Sebastian Covino’s Very Belated Vegas Wrap-Up

Sebastian Covino (pictured above with LIA’s Laurissa Levy) is a copywriter and head of culture at SDWM, Melbourne. He was chosen to represent Australia at the 2019 Creative LIAisons, and due to technical difficulties (wrong e-mail addresses in the early stages, and a trip to LA) he has written one big long diary to sum up the trip, rather than installations, exclusive to CB.

Creative LIAisons was filled with a huge range of learning, a massive amount of networking, and the occasional spout of drinking. In short, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and this is my recap.

1.

To kick things off, Ralph Van Dijk (Founder of Eardrum, father of Ruel) and Diederik Van Middelkoop (Founder of Amp.Amsterdam) gave talks on the importance of establishing an audio rapport. To be honest, it was something I didn’t even really think about until they showed us the different existing and potential applications. Special shout out/thanks to Ralph – he was the MC for the rest of the program and is just a general legend.

After this, we had GreatGuns #StoriesInSix – where we had to create 6 second ads. The brief was all for CloseUp REDHOT toothpaste. We had to make an Indie film with the theme of Envy that conveyed ‘Love Conquers All’ (for REDHOT toothpaste). We came up with an idea, and got the win – where we got to our names forever enshrined on the golden piñata.

After the day wrapped up, a few of us graced the glowing establishment of Treasure Island with our presence, and had a few beers/shots at the lovely Senor Frogs (if you’ve never been, I highly recommend it).

2.

Waking up in Treasure Island wearing some of the props from GreatGuns, I was ill-equipped to tackle the day’s proceedings.

First of the day’s highlights included Pum Lefebure, Founder of Design Army. I think the thing that struck me most, however, was when she said ‘the best client is the one you have right now’. Too often do we search for the next ground-breaking brief rather than make something ground-breaking out of the one that’s on our desk.

Following Pum was Piyush Pandey (Global CCO & Chairman, Ogilvy). Piyush is arguably the wisest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of being around. His gigantic moustache and angelic presence gave us priceless pieces of advice that transcended work. ‘In adversity, lies opportunity’, he whispered, referencing the amount of times his work had died – and him taking every failure as an opportunity to do something better.

Emad Tahtouh (Co Founder, Nakatomi) then talked about tech in the 21st century. The way he spoke the importance of consistently considering the consumer when crafting an idea was spot on. Are they going to want to interact with what you make? If they don’t, is there any point in it at all?

Finally, Matt McDonald (EVP & Group ECD, BBDO New York) spoke about presenting. Unsurprisingly, this was a great presentation.

After the day’s proceedings, a large group of us ventured into the romantic Gondolas of the Venetian, which manage to sit in artificial daylight 24/7.

3.

Things started with Lara Logan, an incredible investigative journalist. Her stories were unparalleled, she’d been everywhere and done everything, and still displayed complete unsatisfaction. I personally liked how she differentiated what she does from what we do, ‘a journalist is a problem identifier, a creative is a problem solver’.

Then we had the Rare Masterclass headed by Stef Gianvincenzo. In terms of core learning (as opposed to absorbing advice and knowledge on your own) this was the most productive part of the five days. We learnt about the importance of diversity in the workplace and how non-existent it is for a lot of us today, along with skills in negotiation, and how to hold a higher sense of self-worth – a thing I think a lot of people appreciated.

4.

The big one, judging. I sat in the Non-Traditional room, where Mark Tutssel led a monster jury of industry heavyweights. Personally, the statue discussions were the most worthwhile experience of the trip for more reasons than I can write down. The lesson I took most out of it was the importance of having diversity within every jury – which followed on well from the Rare workshop that took place the day before. Not only because diversity provides a vast array of opinions and attitudes towards work, but moreover, simply because it takes it for some ideas to get up. There was an idea being judged that came from Spain, and a lot of the jurors were quick to dismiss it. One of the judges, however, was from Madrid, and knew the true impact the idea had had on Spanish culture. Without her, it wouldn’t have even won a finalist. With her there to explain, it won a lot more. Another shout out to Mark Tutssel, who gives Piyush a run for his money on the wisdom front.

5.

Today was InnerVation day. Champ Nicholls and Daymond John – ‘The People’s Shark’ – spoke about the things you need to make it as an entrepreneur, and why it’s so important to work on them young rather than wait until it’s too late to develop yourself as one.

Finally, our last speaker for the program, Malcolm Poynton (Global CCO, Cheil Worldwide). This takes the cake for my personal favourite talk. He spoke on the importance of brands and the true influence they carry today. Why aren’t we leveraging them to do better things? We’re full of ideas, and the people we work for are full of power, why aren’t we spending more time and resources combining the two? He encouraged everyone to be more proactive and find ways to utilize their clients’ influence to do something great for the world.

Acknowledgements

Obviously if you put 120 young creatives in the middle of Vegas, a fair bit of mischief is going to happen outside of working hours. I’m not going to go into details, but the experiences you’ve read about above were only half of the fun had on the trip. I want to shout out to everyone that made the experience so special. Firstly, SDWM for nominating me, I hope I made you guys proud. Laurissa and Barbara Levy for their relentless effort in making the program as amazing as it is. The LIA team for the copious amount of hungover creatives and organisational struggles they had to deal with every day. The speakers for being so generous with their time and so willing to impart so much wisdom on the attendees. The judges for understanding the importance of nurturing young talent and creating such an inclusive environment. And to the countless creatives from all over the world, the friends I made along the way – the trip wouldn’t have been what it was without you.

If anyone anonymously wants a few pointers on where to go, what to do and who to do it with in Vegas, shoot me an e-mail on sebcovino@gmail.com titled ‘Pointers’ and I’ll sort you out.