How 4 College Students Reminded Me Why I Do What I Do
Working in a creative field we talk about “inspiration” all the time. We pride ourselves on thinking outside the box and brainstorming innovative ideas. We are inspired by our mentors and our colleagues. We walk around and see inspiration in the world. And sometimes, we are lucky enough to work on a project that reminds us why we were inspired to get into the ad business in the first place.
Last month, the Success Philly office joined other local agencies in a Startup Creative Contest. Agencies were assigned local startup companies and challenged to create a campaign to help launch their company and market their product, all while working with a limited budget.
Our team was paired with Just 3D Print It, a company started by 4 local college students determined to bring 3D Printing into the mainstream and help small businesses lower their costs on manufactured products. Working with a startup company was exciting and fun. And on top of that, our company was made up of young, entrepreneurial college students who were trying to balance school, work, their company and finding their place in the world. We were able to witness firsthand their passion and excitement, and get the opportunity to tell their story. Their enthusiasm was infectious and we found ourselves reminiscing about being young and having dreams. (and wishing we had been that entrepreneurial!)
Of course there were challenges as well. We had to balance the project with our regular client work and deadlines. The kids were inexperienced, with little understanding of advertising and weren’t being taken seriously by prospects. Their schedules were busy, and unfortunately during the contest timeframe, they had all their printers under repair and could not share product samples or photos for us to use. But we powered through. We learned about 3d printing. We brainstormed ideas. We collaborated as a team and came up with a fun, creative campaign that fit the client’s budget and met their objectives.
We were proud to go head-to-head against some of the larger agencies in Philly. Our team presented their campaign at an evening awards event, where local agencies, startups and media people were in attendance. And our efforts paid off. We proudly took home 3rd place!
The post Finding Inspiration… appeared first on Success Communications Group.