A great venue having it at Brompton Halls at Earls Court (though may I say - thank God for maps!), and after finally figuring out where I even was in the room, I made my way to the University of Central Lancashire stand... to find it deserted. Starting to feel a little panicky by this point and not having a clue where to go, I got a classmate to come and find me there and lead me like the stray sheep I was, only to find everyone in the crit area. Said my "how do's" and headed over to register (again, not having a clue where to go lol!)
And so the moment of commencement.. commenced! A little before noon I was escorted (or should I say, my name shouted out and a finger pointing me in the right direction) to Alan Young from St. Luke's. Luckily the nerves settled pretty much as soon as I sat down - great bloke, full of enthusiasm and great ideas to prod me in the right direction. Was pretty surprised to not be told "Shit. Shit. That's shit too. Utter bollocks." - not that I thought my work was crap, I just thought London would be ruthless! Thankfully he had a lot of really positive things to say about each of my campaigns, and even the work which wasn't taken quite so well always had a positive new idea to come out of it. My portfolio was more or less untouched from the deadline at uni, and the general gist was:
*Slavery - well put together, well written copy, and thumbs up for using my own photography in most executions, but it lacked a core thought for each piece to hang off.
*Talk - wasn't keen on the more graphical executions as they were doing little to actually persuade people to talk, but liked the notion of targetting people wherever their eyes wander on public transport to avoid talking to strangers, and also the thought of a Talk Zone.
*Best Beginnings - very little said to be honest, no huge reaction or negatives begot from this, though he liked the sweet imagery of my "Belong" execution in particular.
*Pacamac - the dark horse that it is! This campaign I was ready to banish from my portfolio, never to be seen again. But he saw it in a new light and loved the simple strategic thinking of "Be prepared" and using non-weather related water incidents as ammunition to sell the product, and challenged me to make an event out of the product - to get the consumer actively involved in the brand through the use of flashmobbing and the like (which obviously is the best form of advertising there is).
*Smart Car - liked my size-based executions and felt that to crack this campaign I needed to focus on just one aspect of the car, so possibly looking into how the Smart Car can get you places that other cars can't. Again making physical events out of the idea and having the cars placed where people would be shocked and amused to see them.
*Milk - a reaction I wasn't quite prepared for! Being one of my better achievements at uni, I felt that this campaign said a lot about me (which he guessed at the end when he asked which campaign I thought was most akin to my personality). Don't get me wrong, he liked how I'd chosen an unconventional route to show how milk benefits our everyday lives, but he said it had some way to go in his eyes. Where exactly, I'm not sure just yet!
There you have it, the (very) edited account of my book crit. I'm definitely seeing other routes into my work now that I feel were previously blocked to me - when you've worked day and night (literally) to meet a deadline, you kind of lose sight of what it is that gives your work that extra kick up the arse that it needs. Yesterday was the time to take my babies into the light of day and see whether I was going to have to kill them or not! And I'd just like to say a big thank you to Alan for his time and helping me to think more outside the box than I have done for awhile! Looking forward to implementing his advice and seeing where it takes me now!
Crit Central (clearly after it had finished)So for the rest of the afternoon I meandered the maze of stalls (certain I'll have missed some!) having a good old nosey at the competition as well as soaking up the atmosphere of being in a place with more like-minded people than I've probably ever met in my life before! The buzz was just great, and got chatting to a couple of people on other stalls about their work and where they hoped the future was taking them - a breath of fresh air compared with being in Wigan, I tell you!
Here's some of my lot from uni in our stall
My chosen work in our boothOnce my classmates left I was all on my tod again (everybody say "awww!") so had another mooch around to find more stalls yet undiscovered (seriously, hallelujah for the map!) and then had a wander over to the Pecha Kucha event that was happening - and wished I'd been there for all of it! Highlight of the few that I saw had to be Jaki Jo - a spunky (and I'm sure she'd appreciate the term!) Australian whose slideshow consisted of illustrations of herself to represent her different feelings in life (such as her penis envy, which she was very forward about in the image depicting her with a penis at a urinal!) - just laugh out loud good fun all the way through, not to mention the fact that she was still in her cap and gown after graduating in the morning! Definitely a place for her in stand-up comedy if design ever deserts her!
Jaki Jo in action
And her penis envy piece!After Pecha Kucha finished, Hayley sadly left the building lol. Had an amazing day there, and left with a lot more in my head than when I entered, which is always a rewarding feeling. But the event was finishing, and CyberCandy in Covent Garden was calling out to me for my unusual sweet fixation (chocolate cigarettes still exist - and I'm 6 years old again, woohoo!) Then with heavy bag of goodies, and heavier still portfolio, I had a trundle round to the market area, only to find the most brilliant street performer I've ever seen (again, coming from Wigan, that isn't really saying much!). Tossing diablos and juggling with 5 balls are all entertaining things. But to get on a 12 foot unicycle and juggle two machetes and an apple, and then proceed to EAT the apple... well... I'm not sure there's a word for how good (or how freaking crazy) that is!
Crazy man!So, an eventful day to say the least! Another sweaty Tube ride back up to King's Cross and a "fuck this!" moment when I saw how full the Tube to Euston was, I opted to lug my portfolio and goodies along the street (not entirely certain that I was walking in the right direction, this being only my second visit to London and all), and met with a few odd looks from a Chinese couple who seemed a little concerned at the state of my breathing by this point. Exhausted but content, I tucked into my tea on the train and thought:
"It's a tough gig, but I can do this advertising lark."
And then I made my brother carry my portfolio home for me : )
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