CreativeLIAisons marked a turning point in my professional career. After attending, for the first time in 2015, I managed to be part of relevant ideas in my country Colombia, ideas that beyond winning awards were transcendental because they caused a positive impact on society. Nothing is coincidence, and only a couple of years later I received the proposal to join Casanova McCann in California, USA; At the same time, I had a chance to see how other creatives who attended CreativeLIAisons had also achieved essential achievements in their respective careers. Again, nothing is just a coincidence.
In 2018 I had the opportunity to return CreativeLIAisons, and again I was excited to be part of the new generation of creatives to shape the future. This is an excellent opportunity to listen to speakers who share their thoughts on the current state of the industry and the role we play in shaping the future of advertising. Also meeting the young creatives from different parts of the world and being able to sit and watch the Jury Statue Discussions is something inspiring.
I would like to return to CreativeLIAisons, but as one of the speakers and as a LIA Juror, like Ricardo Wolf, who shared his experience and the impact that CreativeLIAisons has had on his career. Finally, I want to thank LIA and McCann WorldGroup for this fantastic opportunity, especially Barbara Levy for her unparalleled support she has given me as well as all the new talents in the industry.
What was your favorite talk?
It was a week full of talks packed with exciting and inspiring moments, but if I had to choose my favorite talk, I think it was Matt MacDonald's. He shared a masterly speech with secrets to persuade and sell ideas to our clients, "That’s why selling your idea is just one small part of a creative presentation."
His lecture was a journey that went deep into all the points of a campaign presentation, showing us some daily mistakes we make as well as explainingwhy some good ideas die. Each of his tips were intended to teach us to improve our chances of selling the idea we want to get across with the least amount of revisions. In general, it was an excellent presentation full of memorable but straightforward phrases which invited us to reflect while keeping all the CreativeLIAison attentive.
"It's not facts. It's not a truth. It does not chart. It's not a statistic. It's not data. It's not a strategy. IT'S EMOTION ".
What did you learn when you sat in the judging room?
It is said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I will betray this phrase because it is impossible not to share this incredible experience.
I was fortunate enough to sit in on the Non-Traditional Statue Discussions, where some of the participating judges were Khai Tham, Bruno Bertelli, Riccardo Fregoso, Rodrigo Jatene, and Liz Taylor among others. While they were discussing the statues, I could not stop thinking about the large number of mistakes that the agencies and creatives make when counting their ideas in a case study, sometimes wanting to impress many ideas end up being bullshit, and other times I could see excellent ideas but very poorly expressedin the cases. There is something that will never change, and it is the fact that a bad idea cannot be hidden behind a well-filmed case.
The most exciting part of the judging was deciding what the Grand Prix would be; it was a really stressful couple of hours, moments and opinions full of drama, all the jury membersand creatives were divided 50% between 2 ideas that were discussed again and again until one of the jurors mentioned that an idea of ??public good was “nocan win” Grand Prix...I asked myself why not?
What were your three biggest takeaways from the whole program?
CreativeLIAisons marked a turning point in my professional career. After attending, for the first time in 2015, I managed to be part of relevant ideas in my country Colombia, ideas that beyond winning awards were transcendental because they caused a positive impact on society. Nothing is coincidence, and only a couple of years later I received the proposal to join Casanova McCann in California, USA; At the same time, I had a chance to see how other creatives who attended CreativeLIAisons had also achieved essential achievements in their respective careers. Again, nothing is just a coincidence.
In 2018 I had the opportunity to return CreativeLIAisons, and again I was excited to be part of the new generation of creatives to shape the future. This is an excellent opportunity to listen to speakers who share their thoughts on the current state of the industry and the role we play in shaping the future of advertising. Also meeting the young creatives from different parts of the world and being able to sit and watch the Jury Statue Discussions is something inspiring.
I would like to return to CreativeLIAisons, but as one of the speakers and as a LIA Juror, like Ricardo Wolf, who shared his experience and the impact that CreativeLIAisons has had on his career. Finally, I want to thank LIA and McCann WorldGroup for this fantastic opportunity, especially Barbara Levy for her unparalleled support she has given me as well as all the new talents in the industry.
What was your favorite talk?
It was a week full of talks packed with exciting and inspiring moments, but if I had to choose my favorite talk, I think it was Matt MacDonald's. He shared a masterly speech with secrets to persuade and sell ideas to our clients, "That’s why selling your idea is just one small part of a creative presentation."
His lecture was a journey that went deep into all the points of a campaign presentation, showing us some daily mistakes we make as well as explaining why some good ideas die. Each of his tips were intended to teach us to improve our chances of selling the idea we want to get across with the least amount of revisions. In general, it was an excellent presentation full of memorable but straightforward phrases which invited us to reflect while keeping all the CreativeLIAison attentive.
"It's not facts. It's not a truth. It does not chart. It's not a statistic. It's not data. It's not a strategy. IT'S EMOTION ".
What did you learn when you sat in the judging room?
It is said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I will betray this phrase because it is impossible not to share this incredible experience.
I was fortunate enough to sit in on the Non-Traditional Statue Discussions, where some of the participating judges were Khai Tham, Bruno Bertelli, Riccardo Fregoso, Rodrigo Jatene, and Liz Taylor among others. While they were discussing the statues, I could not stop thinking about the large number of mistakes that the agencies and creatives make when counting their ideas in a case study, sometimes wanting to impress many ideas end up being bullshit, and other times I could see excellent ideas but very poorly expressed in the cases. There is something that will never change, and it is the fact that a bad idea cannot be hidden behind a well-filmed case.
The most exciting part of the judging was deciding what the Grand Prix would be; it was a really stressful couple of hours, moments and opinions full of drama, all the jury members and creatives were divided 50% between 2 ideas that were discussed again and again until one of the jurors mentioned that an idea of ??public good was “no can win” Grand Prix...I asked myself why not?
What were your three biggest takeaways from the whole program?
Top 3:
1 - 13 hours of judging sessions.
2 - 16 hours of seminars.
3 - 5 days of networking