Meeting the New Blood
Visiting U.K.’s finest talent at
the D&AD New Blood Academy
When my colleague told me I was going to London for this years’ VBAT Meet Market, I was jumping up and down with excitement for many reasons;
- Meeting some of the finest talents from the D&AD New Blood Academy;
- Getting to lead a workshop and being allowed to use some of my crazy energizers on the students, and;
- Exploring the insane amount of creativity that London has to offer!
The Trip
Getting through one of the hottest days (35°C) in the Netherlands was pretty hard to begin with, but to know that you have to go to bed when it feels like 6PM while knowing you have to get up at 4:30AM to catch a flight, was even harder.
Enough with the First World Problems though, because one coffee later, Connie (Public Relations) and I were ready to get started. We met Graham (Creative Director) in this lovely place called Secondhome, right in the middle of Brick Lane.
The interior felt like a scene from the Jetsons. Beautifully renovated with curved plastic and orange coloured wood.
The D&AD
Right after some delicious freshly squeezed juice at Secondhome, it was time to start moving towards the D&AD Studio, where we were hosting our workshop for eager D&AD students.
Since 1962, D&AD has been inspiring a community of creative thinkers by celebrating and stimulating the finest in design and advertising.
As a non-profit, all of D&AD’s surpluses go straight into programmes such as New Blood, that inspire the next generation of creative talent and stimulate the creative industry to work towards a fairer more sustainable future.
This year, VBAT was newly introduced as a mentoring agency for the New Blood students and to act as a host for an internship that will be given to the lucky winners of the prestigious D&AD pencils.
The Workshop
We were glad that we had brought over 20 ‘Designer Aid Kit’ boxes because the workshop was packed. Tables filled with ‘Stroopwafels’, liquorice and peppermints, we were ready to get started.
The students told us they were all from different schools, which showed us how influential the D&AD organisation is. They were eager, had lots of energy and it was great to see that they wanted to use that energy to come up with great ideas during the workshop.
Graham kicked off with a thorough introduction on who we were, what VBAT has done over the last 30(!) years and introduced them to the rebranding we did for John Smith’s and how they will be getting involved through the following question;
“How can we refresh a brand like John Smith’s in a way
that wasn’t possible 5 years ago?”
Right after Graham showed them fragments of John Smith’s rich English history, it was my turn.
Remembering how I felt in my student time (not that hard to remember, as that was last year), I knew the students were probably low on energy after listening carefully to Graham for the past half hour.
For that reason, I made them do a little energizer that I like to call: Mazunga!
The response was hilarious.
The energy was up again and with a short explanation of our method ‘Idea Speed Dating’, the students were ready to go.
The method works this way;
Students stand in front of a big paper, with about 3 to 5 other students in their team at the same table. When the music starts they have 5 minutes to write down their ideas. When finished, they move a place to the left, seeing the ideas of their teammate. When the music starts again, they are able to build on each others’ ideas, creating a positive environment for the creation of brilliant solutions for John Smith’s.
The Results
With about 20 minutes to build a presentation and show the results to an actual delegate of John Smith’s, the students worked hard to fine-tune their idea.
I must say; the results were fantastic and above all hilarious! It was great to see what the students were able to achieve within 2 hours time and how they gave each other space to tell the story (especially when you realise that they were complete strangers to each other).
From ‘Tweet your #Tash’, to building a crowd-sourced story about the history of John Smith’s and an exclusive beer garden, the ideas were fantastic!
Alex (our delegate from John Smith’s) made the final decision and voted ‘Tweet your #Tash’ the ultimate winner. Their core idea; to launch a campaign to promote the ‘moustache’ that you get when drinking a pint of John Smith’s. When you tweet the image, you get a chance to get access to an exclusive event.
They were rewarded with a book from ‘What Design Can Do’ and Alex promised them a box filled with glassware by John Smith’s.
Great energy, great students, amazing results. We could not have been happier.
A big thank you to all attendees, you were all amazing to be around and we were honored by your presence; THANK YOU!
And for us; after a quick visit to The Drum’s #CannesComedown and the D&AD New Blood Awards, we decided that this epic day needed some epic pizza and above all; a large, super comfy hotel bed.
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Annet is a Hyper Island alumni, currently living in Amsterdam and working as a Brand Strategist.
Also gives workshops in various creative methods, productivity & team development.
