The Cup – the ethnic creativity
The Cup 2013 was a great occasion to discover frames of inspiration with vibrant local flavor from all the regions of the world renowned for the level of their creative industries.
- Amir Kassaei: The relevance is the key
The program of a dense day of presentations about “What is creativity today” was launched by Amir Kassaei’s engaging speech. He said that only winning awards, without increasing the business of the clients and making a consistent difference in the people’s life, doesn’t have the same value as it had before.
It’s a mind-set game: we should be in the search of business relevance, not advertising ideas
Kassaei.
Few case studies from DDB, such as McDonald’s Canada, Adidas – Amsterdam or Volkswagen, were screened in order to sum up his conclusion: “don t bullshit your consumers, give them the opportunity of putting questions to your brand and answer them in an honest and straight way, stop create advertising, but offer meaningful and useful experiences to people s life, have a good impact on society and treat consumers as friends”.
- The winning network song
Michael Conrad, veteran of the advertising industry and founder of Berlin School for Creative Leadership, presented his “7+ to heaven” theory that made Leo Burnett network a number one presence worldwide more than a decade ago. His system keeps being relevant also today, judging upon the audience’s enthusiast reaction.
The presentation offered by Michael was spiced up with the broadcasting of a song he created years ago to motivate and inspire his Burnett fellows to use and practice the 7+ system.
During his 30 minutes pleading for creative excellence, Michael said that both awards and creative relevance have a mandatory role in the evolution of the industry. He also was in the favor of “chosen people” principle that seems to nurture the Berlin School philosophy, explaining that human quality is an essential ingredient for performance.
- Danilo Turk – a diplomat in the favor of heroic actions
Slovenia’s former president, Danilo Turk, was present at The Cup where he delivered a speech that demonstrated politics and advertising have a more in common that we might imagine. His “between the lines” message encouraged the industry to go for the ethics in this non-heroic era, in order to make a difference .
- Meaningful Bio-metaphors
With a major in biophysics, Yukio Nakayama, Dentsu’s Executive Creative Director, lead a demonstration based on case studies from Honda, Toyota and Uniqlo to show how technology and communication could work in the quest for people’s mind and heart, just like pollen and bees work their magic since the beginnings of time.
“Necomimi” – “the cat ears” in Japanese – was probably one of the most meaningful examples in his presentation and was relevant for both fusion communication, intelligent use of neuroscience and cultural relevance.
The principle behind “necomimi” is simple – the wearer of a this fashion item that has the appearance of the cat ears show to people around him which is his state of mind and the level of emotions his going through. “Necomimi” becomes a symbol of communication beyond words, a message of openness towards the world and a proof that science and emotion can be linked in unexpected ways.
- A human tone
With different accents, in a different tone of voice, from different continents, The Cup presentations were dominated by the message pleading for emotional intelligence, respect of the audience and involvement of the humanity as a purpose in the whole communication process. There is no wonder that at the award ceremony, Michael Conrad launched “The Fire Cup”, a trophy dedicated to a professional that is a living proof business, ad industry and humanity can go along together perfectly.
In 2013, the winner was David Droga, the leader of Droga 5.
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Material from The Cup Awards written by Vera Gavrila and Andreea Popescu