Lauren Eddy and Aicha Wijland’s Creative LIAisons Diary #2
CHE Proximity Melbourne copywriter Lauren Eddy (above) and art director Aicha Wijland – winners of the MADC + LIA ‘Pitch a ride to Vegas’ competition – are representing Australia at the 2019 LIA Creative LIAisons program in Las Vegas. The program features some of the world’s most respected creative directors as speakers. Here Eddy and Wijland continue to report exclusively for CB.
Dear Diary,
We’re exhausted. Day 2 was a heckers back-to-back onslaught of information & we’re terrified it will all fall out of our brains since it’s fired at us so quickly. Today’s episode is brought to you by the number 8 – the hour that we will be in bed by tonight.
In the morning Pum Lefebure’s presentation was filled with fearless colour, attitude, and meticulous attention to detail. There was an audible clatter when every jaw in the room fell to the floor. Our inadequate summary consists of a few memorable quotes; we particularly liked her phrase “visually vigilant”, which means always being aware of the things you see around you. She said every creative, not just designers and art directors, should be fluent in visual language. Lauren’s putting that to good use below, inspired by the work Pum did for Hong Kong Ballet:
We were relentlessly hit with wise words throughout the day, from the gravitas of Piyush Pandey to the fast-paced world of the Branded Entertainment panel. Both talked in contrasting (but complimentary) ways about how to communicate with empathy with your client and other creatives.
Interestingly this topic came up again with Emad Tahtouh when he was discussing what happens when we combine emotion and tech. It sounds like storytelling will always be a part of what we do in the industry.
We then got an engaging crash course on presenting from Matt McDonald; from not having Coke at a Pepsi preso to the nuances of pitch theatre, “don’t try to solve the problem in the room” is probably the best advice of the day. It was a massive relief to see something we get could put to use immediately when we get back to work – in amongst all the case studies of Beautifully Crafted Multi-Million Dollar Ads with clients who would catch you in a trust fall…
Throughout the day, everyone kept talking about always learning, always being awake, and responsible for your self investment. That is, being proactive in furthering your skills. It was inspiring to hear this, especially since so many things went over our heads sometimes. We have a lot of self investment to do.