Words by Arnel Villanueva
WTF? I almost didn’t get a seat to one of the most helmed talks during the opening day of the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity 2019 by Richard Brim of Adam&EveDBB. The debussy theater was jam-packed with audience eager to know the ‘Wonders of What the F*ck’, as the talk title says.
He started with saying ‘don’t be afraid of sounding stupid.’
He mentioned that most of their successful campaigns came out from unpopular opinions and brain farts, so we should never underestimate the wonder of WTF.
He showed some of their works that are product of WTF idea, and he first cited their award winning work for Marmite as an example. The idea started when they were huddling and some intern at the back just shoot the idea that what if your choice to whether like or hate Marmite depends on your genes? Watch the video below as to how this wtf idea turned out.
Video: Marmite Gene Test
Some of their famous works that are featured are Harvey Nichols’ Shoplifter Ad and El Tornado Football. He said that these campaigns started from encouraging everyone to just pitch in their wildest thoughts, as long as it answers the brief.
Harvey Nichols’ Shoplifters
EA Games Fifa ‘More Than A Game’
Brian was charming and a natural comedian on stage. I kept on laughing at his jokes, and his talk was even supported with funny visuals that he unapologetically grabbed from shutterstock, promoting it for being an unofficial sponsor of the festival.
He was also engaging and insightful during the Q&A portion. One of the questions was ‘What have you learned from these successful campaigns that you’ve done?’ He answered, as the head of their agency, ‘… to get everyone empowered. Listen to everyone.’
I’m pretty sure everyone left the room inspired and fired up to come up with WTF ideas after that talk. Richard’s words hit the right spot, especially for young creatives like me to be bold, be stupid and be WTF!
About the Author
Arnel Villanueva, Associate Creative Director from BBDO Guerrero Manila. He’s your guy who makes everything a ‘Two Thumbs Up’. Recently won the AdAge’s 10th Global Cover Competition and was sent to Cannes Lons Festival of Creativity 2019.
