EXPOSURE: On the job
Often fresh graduates in grad programs aren’t given the opportunity to contribute and work on real-time projects. As Creative Associates, both Sam and I have been placed in various project teams to support and learn from the Creative department through the entire pitch to project process. I was recently a part of a project from pitch to project delivery.
Pitching to win
Pitching for work involves answering a brief sent out by a prospective client. Being a part of the pitch team means coming up with one (or several) feasible creative concepts under time pressure. We have to have a strong concept and fast.
One of the highlights of being on the pitch team are the initial brainstorm sessions to come up with the creative concept. Ideas can come in the strangest of ways, at Jacks collaboration within and between departments is highly encouraged. Often, the Creative team will opt for a change of scenery to conduct our brainstorming sessions. On this occasion, we were sitting on the rooftop of our local surrounded by pages and pages of sketches and ideas. We started throwing out our ideas left, right and centre, hoping something would ignite the creative spark within the team.
What if it was a dome?
What if it was a connected igloo system?
What if it was a maze?
We had reached our lightbulb moment.
A modular 3.5-metre high LED space that provides endless possibilities and experiences inside each time you entered.
The longer we sat and thought, the more our idea began to take form. By the end of the evening, we had a rough sketch of our concept and an idea of how it could be executed. In the following days, Andy — our Design Director, created a 3D render of our sketch, transforming it into a beautiful, sleek design. With this complete, we knew we were onto something great.
As we continued to prepare for the pitch, I wondered what would happen in the room.
Would we all have to stand up the front, like a uni presentation?
Would there be an awkward shuffle as people took turns speaking?
What if there was a lag between the computer and the screen display?
Would we be graded?
The atmosphere in the room was unexpectedly light-hearted, we sat with the client and talked them through our idea and execution. It was incredible to see the rapport within the team as they seamlessly passed the talking stick back and forth, cracking jokes at each other’s expense.
An unexpected responsibility
We launched into a flurry of timelines, meetings and creative development to bring our concept to life. The size of the project and various elements each demanded careful consideration and design. One of these elements was our giant LED wall. We wanted to stand out in a sea of stands — to create a show-stopping visual show for guests before they even stepped foot into our experience. It was important to us that our 3.5-metre tall LED was more than a 3.5-metre tall dynamic advertising surface. I was given the responsibility of creating a storyboard for the story we wanted to tell on our wall.
From here I was immersed in a whirlwind of brand assets, TVCs and stock footage to create the perfect story. Initially, I was nervous in creating the storyboard as I had never done anything to this magnitude before. After chatting to the wider team, we established three golden rules of the storyboard to help me structure the story.
1. At any given moment, guests should feel in awe of the video.
2. When sequencing, only one non-brand asset can be placed between brand assets to prevent dilution of brand messaging.
3. The story must be structured and have a logical flow to each product feature highlighted.
We wanted to create a story that would spotlight the brand and their products as well as create intrigue and excitement with guests. I painstakingly trawled through various stock footage websites in search for the perfect complimentary clips to the brand assets (There’s a real gap in the market for candid, non-stock looking footage — side hustle anyone?) and collated an endless stream of motion graphic GIFs, so much so that I started dreaming in GIFs. When I completed the storyboard, I had the opportunity to present my storyboard and a short 5-minute test sequence to the client for approval. I nervously talked her through my thinking and showed her the completed storyboards.
What would she think?
Did I nail the brand voice?
Did I communicate the story well enough?
The team and I had spent weeks dreaming up the experience and the story we wanted to tell, we were able to visit our suppliers and see our dream become reality. Affectionately nicknamed, ‘The Beast’ by the team, the test build at the supplier’s warehouse put in perspective just how tall 3.5m tall was. Seeing the test footage go from my 13-inch MacBook to a screen that was 2.3333 of me high put the whole content piece in perspective for me. Imagine all the lights of VIVID, shining from inside a warehouse. The closer we stepped to the wall, the more light and colour would wash over our faces. In experiencing VIVID up close and personal, I was ready and excited to put together the entire content piece.
Heading back to the office, I could finally realise my lifelong dream of becoming a YouTuber. Armed with a printout of Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts, a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones and a tight deadline I set out to create our visual show in its entirety. I emerged from our studio three days later, with a gigantic file, anxiously hoping my efforts would translate well onto the big screen.
My laptop is still recovering from the mammoth export… I’m eagerly waiting to hear back from the Repair Services team at the Mac Centre about the state of the laptop fan.
The beast rises…
On the first event day, images and videos started to come through the project WhatsApp group chat from the team onsite. I was sitting at dinner with my friends when the first video came through.
“Look at this thing I spent 2 weeks of my life making!!!” I excitedly announced to my friends across the dinner table.
My friends were impressed, the other diners were not.
The day before the next event went live, Sam and I were given the opportunity to be onsite and see the build in action. We were given orange hi-vis to wear whilst on-site, a look we should definitely pair with our balaclavas. As we watched the build, we were able to walk through the space which a couple of weeks ago was purely an idea that lived in a PowerPoint deck.
The next day, I stood in the exhibition hall watching guests stream in and out of the experience we had spent so long crafting. From concept to build, I had only ever seen 5 people at most in the experience at a time. At this event, there were at least 20 people walking through at any one time with lines forming at the doors waiting to enter. Seeing people interact and take photos in front of a project we had worked on for three months made the late nights and challenges worth it.
Going through this pitch to project process has allowed me to gain a better understanding of exactly what it is that we do — absolutely anything and everything. From ideating, storytelling, set dressing to understanding tactile materials. I had never considered the amount of work and attention to detail each project would require.
It has been hugely rewarding to be a part of the team and be given real responsibility for a particular area of the project. It wasn’t without its challenges but without them, I would not have been able to grow my skill set and know just how good Sam and I look in orange hi-vis.
Until next time!
