Pretty ‘Pest & Isobar’s EMEA Creative Programme
I recently spent three days in the glittering, historic city of Budapest for Isobar’s first EMEA Digital Creative Programme of 2017. The theme of the event was Creativity and Service Design, and the brief was set by a leading telecommunications brand.
The Digital Creative Programme is a perk of being an Isobar employee and is a three-day whirlwind, providing an opportunity to meet fellow Isobar creatives from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as-well-as working on a live client brief! The people who attend the Programme are handpicked by local Isobar CEOs — and they were all super interesting. One of my favourite people to meet was Pia, from Magnetix Linked by Isobar in Copenhagen — she transitioned from a PM in to a new role as a UX Designer — it’s really inspiring to see how you can take your career in to your own hands like that.
The agenda for the first day was tightly-packed, kicking off with a tour of Isobar’s office, which was full of one-off agency quirks, including a huge map of Budapest which pin-points which part of the city the teams there live in and some life-sized telephone boxes. We were then given an introduction to Isobar Budapest and their most creatively successful work, followed by an interactive ice-breaker, an overview of Service Design and a live briefing from the client. All in just a couple of hours! The challenge was based on strengthening the telecommunications company’s connection with millennials through more personalised experiences. Anticipating how the millennial generation will impact the services that the telecommunication sector offers is key for their brand.
We were then split into five mixed-discipline teams and were guided through some rapid ideation techniques including the creation of a “persona” that would act as our target audience. My team consisted of a strategy planner, a client associate, a UX strategist and myself, a designer. Our task was to produce two ideas to answer the question: “How might we sharpen the connection by rewarding your persona’s loyalty with personalised experiences.”
After developing our “persona” (Lina, a 22-year-old aspiring blogger who is always on and always connected), we began ideating based on incentivising loyalty with special and personalised experiences, while looking at the whole scope of the customer journey. The ideation sessions were very insightful, especially our differing approaches to answering the brief. Everybody shared their initial thoughts and ideas, which was followed by a collaborative effort to build on the strongest ideas and find the best solution.
This was a great moment in the Programme — it became really clear to me how different and diverse our agency cultures are. The contrasting ways people approach a brief relates to these differences — for example — willingness to move off-brief came from more fearless agencies, and the most effective ideas came from agencies who wanted to stick to the brief. It really changed the way I see how multi-market creative teams might ideate.
We then took a trip to the 3D Academy where we experimented with the technology, and created our “persona” (Lina). It was very exciting to watch our character come to life in front of our eyes — when she hadn’t existed just hours earlier. I have always been fascinated by 3D technology and the potential it has and it was great to have the chance to be a part of the process from start to finish.
The day ended with dinner at Mazel Tov, a trendy restaurant in the heart of Budapest. Everything about it was great, the venue, the food, the live music, everything! If you’re ever in Budapest, I highly recommend a visit! It also provided a great opportunity to network with fellow attendees. The group was small enough to get to know everyone’s face and their role within Isobar — from art directors and copywriters, to strategists and producers, the diversity and those slight differences in global perspectives is one of the greatest things to come from working in a global agency.
The following day began in the Isobar office, where the teams were asked to wrap up their preferred ideas and pull together a presentation, ready for the client pitch later that afternoon. My team narrowed our presentation down to three ideas: a platform designed for creating personalised data packages, an app-based community where the brand provides exclusive and inspirational experiences based on personal interest and geo-location, and a Facebook-Messenger Chatbot, with the aim to be instantly accessible to the millennial generation without them having to leave their comfort zone.
Each team had 10 minutes to pitch their ideas and then the floor opened up to questions, either from the audience, or the client. Although nerve-wracking, it definitely boosted my confidence in terms of pitching. I was buzzing afterwards. After everybody had presented, and a sigh of relief, judging commenced and the winning team was announced. The programme wrapped up around 16:00, and after a lot of goodbyes and detail-exchanges I headed straight to the Matthias Church, for a panoramic and picturesque view of the city — something that I like to do in each country I visit.
If I were to give advice to anyone attending the EMEA Digital Creative Programme, it would be to network as much as possible. What defines the Programme is the diverse range of people and the vibrant culture that Isobar encourages. Take complete advantage of this — chat, laugh and learn from them! Grit your teeth and get involved.
After an intense couple of days, I learned new ways of working, had the opportunity to network with people from various cultures and disciplines and made some wonderful new friends. A particular highlight for me was getting the opportunity to collaborate with the people and disciplines that vary from my day-to-day interactions.
Jack Gipp, Designer, Isobar Global
