By AJ Coyne
Ogilvy Fellow
After months of anticipation the final of dialogue’s Creative Academy took place and did not disappoint. The ten talented finalists joined us here in Paddington to showcase their winning entries. The format was speed dating style, where every entrant had the opportunity to pitch their work to some of the ‘top dogs’ in the industry. Quite a daunting task and having gone through a similar process myself to join the Ogilvy Fellowship I did not envy them. Their task had been to select one of eight P&G brands and develop a creative idea borne from a consumer insight that would persuade people to buy. As a judge, I was fortunate to spend 10-15 minutes with each finalist and can honestly say the work created was outstanding. They had each naturally evolved the brief, found real consumer insight and created multi-channel and most importantly relevant campaigns.
After the speed dating had come to an end, we wasted no time in reviewing all the work and with 10 judges, I had a assumed that this would be a lengthy process, however after some deliberation there was one clear winner, Zoe. Zoe chose P&G’s Fairy as her brand of choice to answer the competition brief. Zoe brought a fresh lease of life to a well loved brand, identifying a new target market for Fairy to tap into. Alongside this, she presented a holistic campaign that was ‘spot on’ for the target, which included some quirky and innovative activation ideas.
After the decision was made, all that was left to do was to announce our winner. Quite an X Factor moment and incredibly nerve wracking, but once the announcement was made, the champagne was open and everyone was soon celebrating.
An absolutely fantastic final, worthy winner and great bunch of finalists, I have no doubt that they will all be working in the industry soon. That is it for dialogue Creative Academy 2011 – however 2012 is already upon us, so watch this space. All I can say is expect, BIGGER, BETTER, BOLDER.
