Creatives are always on the hunt for inspiration. And arguably no place is it easier to find than the D&AD Festival. Our Copywriter, Pete Bayliss shares his notes from this year’s event.
The D&AD Festival, a global celebration of creativity, features keynotes, panel discussions, case studies, and insights from the biggest names and brands around, culminating in a ceremony where the iconic Pencil awards are handed out for the most creative work from the year.
This is where I found myself last week, notepad in hand, biro at the ready, trilby hat adorned. Here are some of the things I took away.
Keep committing to the craft
The openers on the day, Airbnb’s VP of Design, Teo Connor, and Dr Paul Marsden, took us through the psychology of craft. According to them, whether it’s writing, designing, clockmaking, woodworking, or something else, the definition of craft comes down to two things:
- Putting care into what you’re making
- Being competent at making it
I particularly enjoyed Paul’s explanation. He pointed to the fact that, on average, we’re born with three billion heartbeats across the course of our lifetime, suggesting that it’s the cost of how many heartbeats you’re willing to invest in your craft that makes it valuable. What a wonderful way to look at the work we do.
But there’s another way to look at it. That is, your audiences don’t really want their lives to be interrupted by marketing and advertising messages. So, if you’re breaking into their lives (and we all are), make sure it’s good, because you don’t want to waste their heartbeats either.
In this light, a commitment to craft is the surest way to drive emotional resonance.
Dream big and always be different
Later on, I sat down to listen to Nils Leonard’s headline talk: Precipice. For anyone who doesn’t know, Nils is the Founder of Uncommon Creative Studios, one of the most talked-about and revered creative companies in the world. And for those who are aware of him, you’ll probably know he’s a charismatic, outspoken guy with clear ideas on what creativity is and how far you can take it.
In just 20 minutes, he delivered a series of brutally honest, refreshingly ambitious lessons based on a philosophy that states that we shouldn’t create things that clients wish existed, we should create things that we wish existed.
Leaning into this, he argued that the best pieces of work are no longer ads. They’re what he calls ‘narrative moments’ – provocative things we create on behalf of brands that tap into the biggest cultural phenomena.
A case in point? Uncommon’s Rat Boot, which came to life during New York Fashion Week, making New York’s inhabitants (8M humans, 3M rats) what was really in vogue that week. The challenge is, how can we bring these moments to B2B?
What makes award-winning work?
Now to the awards themselves. I attended various ‘Jury Insights’ sessions throughout the day where the jurors put the spotlight on some of their favourite work from a specific category and explained why they shortlisted it.
For my money, the most insightful was the ‘Driving Impact’ session for work that’s tackling the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 37 entries in this category, the jurors ran through Fit My Feet, Magnetic Stories, and Space Trash Signs – three great campaigns, with huge results.
What was particularly telling here was how each entry didn’t try to create a new solution for their problem. Rather, they made use of the problem.
Take Magnetic Stories. The problem? MRI noises are incredibly loud (louder than fighter jets, for instance), which is disturbing for children receiving MRI scans. The solution? Use those jarring MRI sounds and find a way to turn them into children’s audiobooks.
This, in particular, showed that while the UN SDGs are very real and serious, the tone for campaigns tackling them doesn’t have to be. A bit of humour goes a long way.
AI hasn’t unlocked creativity, it’s exposed who had it
And finally, to the elephant in the room, AI. Obviously, as creatives, a lot of us are understandably quite apprehensive about the subject. What’s happening? Are we going to be displaced? Should we become firefighters, teachers, or builders instead?
Despite this, the message from the festival was loud and clear: Shape the shift, don’t be shaped by it. AI is here, it’s already part of the process, so let’s use it properly. Be transparent about its role and lead with intent.
“The real revolution isn’t the tech. It’s the people who know what to do with it,” was just one of many quotes from D&AD’s flagship research that I felt hit the nail on the head. In other words, you still need the curiosity, the vision, and the taste to turn your best ideas into reality; AI just allows you to be sharper, deeper, and braver in how you explore your thinking.
Putting the learnings into practice
This was my first time at the D&AD Festival, and it’s fair to say, I learnt an awful lot. From the work to the talks to the stalls to all the brilliant people I met, it would be hard to walk away without feeling inspired.
But inspiration can only take you so far. Now it’s a case of putting the lessons into practice. So, by the time next year’s festival comes round, I want to ask myself: Did I waste anyone’s heartbeats this year?
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