Where the Puck is going..
A conversation with Kevin Swanepoel, president of The One CLub on IP, advertising and more...
As President of The One Club, Kevin Swanepoel sits at the forefront of the trends that are changing advertising.
Recently they announced a new award. It focuses on IP, product & services development.
We caught up with Kevin to learn more about this award and the how this is a glimpse of possible things to come for the industry.
Q: Kevin, could you tell us a bit more about the new award?
Kevin Swanepoel: The One Show, now in it’s 40th year, prides itself in rewarding the best creative advertising, design, digital and branded entertainment done in the industry.
Over the past few years we have seen a trend increasing, agencies are also creating digital and physical products as well as services and software for brands. This trend, lead to the formation of this new category.
Q: What would be some examples (that would have qualified in retrospect), so we have a bit of an idea of what to expect?
Inspiration for this was Nike Fuelband by R/GA.
Another was the gold winning entry for Red Tomato Pizza by TBWA\RAAD in Dubai. They shared the same insight but this time for a smaller company.
Q: Advertising agencies have been co-developing product and/or IP with clients for years. Why is now the right time to add this separate category and highlight this behaviour?
Kevin Swanepoel: I think the time is right as IP & Product development is becoming mainstream. Agencies are starting product development companies and opening internal Labs to develop non traditional ideas.
Droga5 recently formed DE-DE and innovation labs abound at digital agencies like Razorfish and traditional agencies like TBWA, BBH and Deutsch.
The One Show is a leader in recognizing trends in marketing and communication and recognizing great work being done both on behalf of brands or in conjunction with brands.
Q:The jury is very diverse. What were key qualities that you looked for, while selecting the jury?
Kevin Swanepoel: Like every One Show jury, we only invite people who are at the pinnacle of creating the very work they are to judge. This jury is an amazing group of entrepreneurs, creatives, experience designers, engineers and visionaries.
I think the insight and discussion that will take place, will be incredible given the breadth and diversity of this jury.
The IP & Product Judges:
David Lee, Chief Creative Officer, Squarespace
James Cooper, Head of Creative, Betaworks
Adrian Ho, Founding Partner/Strategist, Zeus Jones
Hashem Bajwa, Founder, DE-DE
Scott Bright, Founder, Synapse
Noah Brier, Founder, Percolate
Richard Ting, EVP/Global ECD/Mobile & Social Platforms, R/GA
Luke Hamilton, Global Group CD/Emerging Experiences, Razorfish
Ricky Engelberg, Experience Director/Digital Sport, Nike
Andrew Zolty, Co-Founder/CD, BreakfastNY
Julie Beeler, Founder, Second Story
Rick Webb, Venture Partner, Quotidian Ventures
Masashi Kawamura, Creative Director & Co-Founder, Party
Nathan Martin, CEO & ECD, Deeplocal
Q: It seems quite a shift in mindset, to go from service provider to ‘builder’. What do agencies need to change to compete, not just in this new category, but in a climate where ‘software is eating the world’ ?
“There will need to be a shift in agency mindset for sure. In the future agencies will need to bring together entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, inventors and engineers if they are hoping to compete or create in this category.”
This will not happen overnight and at every agency. The agencies that are nimble and have a visionary at the helm, will get in early by creating a group who can explore product development for brands and possibly their own products.
Agencies are often pitching great product ideas to brands and clients that are not “bought.” Some agencies are developing these ideas into their own IP & products.
Q: This ‘build it and own it’ mentality, seems to require a re-skilling within advertising agencies. What are the skills that you would look for in talent, if you were the head of an agency?
Kevin Swanepoel: The skills that a lead will need is entrepreneurship, the ability to think like a startup, to be able to ideate and quickly prototype the ability to bring together a creative team that could consist of strategist, scientists, designers, coder’s, UX/UI, inventors and engineers,
BUT the idea is NOT to have a preconceived team, but to assemble the right team for the project at the right time.
Q: And finally, looking at the way that technology, creativity, design and product development are merging, what would you advise a young Kevin Swanepoel, if he asked you where to apply his trade: an agency, a client, a product development company or startup? Why?
Kevin Swanepoel: I would do exactly what I did, I was a creative entrepreneur who started my own agency, I then got some technical skills by working for Apple, I coded and have been fortunate to surround myself with some amazing people to achieve the goal at hand…
Thank you Kevin and we look forward to seeing the *entries and winners being announced.
*Deadline to enter this category is March 7th. The entry site can be found here: http://enter.oneclub.org
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