D&AD ‘the most fun you can have with your clothes on’
That’s what we used to say about advertising back in the day. Not any more. As a member of D&AD, I was invited to their annual launch at their schmick new HQ just off Brick Lane. The latest spin on the D&AD Award Book is to make it an ‘Annual with a Manual’ to inspire future generations of creatives. A lofty ideal – basically it’s a book with an elastic band attaching a leaflet. I was there last night sipping delicious chilli infused akai and blueberry juice which made up for the woke and inedible bars snacks: micro-baked potato chips and some ungodly vegan, jeez I don’t know what they were. London’s worthy were assembled for the launch of D&AD’s 56th Annual knocked up by Magpie Studio and dreamt up by outgoing chairman Steve Vranakis.
As a proud Brit, I believe the D&AD Annual is truly the last word for the best in creative work in design and advertising across the planet. The design of this year’s Annual sees its front cover cut in half to make space for the Manual – a detachable exercise book featuring creative tasks and inspirational contributions from industry heavyweights, including Black Pencil winners Michael Johnson (Johnson Banks), Bjorn Stahl (INGO Stockholm) and Alice Tonge (4creative). The idea is that when you buy your £200 Annual this year are encouraged to pass the Manual on to up and coming creatives – to support their rise through the industry.
As gimmicks go, it’s pretty good but the virtue signalling Vranakis couldn’t help bleat about how this was a new direction in creating righting the wrongs of inequality. Guess what? It’s advertising, it’s not meant to be easy to get into. Do you think the SAS, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs or any other elite, high-performanceorganisation cares where their best performers come from? And in my experience, the annual has always been a manual for creativity. I’ve spent decades in an industry watching creatives huddled over them in search a muse from Melbourne to Moscow to Hong Kong.
Speaking of which I’m off there in November. Operation Snowbird lifts me out of London for the winter months. I fly into Hong Kong to 10 days then it’s two months in Bangkok and Chiangmai then back to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Macau.
