Leslie Ali’s The One Show Diary
Leslie Ali, executive creative director at The Jamboree Sydney, is judging the exclusive The One Show in the Dominican Republic. Ali wrote this daily diary over the week of judging, exclusively for Campaign Brief.
Day 1 is all about the judges and the jetlag. There are a lot of smart people here. From all over. One judge from Thailand travelled for 36 hours, then drove three to get here. So I don’t know what I’m complaining about. My 24 hours and three layovers don’t even stack up. Not that I’m getting competitive or anything.
We gather for dinner, drink through the jet lag, swap a few war stories and call it a day. I flop into bed exhausted, only to find myself completely awake an hour later. My body is clearly not convinced we’re in the Dominican Republic.
Day 2, and many coffees later, I join the group in the big room of ads. This morning we tackle print, poster and outdoor.
All six of us (we’ve been put into smaller teams) are looking forward to seeing what kind of stuff has been entered this year. At first glance, it looks a bit depressing. It’s pretty thin, and a lot of stuff in these categories feels weirdly scammy.
Regardless, the first round starts off nicely. Everyone’s being kind and politely deferring to each other’s opinion as we question things gently. Give us a couple nights drinking together before all that turns into, “Which one of you assholes let that crap through?”
After trawling through ads for nearly three hours, we finally spot a nice press ad for a highlighter. It almost gets a standing ovation. We end the morning on a tiny high. A small but meaningful victory for legitimacy and unexpected thinking.
Note: Don’t submit a case study with a poster entry. The judges’ll laugh at you.
Day 3 is awesome. We get the day off. Some judges go to the beach, others spent the day playing golf. All meet up later for a drink. Many important things are discussed, and the future of advertising finally sorted. Unfortunately not much was retained by the time we get to “Fuego” (the resort’s excellent disco,) and frighten some of the other guests.
Day 4 begins. Eight hours of judging into it, we decide that case studies must die. Too long, too much. The prerequisite news clip that tells you how much it touched the heart of a nation/moms/old people/a lost generation has somehow lost its punch. Maybe that happens after you see those clips featured the 422nd time.
It also might be an idea to end the video right before you get to the “results” section – most of us ignore that bit anyway. It’s usually the time someone makes a crack about him or her.
But today is a better day in terms of the work – we see some nice online work for sneakers, the latest Skittles digital/ analog gags, and a funny: 20 TV executions from some UK supermarket. Both nice solutions; but I think it’s fair to say that we’re still looking for the one.
Day 5 and the judging continues. Lots of zombie and vampire gags this year. A bit weird. There are also two suspiciously similar TV ads for different car brands. Which prompts a massive discussion about which one came first. Everyone’s trying to piece together how the agencies might be connected. Someone drops in something about the same freelancer being connected to both agencies somehow.
But we’re cut off promptly, and told we still have 12 hours of viewing and judging to go. 12. That’s a lot of hours in a big dark room with a whirring cinema projector, so we decide to start discussing how this can possibly be and start debating ways to talk less, judge more.
Next category is “Integrated”. Which means more case studies. Problem: We have to watch more of them. Solution: We start judging people’s work based on how long it takes them to communicate their idea. Some judge talks about setting up a Getty-type company that stocks case study templates – complete with fancy animated “results” options and a variety of CNN news clips to suit any agency’s needs.
But we’re finally done. We put an end to the day by heading down to the beach. It’s the Anomaly judge’s birthday, so we swing by our favorite dancing establishment, nick some wine (no idea why; the drinks are all-inclusive) and crack open a box of cigars someone picked up in Miami. Many hours later, I wake up with a very sore head.
Day 6 / last day. Today is D-day. Discussion and debate day. The day that we try to figure out what’s really inspired us, and what might inspire others.
It’s not easy to do with so many judges from so many different places. We’re 25 total, coming from countries like Switzerland, Sweden, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Canada and Argentina. I’m probably missing a couple more. And up until now, we’ve been judging blindly, on little machines, without knowing what the others really think about the work.
I could tell you a fight broke out, but it didn’t. Lots of things were, as you might expect, hotly debated. Things like technology v idea, submission of case studies in some categories, cheating, stupidity, standards and context. Generosity, when combined with playfulness. We talked about what makes something unique, brave clients, game-changing work, and the merit of great v good.
We talked a lot, and it was good. I thank The One Club for inviting me this year. It was a great show. While I obviously can’t talk about the results, I’ll be happy to talk anyone through how we got there once they’re published online. Maybe I’ll make a case study.