Introducing...Emily~!

Extraordinarily lifelike characters, like Emily in the clip, are to begin appearing in films and computer games thanks to a new type of animation technology. Maybe someday they will be used for advertising as well?

Ignite Launch

Held at the Ignite bar (Komodo's) in Auckland on the 7th August, this was a really exciting event for young creatives. Ignite has just recently been set up to help us talented advertising babies get a foot in the door of the advertising world, creating opportunities to network, meet some of the top creatives in NZ and even giving us the opportunity to work on real briefs.

Amazing people from left to right:

Katie, Paul, Sonya, Jody, Ben & Vaughn.

The launch of this new initiative was awesome. Michael and I got to meet a whole lot of people including Ben Lightfoot (Managing Partner - Blackwood Communications Group), Jody King (General Manager - BCG), Katie Ray (Account Manager - BCG), Sonya Crosby (National Marketing Manager - NZ Post), Vaughn Davis (CD - Y&R), and we had a friendly chat to Paul Catmur who was also the guest speaker. His little presentation was really interesting with lots of laughs and some little pearls of wisdom and advice. We also got to chat with David Bell (Course Leader - Axis Adschool) and met some students from this years class. Overall we met some amazingly nice people who all took the time to chat with us and were genuinely interested in what we were up to. Thanks guys!

Chocolate Suicide

Lion Love

Sometimes it's good to remind ourselves there is life outside our little advertising world :) Just a warning - this is totally cheesy.

Paul Catmur

Right now we are working on a brief from Paul Catmur. We've already got a couple of decent ideas - wonder if he would like them...?

Rumors have it that Paul's laser glare could kills any shit idea!

Mr. Catmur is ex-ECD of DDB and Y&R, who has recently returned to NZ and setup his indie agency with friend Daniel Barnes. He is one of the hottest CD in Australasia, so it'd be a fantastic opportunity to get our new book in front of him. I have shown him some ideas for the brief before I met up with Anna, who met Paul during Portfolio Night 6.

Although Paul always seemed like a person with few words, when he does speak, those comments are insightfully said with a uniquely cool manner. Honestly, we can't wait to meet him again! But better work hard to have more good ideas ready to show him... :P

Dream kick-off

Normally it takes awhile before two person gel, but somehow there are definitely magic between Anna and I. Within the first five days of us working together, we've designed our team business card and setup this blog. On our 7th day of work, we're already tackling briefs. What a dream start it is! Now we really can't wait to get out and start knocking on agencies' doors!

Anna got a MacBookPro too! That's mine sitting at the front when we were designing our team business card. The LCD at the back belongs to my PC (running an anti-virus scan...not that I'd need to do that on our Macs!).

Our favorite area for ideation - sofa & bean bags!

Anna is reading AdMedia, the best ad magazine to keep us up to date with the local industry. Imagine the day when we'd have our ads listed in it...

Looking back - Portfolio Night 6

Probably the most important annual advertising event for aspiring junior creatives would be this one. The Portfolio Night, the 6th year of its running and the brainchild of ihaveanidea. It was only the second time being held in NZ but what a night it was! Free drinks, free pizza and most importantly the chance to meet some of the best Creative Directors in the country.

It was held on the 8th of May at DDB Auckland, barely two months ago and back then Anna & I were still with our ex-creative-partners respectively. But every time we've spoken about the event we both agreed on how much it helped us to progress creatively and got us to network with like-minded young people.

Toby Talbot (ECD, DDB NZ) doing the kick-off speech.

Portfolio Night 6 was particularly helpful for Anna since she had only just moved from Wellington, so it gave her to chance to meet with some top notch creative directors for the very first time. As each creative team would get assigned to three different CDs for the night, Anna took home some valuable advice from Nigel Corbett (ECD, Sugar), Paul Catmur (creative managing partner, Barnes Catmur & Friends) and Josh Lancaster (senior creative, Colenso BBDO).

Nigel Corbett & Josh Lancaster

As for me, I was lucky to have Jamie Hitchcock (Josh's creative partner), Nigel Corbett as well plus Darryl Parsons (CD, Consortium) as judges. While it obviously felt great to learn that they liked the work, they've also gave some really good advice on how could the ideas be pushed further (including a few handy gardening tips from Darryl~!).

Right through the night, I caught up with some old schoolmates (Carlos & Damien from DDB, David Bell my mentor back in AXIS Adschool), made some new friends (Dev from AUT 2006, Ray, Madeleine, Titan - a designer, and a few students from this year's AXIS) and chatted to some DDB creatives about the work they were working on.

In the break-out room (a place you visit during your break in between meeting CDs), I met Karen Maurice-O'Leary of DDB Auckland. Karen & her co-creative Verity Butt are currently the 2nd hottest creatives in Australasia (acc. to Campaign Brief). For someone so high up in creative rankings, Karen was incredibly down-to-earth. It was really fun chatting with her about their VW print ads and other creative stuff.

Anna sitting on the left with other PN6ers & DDB creatives in the break-out room.

To top off the night, I've even squeezed in 15 minutes with Paul Nagy, recently crowned CD of Clemenger BBDO, Wellington. I've been in e-contact with Paul since a job hunting trip to Wellington three months ago, but just didn't get to meet him personally until then. So I was really glad to pin down a tired, hungry Paul at the fag end of the night - when everyone incl. even the chairs were leaving. Thanks Paul, for those precious 15. Much appreciated.

Apparently, I was the only one clicking (apart from PN6's pro-photographer that is!)

I'd attended PN5 last year as a solo, but to be able to go with a partner this time was really much better. It was also great to catch-up with some ex-AXIS Adschool creatives e.g. Carlos & Karen plus new AXIS students & David Bell. I've always felt the warmth of that creative family. All in all, Anna & I had a good night and even though we went there separately, we sure hope it helps us creatively and get our first gig soon. Many thanks to all the Creative Directors for their time.

A big shout out to Toby Talbot (and the entire team starting with the wonderful DDB PR Manager, Claire McKay) for bringing Portfolio Night 6 free of cost to the creatives - a good idea indeed!