#OneShow2017: That South African One Show direct link
One Show 2017’s Creative Week kicks off from Monday, 8 May until the final part of the two-night gala awards ceremony showcasing the gold, silver and bronze winners across all disciplines on Friday, 12 May. I chatted to some of the South Africans involved in this annual international festival in celebration and support of the global advertising and design industry in terms of diversity, education and leadership.
First up is Gordhan. She’s a true inspiration and role model to many, because in addition to her creative role at FCB Africa, Gordhan is also the current Loeries’ chairperson and part of this year’s One Show direct jury. It doesn’t get more top-level than that.
Gordhan shares insights into her One Show judging experience, as well as how diversity forms a golden thread through all the One Show touches…
Describe the One Show judging experience.
Gordhan: I was live with the rest of the jury in Bermuda. It’s always an honour and a privilege to judge an awards show. It was my first time judging at One Show and I found the experience truly rewarding – not only because you get to see a range of work from all over the world but also because you get to meet jurors whose work precedes their names.
It also makes a welcome change from your day-to-day. Where you might be pulled in a hundred different directions on a usual work day, when judging, you get to spend an entire two days immersed in one thing only – the viewing of work and deciding on the merit of each piece.
Each judging experience is different and offers an opportunity to sharpen your critical acumen. Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Show, asks that when you comment on a piece of work, you avoid personal opinion and respond based on facts. I think this an interesting process and doesn’t allow anyone to slate any work.
Viewing some of the world’s greatest pieces of advertising is always inspiring and a good measuring tool upon which to judge your own work. Being in the company of great work and great people in a beautiful setting makes for an unforgettable experience!
We can only imagine. Diversity is a hot topic in advertising at the moment, particularly in SA – luckily that’s also one of the One Show’s key talking points. Was this reflected in the judging?
Gordhan: Absolutely, and rightly so. It feels strange to still be discussing the topic of diversity in the 21st century, but here we are. Global CEO of FCB, Carter Murray says, “When you put great people in a room, you get great work.”
And those great people need to be interesting and overtly different. They need to come from all walks of life and bring with them their lived experiences. It’s comforting though, to know that the topic of diversity is not just a South African one. It is on the minds of our global friends, too. The bottom line is, you cannot make unique work if you don’t have unique insights that come from unique people from diverse backgrounds.
The One Show is behind diversity and transformation and the panels reflected that. Of the 12 jurors on the direct panel, 5 were women. The work that the One Show does with regard to diversity does not limit itself to the way the panels are considered. The One Show also has The Creative Women’s Leadership Series, a program in which top women in the industry mentor young professionals as well Creative Boot Camp, which is a series of inclusion and diversity workshops for college students.
There’s also an annual multicultural career fair in New York, attended by over 700 young and aspiring creatives.
Without giving too much away, talk us through the quantity and overall calibre of the direct marketing entries you saw.
Gordhan: With all awards shows, there’s a lot of sifting to get to the great work. There are always some bad pieces and some really brilliant and enviable pieces of work.
In the direct category, there were a total of 1,200 entries. Some of the work that made it to the top is already well known and has been awarded at other shows, which proves that outstanding work will always find its place in the spotlight.
For me, the best pieces of work in the category were those that had the following qualities: a degree of difficulty and risk, flawless, effortless execution and born from a really simple idea – but not so simple that they were lacking in awe.
The piece that was awarded Best of Show in our category is a piece I’ve always loved because it is brave, displays ingenuity in its solving of a business problem and was also highly effective.
Colour us intrigued! List a few key direct marketing trends that stood out from the entries you judged.
Gordhan: The trends that I noticed across some of the really remarkable pieces of work was fresh and interesting use of SEO and social listening tools. A few brands took the simple notion of search and listening algorithms and utilised those technologies in really surprising and effective ways. Some of those pieces include ‘Canadian Down Syndrome Answers’, Ikea’s ‘Retail Therapy’ and Snickers’ ‘Hungerithm’:
All those pieces used great insight first and the ideas were simple, big ideas that made the technology behind them seamless and almost invisible. While the tech was integral to the idea, the idea is at the forefront not the tech.
Sounds like truly diverse world-class creativity, we can’t wait to see the winning work. We’ll have more from the other South African advertising and design educators who took part in the One Show's Young Ones judging early next week. Click here for schedule highlights. You can also follow The One Club on Twitter and click through to our One Show special section for the latest updates!
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
