Guest Blog Post by @WorldOfOlly - The Value of a Minute
We often forget the value of a minute. It can be the
difference between a football team winning the cup, and deeming themselves a
failure. It can be the difference between securing tickets to Glastonbury, and having
to watch it on TV. For me, one minute was the difference between the proudest
moment of my advertising career, and never knowing I was one minute away from
it.
One morning in January 2016, One Minute Briefs set their
daily brief on Twitter – advertise WWF’s Earth Hour campaign. That was it. Five
words. I read it, thought it was a nice brief and put my phone down.
For a split second I was ready to let it float away and
become nothing more than a passing thought. But we Creatives don’t have such
luxury to let things go.
My subconscious started smashing thoughts together. Could
this go with that? Where does this fit in? Discard that. Wait, bring a bit more
of that in. Nearly there. Just a touch of this. And done!
After 60 seconds of intense brain fuckery, an idea dropped
into my conscious. I like to imagine it had a little bow on top, for
presentation purposes. A quick scamp. Bang that out on Twitter. Done.
Let me save you the X Factor suspense. The idea won. Out of
160 very worthy entries, mine came out on top. And with it, a £250 prize.
Summer holiday to France sorted. I just got back actually. It was very nice.
At this point most people would stop. Bask in the moment.
Lap up the applause. Then move on. But most people aren’t Creatives. We aren’t
happy until an idea has been pushed to the very edge of its potential.
I got in contact with the client at WWF who set the brief
with OMB. One request – let’s make this idea happen. And we did. With help from
friends in the industry, the idea was designed up, a campaign strategy created
and away it went.
There is nothing more satisfying for a Creative than to see
work you’re truly proud of out in the real world. Actually, that’s a lie.
Recognition is more satisfying. And that came in the form of a Platinum Hermes
Award several weeks later.
It took me one minute to create that idea. A
competition-winning idea, that ran as a live campaign and went on to win a
prestigious award. Don’t forget the holiday it paid for.
One Minute Briefs taught me the value of a minute. I will be
forever grateful to them for giving me my proudest moment in advertising. Could
you be a minute away from yours? They’ve just posted today’s brief.
Olly Cooper - @WorldOfOlly