Since creating One Minute Briefs a couple of years ago, we have watched it grow into a fantastic community of creative people and made some good friends. There has never been a time where we have questioned whether to continue with One Minute Briefs. Unfortunately, that changed on Friday.
Unprovoked comments were made about us and our followers which we were extremely offended by, not just for ourselves but for all of the people who interact with us online and at events.
The words said about us are as follows:
"They are CUNTS who rely on the creativity of others. They had one good idea that exploits loads of young desperate creatives. When it comes down to their own work - they get fuck all."
Wow.
On a personal level, we were obviously appalled at being called that for starters, and yes we didn't win anything at The Roses on this occasion...thanks for reminding us though. We apologise for being such epic failures. Just remember a lot of people work fucking hard in their jobs and don't get the nominations and recognition they deserve, so to get nominated and then get people talking about how you've failed doesn't make sense.
However, more importantly, these words were offensive in the way they belittled a strong creative community. When we started One Minute Briefs, it was to share the One Minute ideas that we create whether they are bad or good. We didn't expect it to grow in the way it has. It has become a great place to create content and improve quick-thinking. Due to this, it has also become a successful educational tool which the IPA and D&AD have used for students. People can share their ideas and get the opinions of fellow creatives. Plus, as it's all about quick ideas, no-one judges. We just provide a platform for this to happen, so to suggest that we exploit young creatives is obscene and to say they are desperate is offensive to them. These people are just trying to improve and showing enthusiasm by getting involved in a project that has no rules and let's you be purely creative.
We work very hard on One Minute Briefs in our own time. We arrange posts, events, collaborations, prizes as well as interacting with our followers who we appreciate greatly as they are creating great content and making an effort each day for us. We don't exploit this, we reward this as much as possible with prizes, placements, advice, recommendations and we even had our first event recently where our followers met, gained awards, gained friends and some of them told us how One Minute Briefs has improved their confidence, thinking skills and they have seen their careers and opportunities improve as a result.
One creative team has just got a contract at a big agency, their ad in Campaign, nominations and free entry to awards all from doing a few One Minute Briefs. That goes to show we aren't relying on the creativity of others, we are providing a platform for creatives to use to their own advantage. The results have been amazing and we are proud to have made a difference to some people with what we do.
This is why we'll be continuing with One Minute Briefs despite negativity and naivety from certain individuals. Receiving comments like this is difficult when you are trying to do something different that benefits others. It has made us question whether we carry on with One Minute Briefs but we hope that this is a one-off and we will continue you our efforts to reward the OMBLES as much as we can.
Thank you all for your continued support.
We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas about this or anything else at: interest@bankofcreativity.co.uk
Nick and James
One Minute Briefs