RMIT STUDENTS ADD QUIRKY SPIN TO WEEKLY LECTURES WITH BIG NAME GUESTS AND ADVERTISING GAMES

Hungry Talks is a student-run, international, multi-media, live show. The 10-part series connects advertising students with industry professionals through a mix of live interviews, games and pre-recorded segments. This year the students brought a 2000s nostalgia theme to the episodes and dialled the silliness up to 100.

Each year a new team of students in their final semester of RMIT’s Bachelor of Communication (Advertising) degree take on the challenge of creating the next season of Hungry Talks. This year’s team have injected a bucket load of personality into the series with a weekly reveal of fan art, a new ‘sponsor’ each episode, threats, laughs and a Cabbage Patch Kid named Hungry Baby as the ‘mascot’.

The co-hosts, Asha Gilbee-Giudici and Anna Upton, take in the 20+ years of wisdom and industry experience of each guest with a formal interview based around a weekly theme. Then they change up the pace and put the guest into the hot seat to test their industry knowledge. Here is what’s happened so far.

(Pictured in team photo: L-R back: Emilia Lakhi, Simon Macawili, Dimitri Adamopoulos, Anna Upton. L-R front: Maddie Collett, Asha Gilbee-Giudici)

The students have wrangled together a star-studded line-up including; 2021 Hungry Talks co-hosts Alana Wood and Bella Polazzon; marketing expert and virtual professor at Marketing Week mini-MBA, Mark Ritson; one of advertising’s most awarded copywriters, Shannon Crowe; Stu Turner, executive creative director at The Royals; regular Gruen panellist and Campaign Edge founder, Dee Madigan; Joe Wade, co-founder of London based agency, Don’t Panic and BAFTA winning satirical writer; Cam Blackley, chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi and chairman of AWARD; Emma Perkins, head of LEGO EMEA; and Lucinda Price, aka Froomes, CEO of FROOMESWORLD and co-host of CADA’s show Flex and Froomes.

These guests bring with them a wealth of knowledge to help Hungry Talks unpack a new theme each week. From Women in Advertising to Working Internationally and Alternative Uses of an Advertising Degree, the co-hosts ensure all your burning questions are answered. Great advice has been shared, with many interviews finishing with one tip for young creatives.

Shannon Crowe reminded students that ‘when you’re at work, you didn’t go there to die’; Alana Wood told them to ‘take lots of showers’; and Mark Ritson taught us that research doesn’t have to be expensive, instead it can be as simple as ‘getting your arse out of the office and hanging out with customers’.

Once the interview concludes, co-hosts Gilbee-Giudici and Upton don’t just send their guest on their way. Instead, these guests must prove their advertising-genius status in carefully crafted ad related games. Some games proved harder than others.

Shannon Crowe was stumped in Kanye or Commercial, which saw her guessing whether the quote on screen was a ridiculous Kanye tweet or an ad line. The game’s quotes included lines like ‘super inspired by my visit to IKEA’ and ‘they’re called skinny jeans, they’re kind of in right now’. Aussie Celebrity or Average Joe left British guest Joe Wade stumped as he tried to guess if Hamish and Andy, Bindi Irwin and Adam Goodes are Aussie icons or average Joe’s grinding away in the advertising industry. Most notably, The Price is Right saw Cam Blackley phoning a friend mid-interview to fact check the hosts. After being quizzed on the price of the classic Cadbury Gorilla ad he was quick to call a mate who actually worked on the campaign. Cam’s warmth and enthusiasm shone through, making episode seven a highlight for both the Hungry Talks team and the viewership.

Hungry Talks aims to reach students in a multitude of ways. After the game Gilbee-Giudici and Upton unpack their ‘Ad of the Week’ before handing over to their teammates. The following segment, Ads Gone Wild, takes a closer look at out of home advertising. DMs with Dim and Maddie is a casual interview with RMIT Advertising alumni, turned agency tour segment. Between Two Ferns with Sally Brownbill, is a parody of Zach Galifianakis’ show where Emilia Lakhi offers Brownbill little more than insults, minimal eye-contact and misspelt graphics.

The final episode of Hungry Talks airs on YouTube this Wednesday the 5^th of October at 5:30pm. Catch the team shaking things up with all six teammates jumping behind the desk to take turns hosting, interviewing and quizzing the guests. The co-hosts will be talking to Sarah McGregor, Matt Stoddart and Dan Pizzato. Emilia Lakhi and Simon Macawili will unpack the ins and outs of third year before Dim Adamopoulos and Maddie Collett close the episode with a chat to Shani Moon and Alanna Caluya about preparing for the biggest night on the advertising student’s calendar – Pitch Night.

This will be the best episode yet, watch it below:

Hungry Talks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hungry_talks

Hungry Talks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HungryTalks

Hungry Talks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/23734201

Hungry Talks YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRWgQCtPX0MXyRG9g_FnBQ/featured

Hungry Talks Website: https://www.hungrytalks.com.au