So after working on a brief for three days, with a nerve wracking deadline presentation to a top Creative Partner, what is the reward….
… The Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour, of course!!!
As always, a wonderful experience, however many times you go.
So the deadline for the team brief arrived – just three days to develop a strong Creative Strategy and then apply it to campaignable ideas. Each team had to select an iconic British brand and find a way to incorporate President (to be) Donald Trump into the brand strategy – I kid you not! A wonderful creative challenge 🙂
Team 1 chose Mini. 2 chose Rolex and team 3 chose Burberry. All great presentations, well delivered and well executed.
I was determined to get out to at least one exhibition while I was here. The ‘You say you want a revolution’ one at the V&A museum was recommended to me by a friend, and it didn’t let me down.
Although I relate more to the late 1970’s and early 1980’s – this exhibition was extremely interesting and entertaining. It was nice to again see the legend, Alan Aldridge, referenced time and time again, reinforcing just how much of a part he was of the whole scene. Definitely recommend going to see this one – whether your an old hippy or not, it gives a very insightful overview of the whole counter culture revolution.
The end of the night say the majority of the faculty and directors of this years trip enjoying a beer and some good food at my favorite pub – The Lamb. Good company and good conversation.
As the students progress with their final brief, they were offered some much needed additional help and strategy direction from a good friend of mine who came from working on his own deadlines straight to the pub to discuss the brief with all three teams. Thank you Russ 🙂
For an afternoon of wandering around (and eating), you can’t beat one of my all time favorite places in London – Borough Market. Wonderful range of foods and cultures. One day I will get the nerve up to try the jellied eels!!!
Waiting for my Veal burger with cheese…
Real Turkish coffee (double shot!)
As with any long trip, however good the hotel breakfast is, you tend to get a little ‘cabin fever’ after a while, so I ventured out to find a little cafe I had read about.
The Bloomsbury Coffee House is tucked away in the basement of a hotel, accessible outside by a little set of stairs. Cute and cottagy inside, with a great menu and (spotty) wifi – a really nice place to start the day off at, away from the craziness happening on the sidewalk above.
Official classroom sessions came to an end and the team brief was set. Now came the challenge for the students to put into practice everything they have learned over the past week and a half.
As a nice diversion, the entire Study Abroad group attended the traditional Cream Tea at the hotel. Always amusing watching them try to figure out what, exactly, clotted cream is, and how to assemble it with jam and a scone!
After tea we all headed to the Novello Theatre to see Mamma Mia (again, the theatre trip is a tradition of study abroad). Now I’m going to be honest and say that it has taken me over twentyfive years to get the music of Abba out of my head – despised it then – despise it now, so sitting through a musical that is essentially a vehicle for the Abba back catalog, was…. tough! Never the less, everyone seemed to have a fun night and, in the case of my own students, gave them a little breathing space before getting back to the serious job of their final brief.
I’ve been so busy in London that I’ve forgotten to sit down to post! So here is a ‘catch-up’ of the first week…
Classes – going full steam ahead. Just two more official classroom sessions and then the students split up into three teams and are briefed on their three day project, which will be presented back to the client on Friday – no pressure.
When we’re not in class there is always lots of walking up and down tube escalators, and the occasional ‘pit-stop’ to recharge the batteries!
We went to visit one of my favorite London museums – the Museum of Brands and Packaging. New, bigger venue, same amazing collection going back over a hundred years. Always intriguing to see the development of certain brands over the years.
Then we visited DesignStudio London. Dervla and Fred, thank you so much for making us feel welcome and showing us some of the wonderful work you do (The EPL rebrand – so interesting).
After a hard day of walking and visiting, what better than a beer and dinner at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
In between class related stuff, I also had chance to catch up with friends from afar – in this case my buddy, Dave and co from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, my friends.
And finally, for today’s post….
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM.
