#Loeries2019: Mama Creative explains why it's on all of us to tell better stories
“Reset mindsets. Challenge traditions. Tell better stories. Change the story, change the world.” This purpose-led marketing message is the crux of this year’s call to action in the Loeries 2019 campaign. But there’s more to it than that.
The strong bumblebee-coloured barber pole effect messaging appears not just in English but in regional languages like Arabic, Swahili and Zulu, as an example of walking the talk in advocating for local relevance and resonance.
This is the major insight that led us to the clarion call to tell better stories, stories that make a difference to people, brands and businesses. Stories that change our world for the better – challenge stereotypes, tear down racial divides, embrace cultural differences and provoke conversation. Creativity is everywhere and in everything. As soon as we speak, make or do – we are being creative. When I am present and proactive in its pursuit, be it at home or at work, I am happiest.
Let’s set context for our readers by starting with the rationale behind this year’s Loeries campaign. Talk us through the brief and what response has been like so far.
The Loeries brief for the year was clear. The creative execution needed to answer one fundamental question: How can we, as the Loeries, push the industry forward for the better and, in turn, how can we ensure that the creative industry is pushing society forward for the better, ensuring we are more inclusive, more representative and, overall, a force for good and positive change?
The Loeries, which is not-for-profit and independent, has spent the past 40 years driving – and in many ways building – creative excellence across Africa and the Middle East. The question is, now that we have built this excellence and recognition, what do we do with it?
There’s certainly a movement towards doing good being good for business. Speaking of ‘good’, talk us through the Loeries-Mama Creative working relationship, and what each party brings to the table.
It’s been really interesting for us – we’ve learned a lot. While we’ve never really been an agency driven by awards, we do have an immense appreciation for creativity, and we believe it should be celebrated and recognised, a belief we share strongly with the Loeries.
Fantastic. Drilling down to the Loeries 2019 campaign work in particular, explain the design elements and why they work.
The colours and fonts were already locked down in the Loeries’ corporate identity but an entirely new element that we introduced was the 2D animated wordplays, which are very clickable and performing really well across social and digital platforms.
They also serve as an effective mechanism to define our framework for telling better stories.
Key to our solve, and indeed a theme that runs through a lot of the work we do, was to create a style that is light and executable in studio. This allows us to be reactive to insights.
We constantly monitor and adapt our messaging based on user insights. In a campaign like this that serves many regions — we are also able to adapt messaging per region with relative ease.
Good question! Elaborate on what’s still to come from the campaign for the year.
This year, the campaign is a little different from previous years. Our strategy is not to advertise to the advertisers or show creatives how well we can create, but rather, to remind them of this powerful platform to showcase their beliefs and talent and remind the industry as a whole of the importance of their work, work that goes far beyond boardrooms.
The campaign will continue to challenge and motivate brands and creatives, asking them how their work is breaking boundaries, provoking conversations, ending stereotypes and celebrating humanity.
We will be using the stories from within our industry to motivate others and show them the power of creative work done well, and the impact it has on society.
As entry deadlines come to a close, we will shift our focus to the excitement of Loeries Creative Week.
There’s an incredible line-up of international and local speakers at the seminar and Masterclasses, a host of incredible events, and let’s not forget the award ceremonies!
We have the responsibility as an industry to ensure that our representation of humanity is genuine. We need to address societal issues, in order to change perceptions and actions for the better.Always a highlight on our calendar! There’s no denying that storytelling is a hugely powerful medium. Let’s end with some advice on how the creative industry can effectively ‘change the story’, both through individual input and as a collective, in the work we produce?
To connect with people on a human level and make a real impact, we need to explore narratives that haven’t been heard and tell them in ways they haven’t been told. We rely heavily on subscribed versions of reality — often handed down to us from somewhere in suburban America. It’s time to look around. Celebrate where we are and tell the stories that are uniquely ours to tell.
This not only changes the landscape of advertising but society itself, as advertising plays a huge role in the representation of people, their beliefs and their actions.
That is how we change the story.
We’re looking forward to seeing the positive effects of that shift in storytelling. Click through to our Loeries’ special section for more, and be sure to follow their social media feeds for the latest updates: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram.
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.
