Platform / London 2011

8/3/2019 Platform / London 2011

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/ LONDON 2011

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FOREWORD

The well-spring of a healthy and vibrant creativesector is the development of creative talent.Without access to creative people, the UK cannothope to fulfil its potential as one of the worldsmost successful creative economies.The good thing about creativity is that it can comefrom anywhere not just by those formallytrained in creative practice. And for the first time,online technologies can enable the creativeindustries to engage directly with a newgeneration of potential talent.This is the theory behind Platform. If it works, thenwell see new routes for talented people into thecreative industries not shaped by connections orbackground. This would be a major innovation for

the sector, creating better results for industry aswell as better public outcomes for our youngpeople

J O N K I N G S B U R YD i r e c t o r , C r e a t i v e E c o n o m y P r o g r a m m e , N E S TA

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INTRO

Theres so much untapped talent in this generation of young peoplewaiting to be used. Its mystifying that while we have rising youthunemployment, we still have a creative industry thats tremendously non-

diverse. An industry that still rewards the same types of candidates, from the same types of sources, to unsurprisingly put out the same type ofwork. This isnt to say that all of the work coming out of UK agencies isbad but 10 minutes in a room with some of our young people will openeven the most cynical minds to new, brighter possibilities.However, the problems lie where agencies and creative companies in

times of economic uncertainty have to deliver more on much less,because of this they cant afford to take recruitment risks as some canbarely afford to recruit in the first place. So they stick to the tried and

trusted sources the redbrick universities and art schools theyvealways taken talent from.

Coupled with the issue that many young people from less affluentbackgrounds dont see joining the creative industry as a sensible choice,partly because of an image portrayed as being creative means not having aproper job but also because first-generation university-goers cant afford

to take a risk on a creative course, when Business and Finance courses canoffer more of the promise of getting a proper, stable job in an officesomewhere.Finally, because our industry is notoriously hard to catch a break in for

those that have successfully navigated those two hurdles, it shows thereare many barriers preventing diverse talent entering our ranks and making

our industry better at what it does.So we realised we had to show not only that creativity is valuable and thatit is path to legitimate profession that you could make a good living from,while making a qualification of sorts that holds more weight than anOxbridge degree but is a million times more accessible. In short we havecreated an opportunities engine for young people and the creative sector.

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PLATFORM

Britain has one of the most vibrant and excitingcreative industries in the world. Britain has

grown global creative forces like WPP Group aswell as nurturing smaller creative businesses andindividuals through a rich supporting networklike NESTA, CCSkills, D&AD and many more.Very few other countries can boast a memberof their parliament being responsible forCulture, Media and Sport, too.

But despite our industrys advances andsuccesses it can be so much richer. Tom Bewick

the then CEO of CCSkills said,

We saw this more as an unanswered problemthan a damning indictment to our industry. After

speaking with many recruiters and employers inthis industry, the common response to this was that its much simpler and easier to find highlyqualified candidates from the established places,like art schools and redbrick universities, and so

the industry has invited in talent from a relativelysmall pool; this is disappointing and perplexingbecause YouTube, blogs and classroom exercisebooks are full of real examples of how creative adiverse young Britain is.

So the challenge became clear, how do create aqualification of sorts that holds more weight

than a redbrick but is a million times moreaccessible to young people from a variety ofbackgrounds? We thought wed have toask the employers to set their ownsyllabus and have it accredited by

their peers.

One in six young people arenow out of work, and this figure is

set to rise. Paradoxically, the creativeand cultural sector is also missing

out on new talent because itremains difficult to get a break and

93% of the workforce is white

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PLATFORM

Platform provides that opportunity by showing that creativity isvaluable and by unlocking untapped potential and putting it to good

use in an arena where employers (brand owners, consultancies,agencies) are present and where young people arent just talking to

themselves. Were aware brands and their agencies arent charities,this is why weve embedded Platform with plenty of marketing andother opportunities for brands eager to talk to this elusiveaudience; the classic win-win.

For more information about the strategy and what we are doing inpractice to these conditions please visit www.projectplatform.co.ukor get in touch with our agencywww.createordielondon.com


The SolutionOur solution satisfies four conditions:

Unlocking youth talent and putting it to good use,

Showing young people that creativity is valuable

Providing a genuine alternative route into industry

Providing a credible communications platform

where brands can interact with the next generation
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LONDON2011

In order to show howPlatform would work in

practice and also to make

exciting visuals to give a taste ofwhat a television programmecould look like, we decided wedput on an event.

Not your typical linear event, wherewed have a room full of people

listening to a few esteemed speakers,but something more interactive, involving

and representative of the spirit of Platform.Taking inspiration from social media & tech

hack-days, we knew wed want an event wheresome great work can be turned around in avery short space of time; also we wanted toopen up the creative process to show thatwhile its difficult to create and execute ideas,its not a mystery or magical and that with

talent, hard work and determination yourbackground does not have to restrict you indeveloping them.

We decided on making Platform Live a livecompetition working on a real client problem,

wed be meritocratic in sourcing the youngpeople participating and have them mentoredby Londons best agency teams andprofessi onals f rom B BH, Grey, TBWA\LONDON and McCann London.

We teamed up with the international global

cause-based marketing initiative RED who

kindly gave us a massive and really cool brief to

work on.The word was put out on Facebook in the search

for participants, we used Facebooks Like and wall

functionality to ask for 16-21 year olds to put up

their best work and offered places to the what

we deemed the best work and the work that

gained the most Likes.

On event day, 8 young people were paired in

groups of two and assigned an agency team.

There they worked for the whole day on

developing ideas to be analysed in front of judges:

Jon Kingsbury the Director of the CreativeEconomy Programme at NESTA, Matt Lockethemult i-platform expert , Lolo Chambovet

Philanthropic Manager of the Hospital Club and

Mark McGinn, Head of International Marketing

and Communications at (RED). Four inspiring

ideas were presented and after lengthy

deliberation it was Team BBHs I KNOW idea

that took the prize.

A great initiative. Always good to shakeup the agencies with the next wave ofthinkers

Matt Buttrick

Senior Planner, Grey London

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LONDON2011

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LONDON2011

Platform Live was a eventorganised by CREATE or DIELONDON, hosted by NESTAand opened by Lord Puttnamin London on the 13th July

2011. Mentors were providedby BBH London, Grey London,McCann London and TBWA\LONDON. The brief wassupplied by RED

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WHAT NOW?

Platform has a number of working parts, each of which relies onpartnersto help us fulfill.

Were very proud of the event we put on at NESTA in July andespecially pleased with its results; but this was just the first step ofan exciting journey. There are many ways organisations can comewith us:

If you are:

If theres the potential for us to use it

well want to work with the agency and young

people involved in that group to helpimplement it,

Mark McGinn

Head of International Communications and

Marketing (RED)


If you are an agency or creative organization:

We need to foster working relationshipswith more companies that can ofercreative problems (briefs) that need solvingby our young audience.

People available to help accredit briefresponses through Platform

People willing to mentor teams for atelevision exposure

Brand owners

Briefs for Platform online andfor a television exposure

Government

Access to schools andeducational institutions fortesting and implementation.
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Quirksville (design partners for the Platform Project) are avisually creative graphic design and illustration duo that

consists of Naomi Ray (Studiopixie) and Justina Bailey(Just-B). The London based duo, cite Salvador Dali, KeithHaring, Saul Bass, Jamie Hewlett, Kevin Lyons and SerialCut to name a few as visual inspirations.Their work encompasses a mixture of graphic design. artdirection, illustration, mixed montage and photography.Music is also a major influence in their creative processwith anything from Electronica, Funk, Rock, Hip Hop,House, Soul and Jazz rotating on their QV music playlist.Quirky facts include Naomi (Studiopixie) is a shoe fiend,

toasted bagel guzzler, Arsenal fanatic and a fiend for adecadent strawberry cheesecake. Justina (Just-B) has apenchant for frilly socks, grizzly bears, shes a sneaker freakand has an obsession with cool beards!

Email: [email protected]:@QuirksvilleTumblr: www.quirksville.tumblr.com

Web: www.quirksville.com (Launches Dec 2011)

The collaboration was exce!lent Justina BaileyDesigner, Quirksville

Supporting the young creatives was a greatexperience for us and in turn we were inspired

Naomi RayDesigner, Quirksville

http://projectplatform.co.uk/http://www.quirksville.com/http://www.quirksville.tumblr.com/http://www.twitter.com/Quirksvillemailto:[email protected]://projectplatform.co.uk/http://projectplatform.co.uk/http://projectplatform.co.uk/http://projectplatform.co.uk/http://www.quirksville.com/http://www.quirksville.com/http://www.quirksville.tumblr.com/http://www.quirksville.tumblr.com/http://www.twitter.com/Quirksvillehttp://www.twitter.com/Quirksvillemailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Cheers!

11

Thanks to NESTA, BBH, Grey, McCann London, TBWA\LONDON and (RED) but specifically there were manypeople involved in the making of Platform Live, so massive

thanks to:

Jon Kingsbury, Jess Tyrrell, James Abraham, Janet Mackechnie,Mark McGinn, Matt Locke, Lord Puttnam, Damian CollinsMP, Lolo Chambovet, Jessica Davies, Nick Constantinou, Phil

Jackson, Pete Bardell, Becky Russell, Katie Burkes, TomMurphy, Tom Woodhead, Melanie Arrow, Sarah Jenkins, AnnaVogt, Matt Buttrick, Rory Forrest, Robert Harwood-Matthews, Tom Wong, Zaid Al-Zaidy, Tom Claridge, Adam

Johnson, Liz Dewhurst, Aaron Shaw, James Rotimi, Blu Evans,

Miles Fleming, Alan Chu, Alexander Whitehill, DenishaAnderson, David Kelly, Lucie Osborn, Madeleine Hallward,Sarah Murphy, Layla Rynn, Deborah Fox, Jan Singleton, RuthAttride, Naomi Ray, Justina Bailey, Donovan Thomas, MichaelBlythe, Daniel Brown, Marc Lewis, Adah Parris, DavidHolloway, Andy Peel, Cate Anderson and everyone else whohelped out who we've missed!

Wed definitely do it again

Tom WoodheadSenior Account Director, BBH

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CONTACT

If youd like to partner with us to help producePlatform, help out with Platform Live 2012 or

would jus t like to find out a little more aboutthe project drop us a line and well get back toyou soon.

Email: [email protected]: www.projectplatform.co.ukTwitter:@platformliveFacebook: www.facebook.com/platformlive

With the amazing array of

creative talent on display at this event,really shows that diversity in this sectoris well warranted

Troy KennedyPartner, CREATE or DIE LONDON

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Platform / London 2011

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