From left to right: Karina (MSc Creative Advertising, Claire (MA Lighting Design), Colin (Popular Music) Valentina (Television)

THAT'S US.

What do Austria, California, Greece, and Scotland have in common? You guessed it…the yellow team! We were brought together by the creative city challenge, to explore Edinburgh’s most creative venues and meet industry professionals from our fields.

Our expertise is as diverse as our backgrounds, with creative advertising, popular music, television and lighting design as our subjects. Our well-rounded skills gave us a great advantage to come up with quick campaigns!

​We did have one more thing in common...a desire to challenge ourselves. We are ambitious. We strive to perfect our craft and discover new parts of the city we live and study in along the way.  
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Read on to follow our journey through the city on one of the most creative, challenging, and rewarding experiences. 

You had us at yello...

Nervous and a bit sleepy-eyed, we arrived at the Glassroom at the Merchiston Campus of Napier University. We each had no idea what the day had in store for us, but we knew it was going to be an adventure. 

Why did we join the creative city challenge?
We wanted to meet other creative personalities at Napier & network with the biggest agencies from all over Edinburgh. 

With a flash of a powerpoint presentation, we had our groups and rushed to meet each other. With only 10 minutes to learn each other's names, add each other on Facebook, figure out the clue, and map out our bus plan, we were off! 

Yellow definitely suited our bright personalities.
We chatted and laughed while waiting for the first bus, which was delayed. Good ol' Lothian Buses!

First stop: Tayburn Ltd. 

Our first clue led us to the multi-award winning design and communication agency, Tayburn Ltd., tucked away in Causewayside, Edinburgh. As we charged up the stairs, we were warmly welcomed by the whole team, including Gregor, the design director, who led us through a presentation. He detailed his career progression, the history of the company, and gave us tips on how to get ahead in the industry. 

Started in 1979, the company has had tremendous success with clients like Heineken, Standard Life, the Scotland Commonwealth Games, and more. They believe that having a smaller quantity of clients with better quality relationships is the best way to suceed. Tayburn Ltd. now has offices in London, Aberdeen, and Istanbul.

After the presentation, we were given our challenge: As a team we had to juggle, Hula-hoop and plate-spin together for as long as we could! What an inspiring way to start the day! After a bit of rehearshing, we landed a time of 16 seconds. We were very proud, since none of us are studying circus tricks at Napier!

We toured around Tayburn’s gorgeous (as you’d expect) Edinburgh office, and got to meet some of the staff - who were having a great big party to celebrate the firm’s success! Then we were handed our next clue!​

Thank you to Tayburn Ltd. for having us and showing us how fun it could be to work with you in the future! If you'd like to hire us or even to hire us as your entertainment for your next party, see below for our LinkedIn profiles! 

​Check out Tayburn Ltd. 
@tayburnltd 

"We practice what we preach here."

"We are the design agency that has won the most effectiveness awards in Scotland."

-Tayburn Ltd. 

2nd Stop:
​Scottish Book Trust

We solved our next clue, and we were on the road again!

For our second adventure, we headed to the Scottish Book Trust on Trunk’s Close, right off of the Royal Mile. Philippa, the head of Reading Development, introduced us to the charity.

​The Book Trust aims to inspire readers and writers all over the country, she explained. After giving us a more in-depth overview of the trust’s many programs, and her own extensive résumé, Philippa tasked us with creating the plan for an online event to run with one of the trust’s largest initiatives – Book Week Scotland.

Our team challenge:
The hardest part of this challenge was definitely the fact that we had only 15 minutes to do it! Eventually we settled on creating an online photo competition – aimed at young people – which was based around pictures which evoke the competitors’ favorite books as a source of literary inspiration. Their 'BOOKSPIRATIONS!' We laid out a timeline for the event, as well as our proposed advertising strategy and name – “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” to Philippa, who liked our ideas, and provided us with constructive feedback before sending us out on our next challenge.

Thank you SBT for allowing our imagination and creativity to soar as we created an online event for Book Week Scotland. Great to meet you!

Check out the Scottish Book Trust
@scottishbktrust
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​"Gaffer tape and caffeine cures all"- Philippa, SBT.

Philippa's Book Recommendations for 2017-2018: 

-The Long Drop by Denise Mina
-Little Deaths by Emma Flint

3rd Stop:
​Scottish Chamber Orchestra

We didn't know if we were breathless from the hike up and down Calton Hill to get to the next stop, or from the absolutely gorgeous building that houses the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Headquarters.

We were greeted with smiles and a speech from the Gavin Reid, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. We happily listened to the story of his career journey as he advised us not to rush anything. We "have long careers ahead of us so don't rush it."

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is world-renowned, "bringing people together to be entertained, stimulated and even challenged by music."  We were happily surprised that they are focusing on spreading music and opportunities to local millennials and young adults.
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Our challenge: We had the opportunity to create a marketing campaign that would target and inspire university students from Edinburgh to become student ambassadors for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. 

Insights: After a quick brainstorm, we conclusively agreed that classical orchestra music can seem daunting and exclusionary, especially for students and those who do not typically listen to it. We wanted to make the campaign approachable and funny enough to pique the interest of young students. 

Our strategy was to create short, viral videos of people playing instruments badly. With a quick cut, they would speak to the audience, telling them that "I'm not really a musician, but the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is about more than music." They would go on to discuss the many jobs and opportunities that would interest students from a variety of fields, including marketing, lighting design, advertising, and more. We thought by including other majors, there could be a great campaign there.  Michael and Cat liked our ideas about targeting non-musician students and thanked us for our ideas. In 15 minutes, we were proud that we came up with something! 

Thanks Cat, Michael, and the SCO for allowing our group to brainstorm and give you some ideas for your next marketing campaign! We are so excited to come to your next show and experience the music that makes up the SCO!

Check out the Scottish Chamber Orchestra 
@@SCOmusic

4th Stop:
Filmhouse Cinema

After all of that hill climbing, we decided to pop onto a bus and head to the Edinburgh Filmhouse Cinema! We were so excited to learn that the famous theater is home to the Edinburgh Film fest.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by Michael, one of the Filmhouse's marketing team members. He answered all of our questions about the creative opportunities for students at the Filmhouse and told us stories about how he got into the film industry. 

Since 1978, Filmhouse Cinema has been Edinburgh's leading independent cinema. They are known for "celebrating world cinema in all of it's brilliance and diversity."

We were so stoked to hear about the Student Membership that gives students like us discounts on films, Dvds, and much more! We promptly signed up because, well, who doesn't like movies?!

Our team challenge was to film a 1 minute video about the Edinburgh Filmhouse Cinema. Watch it below!

Thank you Filmhouse Cinema for hosting us and giving us tips on how to apply for student placements during the summer. We are definitely ready to come work for you. Enjoy our movie! 

Check out Filmhouse Cinema Edinburgh 

5th Stop: The Scottish National Portrait Gallery

We aren't going to lie to you, we definitely got lost on this journey.

We thought that our last clue was sending us to the Scottish National Gallery. Instead of ending up there, we went to the wrong museum. When we did arrive at the Scottish National Gallery, the kind security officer laughed and pointed us in the direction of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Whoops!

It was raining and we had 5 minutes to chat with them, but we made it nonetheless. We were escorted into the back room to chat about the Portrait gallery, the creative opportunities for young professionals, and how we could get more involved by volunteering.

Our challenge? To create a new, comfy, gallery chair. Since we were so late, we collected some materials to finish our challenge at home. 
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Cool moment: We were escorted out of the museum through the service and staff entrance. That was a once in a lifetime moment that we will probably never have again! Pretty cool! 

Thank you Scottish National Portrait Gallery for allowing us to come in and chat about the creative opportunities for students like us at your gallery. We are excited to volunteer and get more involved. 

​Check out the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
@NatGalleriesSco

CHALLENGE COMPLETE:
​FIRST TEAM TO ARRIVE AT WHITESPACE

Team Yellow says goodbye

Thanks so much for following along on our journey through the creative city challenge of Edinburgh. We had an amazing time getting to know each other and meeting the creative professionals that make this city shine. Thanks Edinburgh Napier University for creating this challenge for young creatives like us!

4/4 would recommend this challenge to a friend!!

--HOW TO HIRE US--

Karina Bonnin (MSc Creative Advertising)
bonnin.karina@gmail.com
LinkedIn
​Online Portfolio

Colin Myles (Popular Music)
LinkedIn
colin.myles@live.co.uk

Claire Tomara (MA Lighting Design)
​LinkedIn
charikleiatom@gmail.com

Valentina Marinelic (Television)
valentina.marinelic@hotmail.com
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Last Stop:
​A Social at Whitespace

We cheered loudly as we were the first to cross the finish line at Whitespace Creative Agency. 

Chips, coke, and wine at the ready, Edinburgh Napier Uni members were cheering us on as we passed the finish line into the foyer. We settled into a night of reminiscing about the craziness of the day and networking with the creative members of Whitespace Agency. 


​Check out Whitespace
​​@whitespacers

Our Stats
Miles covered: Ouch, our legs would say a million
Challenges Accepted: 5
Selfies taken: Too many, all 4 of our phones died from overuse
Team members that survived: 4