A big congratulation to our two winners for the TEDx Stellenbosch brief! It seemed that the choosing of the wining ideas was not easy on the TEDx team at all. All the submissions we received for this brief were incredible and very well thought out and I have to congratulate the shortlisted candidates for their amazing submissions.
Infact there were so many awesome Ideas for themes and curators that we ended up with a very strong shortlist of 15 Ideas! After some tough deliberation the TEDx team made the call on what they felt was the best way to go - so congratulations to Jason Warner and Marchen Cordon on your win! Nicely Played guys! You can see the full list of those who submitted the Top 15 shortlisted Ideas here and we took some time out to talk to our winners and here is what they had to say:
Jason Warner with his new Nokia N8
First of all, congratulations on having the winning idea! What went through your mind when you got the phone call telling you you’d won?
Well I was lucky enough to be the first Quirkstar (Disclaimer: Jason works for Quirk Education a company that belongs to the same stable of business as Idea Bounty. You can find out more here) to win a bounty - a massive privilege in its own right – which meant that instead of a phone call I got a manly handshake.
I felt pretty thrilled to have won. I shot off my idea and didn’t give it much thought until maybe a week before the announcement, so yeah, what a great feeling.
What made you submit an Idea? Was it the Brief, the client or the challenge in coming up with a new name?
Definitely a combination of all three: The brief was simple and clear, and didn’t require a colossal effort. TED is a great brand run by great people doing great things, and I feel their ethos lends itself quite well to crowdsourcing.
The challenge itself was a lot of fun and my brief is something I feel quite strongly about.
How did you come up with the Idea? What were some of the inspirational tools that you made use of if any?
I used to work for the Cape Times and the Cape Argus, so have a natural interest in writing and the media in general. I now work for Quirk Education, tying in my strong affinity for digital and knowledge sharing. The brief was a combination of these loves.
Imagine you have an unlimited budget and you can work for any client on any brief. Who would it be, what would it be, and why.
I’m a massive Adidas fan boy – everything from their design to their marketing approach (just take a look at this video announcing their new range) I love their fresh approach, and feel they have their finger on the pulse of international culture like none of their competitors.
Finally if it was a life and death situation, and you had to have a brand logo tattooed onto your forehead. Which brand would you go with?
The forehead? Y’ouch. If you haven’t guessed already, it would the three stripes of Adidas.
Marchen Cordon
First of all, congratulations on having the winning idea! What went through your mind when you got the phone call telling you you’d won?
At first I thought it was a prank, but then I heard TEDx Stellenbosch and it started to sink in, caught totally off guard but trying to act calm. It was the first day of the Census 2011 Project, so I had a lot on my mind, so it was quite a nice surprise in the midst of all the madness.
What made you submit an Idea? Was it the Brief, the client or the challenge in coming up with a new name?
I had become so busy and hadn’t been on the site for quite some time, I use to submit at least one idea for every brief before, so I popped in to see what I missed, and saw the TEDx brief. I had no clue who or what TEDx was, and that caught my attention, wanting to read up on TEDx, which I found interesting. So it was partly me missing the IdeaBounty setup and partly the client
You are currently working with the 2011 census in South Africa. What is the funniest or weirdest thing you have seen so far?
You get your difficult people and then you get people who are hiding something, those who is trying to hide something are either very moody or over friendly. And its for small matters, maybe a container or structure which they do not have permission for, which have nothing to do with us anyway, more then that I can’t say, it’s all confidential.
How did you come up with the Idea? What were some of the inspirational tools that you made use of if any?
As a marketer, looking for or identifying new trends sort of comes natural, and what I’ve found, and I’m sure most marketers have also, is that we depend too much on the opinions of the international markets rather then starting our own. But when you look hard enough you’ll find that a fair enough of great ideas or concepts have African roots. But so often we lay down the foundation and then get settled instead of developing what we have and make it better.
This have been one of the many burning questions in my head for a while, so this brief just helped me express that specific idea or thought, hopefully it can get people to thinking and have more respect for their surroundings and what it has and can inspire, irrespective of where they find them self in the world
Imagine you have an unlimited budget and you can work for any client on any brief. Who would it be, what would it be, and why?
I must say Capitec Bank. My reason being, Capitec Bank is one of the fastest growing brands locally, and they have immense potential. The advantage they have over other banks, is the fact that they started so late, they were founded in 2001, which in banking industry terms, is relatively new, but have given them the foundation to build a quality brand. Technology and banking systems were better developed in 2001 then the time all the leading banks of today were started, this gave them a better platform to build on. I say watch that space over the next few years
Finally if it was a life and death situation, and you had to have a brand logo tattooed onto your forehead. Which brand would you go with?
Coca Cola obviously, best brand ever, I don’t believe Coke as a brand will ever die out
