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COSTAS NILSEN
BA IN FILM |
PATRYCJA KILANOWSKA
BDes IN PRODUCT DESIGN |
CIARA BOYLE
MSc IN CREATIVE ADVERISMENT |
AMANDA ARMAO
MSc IN CREATIVE ADVERTISMENT |
LYNN RUSK
MA IN JOURNALISM |
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The Beginning
Our journey began on Wednesday morning, 3rd October 2018 in the Glassroom at Merchiston Campus. Unsure of what the day would bring or what obstacles we would face or in fact where we were even going; one thing was certain, we all had come with our ‘A’ or should I say ‘Red’ game, ready to take on the Creative City Challenge 2018! |
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First Clue: The Scottish Design Exchange |
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Here we were greeted by the lovely Lynzi and Mike. Lynzi told us that she set up the Scottish Design Exchange in 2015 with a vision to compete with high street stores and make it easier for customers to buy directly from local artists. Here artists pay a monthly rent fee to the store and in return receive 100% commission of sales from their work. The aim of the shop is to promote local artists and designers and to make it more accessible for the regular customer to buy original artwork and products.
The Scottish Design Exchange stocks jewellery, greeting cards, clothing, home accessories, accessories, picture frames, gifts and prints and original artwork. Our challenge today was to help promote and spread the word of SDX’s ‘Young Product Designer of the Year’ competition. This is an opportunity for creatives aged 16-25 to present their most exciting and innovative product and the winning prize is £1000 cash towards developing their product plus 12 months commission-free retail space to sell their winning product at the Scottish Design Exchange stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow. With a diverse range of skills and expertise in our group we decided to create a short promotional video for Instagram showcasing the products on display at the Scottish Design Exchange to give possible entrants a bit more of an idea about the store and the kind of products sold there. |
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Second Clue: The Gate |
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Here we met Helen, a copywriter and content creator at the agency and a past MSc Creative Advertising student from Napier. She explained to us that The Gate is an ideas agency and their aim is to work strategically across brand and communications. Their main campaigns that they have worked on over the last year include their ‘In Town, Slow Down’ Roadbot, their award winning ad campaign to recruit teachers for STEM subjects across Scotland and Deadinburgh, a campaign commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to engage Edinburgh with Science. The Gate looks at new, forward thinking approaches to create adverts and raise awareness of issues, one example included creating an audio track for Road Safety Scotland to help reach young male drivers.
Our challenge set to us by Helen was to create an advert for Persil. Keeping the ideals of The Gate in mind our team decided to take a more social approach towards this ad. We came up with the idea of a Mobile Persil Van which would drive around the city and provide a free service for homeless people to wash their clothes and sleeping bags. We decided that the van would stop at a few different points around the city including the Social Bite, community kitchens, The Salvation Army Homeless Service and Streetworks. We believe that through altruism Persil would raise its profile and attract more socially conscious customers.
Our challenge set to us by Helen was to create an advert for Persil. Keeping the ideals of The Gate in mind our team decided to take a more social approach towards this ad. We came up with the idea of a Mobile Persil Van which would drive around the city and provide a free service for homeless people to wash their clothes and sleeping bags. We decided that the van would stop at a few different points around the city including the Social Bite, community kitchens, The Salvation Army Homeless Service and Streetworks. We believe that through altruism Persil would raise its profile and attract more socially conscious customers.
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Third Clue: Studio Something |
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After getting lost a few times we finally made it to our third destination, Studio Something. Here we were greeted by Jordan, one of the Creative Directors. Studio Something is a very unique agency as it was set up by the two creative partners that broke away from the traditional agency model. Studio Something has a very niche feel to it and the co-owners have made their mark on the place as there is a definite ‘vibe’ you feel on entering the space.
Jordan explained to us how he and his business partner had started off at the Leith Agency but became interested in making music videos on the side. They then decided to set up their own agency to suit their own creative interests. Their clients include Innis and Gunn, Tennants and they were also the creators of ‘The Power of Ok’ for See Me, a mental health awareness campaign in Scotland. Jordan’s challenge for us today was to create a social media post to promote Innis and Gunn’s Gunpowder IPA beer for Fireworks Night. We had twenty minutes and the only prop provided was a can of the beer in question. We brainstormed a few ideas and decided to create an image of the beer with fireworks exploding from it. Our slogan to go with the image was ‘Explosive Taste’. |
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Fourth Clue: Media Com |
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Our fourth stop was at Media Com. Energies were beginning to run low as we had been so busy all day, none of us had stopped to eat or even have a bathroom break! (The stakes were too high.) Media Com was definitely the most corporate place we had visited all day. Here we were greeted by Em one of the account directors. She gave us the lowdown on Media Com and explained to us that it is a global corporation; in fact only one of their clients is based in Scotland, while the rest are in London and across Europe. Media Com does not create advertisements, they liaise between the ad agencies and clients and use research methods to plan campaigns to best suit each individual client. Their clients include Subway, Trivago and Tesco.
Our challenge set to us by Media Com was to brainstorm ideas for a campaign to promote Tik Tok, a social media app which originated in China to 18-24 year olds. Tik Tok has all of the main functions of Snapchat and Instagram but has additional effects which include creating your own music video. We came up with a lot of ideas including having a Tik Tok virtual reality booth at different student nights, having Tik Tok sponsored nights and using Tik Tok selfie frames, approaching different influencers popular with this age group to advertise it on their social media pages, set up a Tik Tok Virtual Reality mirror at different Topshop stores and set stands and booths at music festivals encouraging people to play with Tik Tok, and in order to be able to share or save their videos, download the app.
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Fifth Clue: Cello Signal |
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Luckily our final stop was just across the street. Here at Cello Signal we were greeted by Ian Fletcher, or Fletch as he likes to be called, the Creative Director. Everyone instantly warmed to Fletch and the positive vibe at Cello Signal. Fletch explained to us that Cello Signal is part of a group of agencies alongside The Leith Agency and Stripe. The agency takes a collaborative approach where ‘thinkers and doers organise around the problem. Their clients include Lloyds Banking Group, Nando’s and the British Heart Foundation.
Fletch set us with a challenge to come up with some ideas to promote Nando’s to vegans. After some discussion we decided to make an entire month where ‘Nando’s goes Vegan’ which would be November in celebration of World Vegan Day which is November 1st. We kept all of the chicken on the menu but decided to change the logo from red to green for the month and add a vegan section to the menu. The slogan we came up with was ‘Don’t eat the chicken, eat like the chicken’. We also decided to set up free tasting sessions of the new vegan options where customers could get a chance to broaden their tastes. With fifteen minutes left to get back to the Barge we thanked Fletch and ran all the way.
Fletch set us with a challenge to come up with some ideas to promote Nando’s to vegans. After some discussion we decided to make an entire month where ‘Nando’s goes Vegan’ which would be November in celebration of World Vegan Day which is November 1st. We kept all of the chicken on the menu but decided to change the logo from red to green for the month and add a vegan section to the menu. The slogan we came up with was ‘Don’t eat the chicken, eat like the chicken’. We also decided to set up free tasting sessions of the new vegan options where customers could get a chance to broaden their tastes. With fifteen minutes left to get back to the Barge we thanked Fletch and ran all the way.
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Finale
Exhausted and hungry we made our way back to the Barge which was kindly let out to us by Cello Signal. The refreshments were very welcome after a long day. It was a lovely opportunity to chat and mingle and re call the events of the day. We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the Creative City Challenge as it was a fantastic opportunity to gain an inside perspective of a few very different creative establishments in Edinburgh. Each place we visited was different but had something exciting to offer. It was a wonderful experience being part of a team of individuals with different skill sets and it gave us the opportunity to merge together our skills to work collaboratively. We would like to thank My Future Napier, The Edinburgh Design Exchange, The Gate, Studio Something, Media Com and Cello Signal for all of their hard work for putting together this brilliant learning experience. |
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