DDB on the essence of 'creative industry judging'

Each year, an agency has the privilege of coming up with the Loeries campaign. This year, that honour was bestowed upon DDB, which has been “an amazing collaboration with the team at the Loerie Awards,” according to the country’s third-best creative officer of 2016 – that’s Wielopolski, according to the latest Loeries Rankings.

Wielopolski in non-judging mode.

All they needed was a simple executional idea; an idea that was easy to roll out and also cost-effective to maintain. “We wanted it to be fun, the colour choice and typeface are funky and fresh, the doodles are inspired by the creative process where everything starts off as a rough scribble,” Wielopolski explains.

On whether there’s a lot of ‘workplace judging’ in the creative industry in particular, Wielopolski says, “While we creatives try our darnedest to be open-minded, we can’t help but find ourselves being the most judgmental.” That’s what gave them inspiration for the campaign.

But the best is yet to come, as the DDB team is looking forward to also shooting a host of humorous short videos that will be used across various media. He adds that there are a few other surprises in store, but those you’re going to have to wait for.

Live creatively beyond your 9 to 5

It’s not all ‘cloak-and-dagger’, though. On the thinking or rationale behind this year’s 'We’ll judge your work' Loeries campaign, Wielopolski says, “The role of the Loerie Awards is to judge the best work from both Africa and the Middle East. The work has to be world-class and entertaining.”

But we creatives are a different breed. We like to be different, act differently and dress differently. The Loeries aren’t interested in that though, they’re only interested in one thing: your work. “They won’t judge you, no matter how weird or quirky you are; they’ll just judge your work,” he explains. So best you make sure your work is great.

Creativity isn’t limited to the time Wielopolski sits at his desk, either, as he says, “Creativity is my life. Yes my day job is a chief creative officer, but after hours when I get home, I still have to be creative, whether it’s how to make a delicious, healthy meal, or some new activity to entertain the kids. I always try to do something a little different and special.”

It’s an umbrella philosophy to adopt industry-wide, especially if you’re hoping for your work to be judged on its creative excellence in this year’s Loerie Awards.

Loeries Creative Week 2017 will take place from 14 to 20 August in Durban. Until then, keep up-to-date with our Loeries’ special section and be sure to follow the Loeries on Twitter and Instagram.