Andrew Human's Regional Roadshow highlights

Leigh AndrewsBy Leigh Andrews
17 Mar 2017
Loeries CEO Andrew Human chats about the Loeries' recent Regional Roadshow that covered Lagos and Nairobi while also sharing tips to boost your personal creativity.

On the objectives of the Loeries 2017 Regional Roadshow, Human said the focus is on Africa and the Middle East in particular, with the main aim to grow regional awareness of the Loeries in the markets outside South Africa.

Loeries Lagos creative get together kicks off #loeries2017 #lagos

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Human explains, “We initially went to Lagos and Nairobi, with the outcome of both very successful with good meetings at agencies and information sharing get-togethers, with good turnout in both cities.”

Raising regional awareness

As a result of this, Human expects to see an increase in entries from those areas, but we’ll only know for sure once the entries are in. Information shared included excerpts from the seminar and on what to expect at Loeries Creative Week Durban, as well as the background of the award categories, how they can enter, what they can enter and showing them examples of previous winning work from the region as inspiration.

Team Loeries kept all of us social media addicts back home informed through many posts, showing examples of the culture and sights they saw along the way. Human explains that they visited more agencies in Lagos than in Nairobi, as it had such terrible traffic that the way you drive around in Cape Town you just can’t do in Nairobi, so visiting four agencies in a day is just impossible.

The agencies in Lagos, on the other hand, are located in one district, so it’s similar to Johannesburg in that sense, and easier to get around.

Human says that it was great going to the agencies and very inspiring, especially if you know little about the country before you get there, as the creatives they met at the agencies were inspired and stimulated. That’s why interaction with the creative teams in the agencies was one of Human’s personal highlights.

The creative balancing act

We also spoke of the current trend towards boosting creativity continent-wide, without getting bogged down in daily routines, to enhance that creativity. This is something Human mentions in his talk and links to what was said by one of the speakers at the Loeries DStv Seminar of Creativity in 2011.

That year’s communication design jury president Garrick Hamm, presented a slide with a picture of a lake, a green field and the ocean, and then his Mac on his admittedly very cool-looking desk. Hamm said the only place he doesn’t get ideas is at his desk. It’s very important that you go lie in a field and look at a lake. But, you still have to go and sit at your desk. The conundrum here is that if you only sit at your desk, you won’t be able to create work, and if you only sit in a park the whole day, you won’t do any great work. Human reiterates that it’s a tricky balancing act. To really come up with creative ideas, you must ensure you don’t get consumed by your desk.

The groove at La Mango #lamangolagos

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On this year’s Loeries campaign theme of ‘we won’t judge you, we’ll only judge your work’, as devised by DDB Johannesburg, Human says, “It’s a great theme for us that fits in very much with the overall philosophy of the Loeries, where the whole aim is to reward the work. Even their judging process is designed this way, as the work is anonymous.” So judges don’t judge who submitted the work, they only get to see the work, not the information on who entered it. That also applies to the Grands Prix, which are awarded to the work before they’re linked back to the agency. Human concludes there are many ways to take that message out, but the core is that it’s all about the work.

That’s a fitting end as it’s time to submit your best creative work, with entries for Loeries 2017 open until 15 May. You can also browse this gallery of the Loeries African Roadshow highlights, click here to go further #BehindTheSelfie with Human and visit both the Loeries website and our Loeries Creative Week special section to keep your finger on that creative pulse if you can’t wait for Loeries Creative Week Durban, taking place from 14 to 20 August 2017.

About Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
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