Following the success of our previous D&AD Dead or Alive series, OWB hosted our second instalment, this time in a super spooky setting right on our doorstep. That’s right, we commandeered St Paul’s Church and filled it with candles, cobwebs, and some absolutely stunning cucumber water. It was here that thirty senior marketers once again came to help us answer the burning question that’s been making the creative industry collectively nervous: is creativity dead or alive?
The big argument
Tommy Joe Moore, our Head of Creative, made the case for creativity’s demise with impressive commitment and this time he left that awful shirt at home.
Here’s 3 things we learned from the defence team
1. The robots are hated more than ever
We know AI is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean consumers are happy about it. It may be the best thing since sliced bread for those trying to save five minutes on a spreadsheet, but when it comes to creative, it just can’t keep up with the humans. Output is getting weaker, and scrollers are really fed up of seeing big brands invest in a robot rather than human creatives. Just like during COVID-19, conscious consumerism is stronger than ever, and you need to evaluate whether that time and resource saved is worth losing brand loyalty.
2. Insight is king
With brands now able to do a lot of the craft in house, strategy is the major game changer in ensuring success. If you need to prioritise your marketing budgets, this is the place to start. Take Burger King – they didn’t need to be first in the real world. They just needed to be first in the game world. One sharp observation led to one of the smartest marketing plays in recent memory.
3. Keep up with the chaos
Trends are the strongest way to get ahead. Whether you’re the trendsetter or just taking part – if you do it right, you’re in with the viral crew. Or, at the very least, you’ve influenced the scrollers to know your name.
Building the monster
Once our crafters did their bit, we threw it back to our guests. In their pews, they each had part of Frankenstein’s monster to write on. The head was their thoughts on insight’s role in keeping creativity alive, heart was all about emotional intelligence, hands naturally was focused on craft, and legs was all about the future. Each team filled it with all sorts of juicy ideas, insights and tid-bits, and they really did us proud. We’re now trying to work out who came out of the church the most inspired – us or them!
An OWB potion
If you know us, you know we can’t do anything without some sort of beverage involved, so we had the team at The Rectory make us our own special Dead or Alive drink, which you can totally make yourself with the recipe right here:
- 35ml Cherry Rum
- 10ml Cherry Syrup
- 25ml Lime Juice
- Top with a Coke
- Splash of IPA on top
We call it an elixir for good networking, and unfortunately, we haven’t yet mastered the concoction to ensure there’s no sore heads the next day… an unwelcome side effect, but totally worth it…
The verdict
We nervously asked the question once more… is creative dead? Is it alive? Why are the paddles so big? Thankfully, the verdict was as positive as the last one. Creativity will live to see another day, and another weird and wonderful trend, but it needs someone to get the paddles out and give it a shock.
We totally volunteer.
Want to help us give it a bit of the ol’ mouth to mouth? Perform metaphorical chest compressions to staying alive? Nice.
Give us your brief, we’ll make sure it’s ALIIIIIVVVEEEE!
