It may seem like every day is a brandathon for those working in advertising and marketing, but last Thursday night was The Ad Club’s third annual event.
If you're unfamiliar with how this event works, Brandathon brings together some of the best advertising agencies and top tier startup companies in Boston. The Ad Club narrows down over 200 startup submissions to an impressive 12 and then randomly partners them with local creative teams. After a 2 hour meet and greet the creative teams are given just 72 hours to develop a new brand identity and 360 campaign including video content, website design, social and experiential activations.
The teams don't see each other again until the live pitch a week later in front of hundreds of local industry members and a prestigious panel of judges. The startup winner then receives full rights to the campaign, at a $100,000 value, on-air broadcast media time, a join.me account and a 3-month full-time flex desk membership valued at $7,500 from Idea Space. On stage at the event the creative teams had a mere 8 minutes to pitch their startup.. No pressure folks.
Last week I attended the live Brandathon event at the Revere Hotel, and the collection of startups was the most diverse array of products and services I’ve ever seen in one room. Just about every category was covered, including: original bowties, meat and vegetable burgers, a rewards app for phone free driving, a German mattress brand, bottled tree water, live playlist sharing, and a baby blanket that matches the mother’s heartbeat.
What happened next wasn’t just over two hours of entertaining, original, thorough pitches that should all be on SharkTank asap, but a connection between creative and brand that you don’t see every day. I found myself more interested in the live reactions from the company reps than the pitches themselves. In front of them was a team they met just under a week ago that had masterfully turned their burgeoning idea into a realistic and tangible business that could reach lots and lots of people. Their reactions ranged from laughter and standing applause, to actual jaw dropping awe and even tears.
These companies were only together a short time but their creative partnership was just as strong, if not stronger than any AOR for the biggest brand. It was very refreshing to see clients have such a strong emotional reaction to the creative being presented from their agency. I’m not saying I want my clients to cry when the creatives take them through a storyboard or wireframe, but it’s important to remember that the roots of our brands were once just starting out and simply looking for someone to take their idea to the next level even if they didn’t know what that looked like yet.
My main takeaway from the Brandathon is that the game has changed and it matters less what the brand does or sells, and that users (ahem, millennials) just need to be entertained with content. Whether they know it or not, they just want a great story.
So keep pitching stories to current clients and new clients. You don’t need huge budgets; think simple, be different get creative. As I experienced first-hand last Thursday night, sometimes it pays to take those big risks and jump in head first.