Three Minute Happiness

James Cooper

At the Cream event (hosted by The Talent Business) I think I saw about 7 books whilst at the YCN event there were lots more individual campaigns. I have to say the best single book was not English and from my top 4 pieces of work at the YCN only two were from English students. Considering both events will have been heavily promoted in London and the UK this is on the surface quite worrying. Well it would be if we were stuck in the past, wanting the same old stuff the hallowed creative departments of the big agencies were used to producing in the 80's but thankfully most people are starting to move on.

We've seen at Cannes that the UK scene is no longer all conquering. As I've said elsewhere why should it be? Other countries have caught us up and many overtaken us. Without the burden of the classic period of TV advertising the students from these countires look well placed to continue the gap.

What to do? If the colleges are not going to teach more diverse forms of creativity then I guess it's up to us Creative Directors. The Creative Department of Dare is like a UN meeting we have creatives from Chile, Brazil, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Spain, Austria, and growing. Of course, over time economic Darwinism will have its way but it would be nice to think that the colleges will start to help the UK students prepare for the new creative departments so that in time we can claw our way back up the awards leagues.

We are trying to do our bit, albeit small. We launched dare school last year to some acclaim and will be looking for more applications for the 2008 year soon. Watch this space.

One other thing I noticed. I've talked before about the importance of interactivity in work rather than just 'digital' work per se. This is a trend that will also grow exponentially. This current generation is used to contributing, it's second nature. All over the walls at the RCA were blank peices of paper, post-it note collages, and colouring in boards for people to express themselves on. You can see films here and here. This seemed to be the most popular activity by far - surpassing even the free wine. Times really have changed.