Mainly I felt like doing something different for a change. There was also the fact that I haved worked in media for the past three years, but have very little idea about actual media planning, strat and buying. And of course, I felt that it was time the company spent a little money on me too.
So I requested inclusion on the June 2011 AMASA (Advertising and Media Association of South Africa) Workshop. The itinerary looked interesting, and I was keen to spend some time with creative folk from other companies, with a common interest.
I was pleasantly surprised when my boss agreed to my attending, and the company booked me in – I was off for two days to have some fun and learn something new!
The Workshop started on Thursday morning with registration at the beautifully appointed Spier conferencing facilities. Sitting at my table waiting for everyone to arrive was a young lady from etv in Johannesburg, another one from a BTL agency in East London and a student from Red & Yellow. Cool! After a necessary caffeine kick-start we seated ourselves in the conference venue and eagerly looked through our ‘goodie bags’! These, we found out, were actually survival packs for that night … one during which there would be much work, and very little sleep…
The lectures were fascinating – even for an old duck like me, who has spent more than two decades in the advertising industry. Then we were given the client brief (a B2B requirement for increasing Son’s ad spend over a limited period with a fairly generous budget) and split into five groups – each with five or six members.
A couple of hours before dinner we had ‘free time’ to work on our assignments in our groups – then dinner, another lovely talk by industry doyen, John Cooney, and we were off to crack our briefs – survival packs in hand. Copious lashings of red wine, Red Bull, caffeine, nicotine and chocolate ensured that by 2am, when I finally crawled into my bed, there was no way I was getting any shut-eye!
Breakfast was at a harrowing 7.15am since lectures commenced again at 8.15. The delegates looked decidedly worse for wear, and rows of fizzing Berroca tablets, cokes and coffee cups were evidence that I was not the only one feeling a tad weary! Of course, we all failed Gordon Muller’s recall experiment when he asked us to remember a list of words in the vein of: doze, blanket, bed, moon, sheet, snore, yawn, etc. By some strange co-incidence, although not all of us remembered all of these words, we ALL remembered ‘sleep’ … which apparently had not even been on the list! Strange that … I think Gordon is aware of one of my favourite philosophies: “The outcome of a rain dance has a lot to do with timing”.
A couple of nerve-wracking hours after lunch for polishing up our presentations, and each group took their turn in the spotlight, giving their all. I was amazed at the confidence and ability of some of the youngsters – still students, yet presenting with such presence.
Our industry certainly has some delightful young talent coming up the ranks … and with the mentors that I saw so generously sharing of their knowledge and experience – this varied, complex and fast-paced world of advertising and media will certainly continue to evolve and fascinate us!
