Unite III Judging

Last night I got to enjoy one of the perks of being in The YCC. The judging for who made it into Unite III - our portfolio/networking/industry get together.

As many of the Monkeys that were available joined in the heated discussions. With just 25 portfolio positions available and 65 applications, we had a hard time deciding who to choose.

We're about creating opportunities and helping people progress. And not always about picking the cream of the crop, strangely, Cream does that.

So this year we've got a mix of grads, third years and even a first year team who we felt were worthy enough to make the cut. Their invites hit their inboxes at lunch, and they'll all be showing off their work at Cargo (83 Rivington Street, London) next Wednesday (4/4/11).

If you're an industry professional and fancy popping down for a few beers, a flick through some exciting books and some banter, drop us an email and we'll pop you on the guest list. We've got some great names from the likes of LBi, Y&R, Dare, JWT and a quite a few CDs... so it should be a great night.
We've also produced a few findings about the many ‘folios we saw.

Choice of products. Really important, there were lots of the same product in people’s folios. So if you didn’t have lastminute.com, Tuborg, a charity ad or Warbutons, you’re work was more of a talking point. And if you did, we ended up comparing teams.

We saw some briefs had been designed to be narrow. But anyone that took an ambient idea and made a campaign out of it got a big thumbs up from us.

Strategies. Make sure it’s very obvious what yours are. Anything that had a strong call to action, a product insight or a big idea grabbed us. Keeping that at the heart of every piece communication was key too.

A title page for each of your products and your insight / strategy (in 10 words or less) on it makes things really easy for us.

Keep explanations simple. And. To. The. Point. For uni you may have to say what the brief was, the idea, and the insight. But for portfolios, it’s not necessary.

When explaining how your app / microsite / product / invention works, keep it simple. Less is more. We know you have to log on etc, so tell us why it’s different and clever. That’s the cool bit.

On a TV advert, anyone that summed their idea up at the top of the page scored highly. Keep dialogue to a minimum. And stretch the boundaries. The bigger and crazier the better. Remember, you don’t have budgets.

Be ruthless. We felt at times, there was too much stuff for certain campaigns. Does your idea really need packaging, DM or a Facebook Page? Show us your strongest bits in each campaign. It may not even be TV or press. Just pick your strongest bits to show your idea off.

Show us cool shit. Anything that was creative, but not advertising was liked. It could be a revolutionary cheese grater you’ve invented. Or a game show you’d like to film. Anything. Just make sure it’s awesome. And different.