communication is essential to business making and it involves more than the ability to name your product, write a tag line or a press release. It's an intricate, rational and scalable effort and, let's face it, not anyone can do it.

5/13/2008

Better... there is hope

I have just come back from judging cases at the Olimpiadele Comunicarii with a smile on my face.

Finally, someone got the message, finally it seems the bludgeoning and foaming at the mouth some of us do pays off. Last year OC was a downer - I left feeling disheartened and thinking that maybe there was no hope for advertising after all. Few ideas and even less creative ideas - lots of buzz words, misused, abused and mispronounced. No common sense - no desire to solve problems, to take the time to internalize the heavy burden which is a "communication brief" and treat it with the respectful intelligence it deserves.

But today was different - not for all teams but for a lot of them. Problem solving was high on the agenda and most of the presentations were actual communication or idea solutions. Thinking had happened, brain power had been utilized. True, little executional power - not a lot of drawing going on, nor much care taken for copy to be finely tuned, BUT STILL there was hope because thinking had happened.

I am expecting some "permission to divulge" from the organizers, but I look fwd to writing about some of the better ideas I have heard. Because there were some. Actually more than expected and I feel so much better for it.

Good work you guys!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

tnx... we appreciate your support.
(oh... i really didn't mean that thing with brunettes :P)

Just Blank said...

Ah, what a fine day. For scie... Ahem. Advertising.
Seriously now, I hope the mid-sentence nervous semi-choking didn't look too bad from those front-row seats.

Mihnea said...

@hoinarul Yep, the brunette joke lost you some votes there. :)

Bogdana Butnar said...

@hoinarul, no worries. brunettes have a sense of humor but they conceal it well :-)
@sorin dincea, no one expected you guys to be perfect performers. we weren't judging acting there :-)
@mihnea: dude, you have lost the right to comment here after the Vienna cassette debacle ... cheapskate :-P

Simona said...

well.... I just feel so f***ing wrong. si o sa o spun in romana pentru a evita inca un dezastru public: cuvintele nu au iesit, discursul era undeva in mintea mea dar nu a iesit bine... picioarele tremurau. m-am dezamagit. :) but I just adore u! :)

Bogdana Butnar said...

@simona imi inchipui ca e nasol sa vorbesti in fata a 200 de fete insa tracul trece cu timpul. eu de-aia m-am angajat in publicitate pentru ca nu eram in stare sa fac o prezentare ca lumea si stiam ca aici va trebui sa invat. learn something, move on, do better next time. oricum ieri nu se mai poate schimba :-) si senchiu de aprecieri (oricum mie nu mi s-a parut nimeni essentially wrong :-)

Anonymous said...

Sper să fie OK că întreb în română... De ce n-aţi pus întrebări? Au fost atât de clare prezentările? După ce am terminat noi am rămas surprinşi de faptul că o parte a audienţei n-a înţeles un aspect esenţial al rezolvării propuse.

Mă rog, comisia a avut şi sinopsis-urile la dispoziţie pentru a-şi clarifica nelămuririle, dar totuşi... dacă erau probleme majore aţi fi profitat de ocazia de a adresa întrebări concurenţilor? :-)

Simona said...

:)) :-j In numele meu, al echipei cred ca si al celorlalti participanti :) multumim de incurajari! :)

Bogdana Butnar said...

@ tiberiu florea eu personal nu am avut nicio intrebare la vreuna dintre prezentari. conceptele mi s-au parut clare, chiar daca uneori nu clar exprimate de aceea nu am intrebat nimic. nici in partea de jurizare nu au fost nelamuriri parand ca toti ceilalti membrii ai juriului erau lamuriti. :-)

Anonymous said...

Super tare! Atunci... să vedem vineri care sunt rezultatele. Mă bucur că dezamăgirea de anul trecut nu s-a prelungit.

Anonymous said...

da...dezamagirea de anu trecut nu s-a prelungit. This year there's a brand new one :)) just kiddin' :P