicate. The language will be a balanced mixture between the good mood of South Americans with the North European focus and some Asian out of the box, which is new for us, because they really live in another world.
If the design category is reflecting something, I think it’s that it is very oppressed by the crisis. I don't see any outstanding piece of work right now. But I think crises are an opportunity to invent something new. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened, yet.
"Images for Business service" for Landsbanki by Jonsson & Le'macks advertising, Iceland
"Happy nature lamp" for Panasonic by Scholz & Friends, Germany
"The Face of Marathon" for Adidas GR by HEIMAT Berlin, Germany
Photos & videos via adceurope.org
20 July 2012
FIAT Group Automobiles S.p.A.