Idea Bounty Blog

Capitec Bank Award Amod Munga A $5000 Bounty!

by Daniel Neville on 2010/03/25

It took a few minutes for Amod to stop saying things like "You are shitting me..." and 'I cant believe this" when I spoke to him on the phone... $5000 will do that to you. Infact this is rather a special award in that it is the first time we have had a Bounty go to more than one creative working on the same concept. Although the winning Idea was submitted by Amod he collaborated on the concept with art-director Deon Hug and together they managed to put one awesome solution to the brief forward - nice work guys!

A big congratulations must also go out to the rest of you for really stepping up to the plate on this one. With more than 600 Ideas we were kept very busy and it was a long debate before the final winning Idea popped to the surface. In particular we would like to congratulate those creatives who produced Ideas that made it onto our short list - picking up Silver and Bronze Awards in the process. You can check this list out here.

Amod Munga & Deon Hug

We also managed to grab a short interview with Amod and chat with him about his process and his thoughts on crowdsourcing. Enjoy!

1. First and foremost, congratulations on having your idea selected as having the best concept for both the print and banner ad. Did you think you had the winning Idea?

Thanks. I'm really blown away by this. To be honest, we (myself & Deon Hug, the art-director) figured we stood as good a chance as anyone else – but I don't think we seriously considered we'd win. Actually, when I called Deon, it took some doing to convince him that I was serious about winning. But that may have more to do with our working relationship than anything else. :)

2. Tell us a bit more about yourself and how you stumbled across Idea Bounty and the Capitec Bank brief.

I discovered Idea Bounty through Bizcommunity a while ago and signed up, but never really took part seriously in any of the briefs (ironically because the deadlines were so tight). I'd been aware of Capitec's achievement (thanks to Twitter) and got the announcement of the brief in my email shortly after that.

3. What drew you to submitting an Idea? Was it the brand or the challenge presented?

It was the challenge. A really narrow corridor of time to deliver quality work for a world-class brand? It was just an offer to good to refuse.

4. How long did it take you to come up with the idea - was it a toilet moment (I get lots of ideas on the toilet) or a cunningly crafted plan?

That would be telling...but I can reveal that a pen and sketch-pad were used extensively in generating the idea.

5. By profession you are a freelance copy writer - with quite bit of experince - do you think this gave you a significant advantage?

I think past experience in working under tight deadlines helped but I don't think it gave me a significant advantage. Ultimately, it comes down to the idea – and that outcome is based on your creative process.

6. What was your process for tackling the brief - I know you worked closely with Deon Hug who mocked up your concept for you - do you find working with others brings out more in the creative process?

The brief was pretty straightforward, so it was just a case of discovering an insight that would be interesting or compelling. Collaborating is definitely first prize when it comes to working on any brief. You always need someone else to bounce ideas off and give you a different view of the brief. Working with Deon was cool because we have a great creative understanding and we both believe in producing quality work, regardless of the deadline.

7. We assume that you have no problem with Crowdsourcing, (since you submitted an idea) what do you think it will take for the concept of mass idea generation to become standard thought for big brands?

It will take a dramatic shift in the way we do business as creatives to make crowdsourcing the norm. I don't know if the crowd will ever completely replace the professional creative but it's already changing the way independent creatives operate. The trend for creative freelancers to organise themselves into loose collectives (crowds) is growing, but as for whether this will replace the traditional agency model, that remains to be seen.

8. It must be awesome to know you are going to see your ideas in print very soon - How do you feel about this and any plans for the $5,000 you pocketed in the process?

There are these awesome Batman graphic novels I have my eye on and I think Deon may have said something about a Rubik's cube.

9. Lastly if you were in a life or death situation and had to tattoo a brand logo on your forehead - who would it be?

Life or death? Sure, you could tattoo the logo on my forehead (Terms and conditions: depends on the brand. There are just some brands I'd rather eat a bullet than wear. And we'd have to renegotiate the contract every 6 months. And augmented reality would cost extra. And no public appearances on Tuesdays)

Bounty Winners

The Capitec Bank Top 30

by Daniel Neville on 2010/03/25

For those of you who have no idea what the Top 30 is here is a bit of an explanation - Starting with the awarding of the Peperami brief last year, and followed by the brief from the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, we here at Idea Bounty have started handing out Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards to the top deserving creatives from each brief. The number of awards for each brief will depend on how many truly outstanding Ideas we received. These Awards are there to help you brag about your good Ideas and they need to be worthy of this!

The Capitec Bank brief produced a total of 30 really outstanding Ideas - these Ideas were debated and discussed to the finest detail before picking a winner. And even though we only have one winner all the creatives who managed to get their Ideas into this top 30 deserve some credit.

So without further ado here are the Top creatives who truly can boost about their Ideas! A special congratulations to Jabulani Sigege & Quentin Arendse who picked up a total of 3 Silver Awards, Kevin Baldwin who walked away with two Silvers and a Bronze and both Rob Hainsworth and Shem Hunter who picked up two Bronze Awards each - very very nicely done guys!

1. Amod Munga

1. Kevin Baldwin x 2

2. Jabulani Sigege & Quentin Arendse x 3

3. M Prchlik

4. Richard Vowles

5. Chris Jones

6. Mel Rees

7. Johann McLoughlin

8. Gary Willmott

1. Stuart Greenfield

2. Tshidi Mabitsela

3. Dylan Laubscher

4. Brendan Taylor

5. Stefanie Naborn

6. Kevin Baldwin

7. Mark Titcombe

8. Rob Hainsworth x2

9. Greg Smith

10. Alexandra Stummer

11. Shem Hunter x2

12. Trevor Delaney

13. Craig Ferguson

14. Leon Jacobs

15. Janine M Pike

16. Hugh Fletcher Cox

17. Phil Thomas

All of our winners should be receiving their award emails shortly – congrats! Thank you again to all of you for the support and love!

PS: If you are one of the Capitec Bank Top 30 and have not received your award by Friday the 16th of April please mail us on awards@ideabounty.com and we will sort the problem out!

Bounty Winners

Capitec Bank & the 'Great Brands of Tomorrow" brief

by Daniel Neville on 2010/03/19

Last week Friday we launched a brief for Capitec Bank which was a bit of an experiment and divergence from the way in which some previous brands have used Idea Bounty. In the past a brief would typically run for 2 months - giving you all time to think about the problem at hand and produce your best ideas. This time however Capitec Bank took the brave and bold step of putting up a brief that asked for a much faster turn around time.

Capitec Bank

The really awesome news is you all stepped up to the mark and in seven days managed to produce more than 400 really high quality ideas. We are super impressed and so is the team from Capitec Bank. Charl Nel, who is the Capitec brand custodian, had these awesome words to share with you:

“Wow, what a response to a tight brief! My team and I will work through the ideas this weekend whereupon I will take the finalists to our Marketing Executive team early next week for a final decision.   

I’ve always thought the 1970s agency model still used widely is past its sell-by date, but never considered crowdsourcing as a solution. Granted, this method will not work where one needs confidentiality before a campaign launch. But this method, combined with a strong and experienced marketing team who controls strategy & package tight briefs, might just be the next big thing in our industry and the way forward to advertise concepts with in-house agencies like our Capitec-Studio executing these concepts. This takes care of the cost issue and address the issue of in-house agencies getting stale over time, by receiving hundreds of fresh new ideas from all around the world with new insights into the brand.” ~ Charl Nel, Brand Custodian, Capitec Bank

As you might have guessed the sheer quality and quality of the Ideas that were submitted have caused a slight (but good) headache for us - choosing a winner amongst such quality is hard and we want to make sure that each Idea is given the attention it deserves.

So keep an eye on this blog early next week, we will be announcing the winner soon and rolling out your concept very soon after. A big thank you to everyone who submitted Ideas, you all can call yourselves legends for upping the stake and producing such outstanding work!

Bounty Winners

The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Picks Its Winner: Lindy Taoushiani

by Daniel Neville on 2010/03/04

One of the best things about working at Idea Bounty is being able to pick up the phone and call a winner - Its a small thing but I usually get as excited as the winner on the other end, almost like I pocketed some cash myself. Calling our latest winner Lindy (pocketing $3,000 for her solution to the Allan Gray Orbis Foundations brief) was no different, especially considering that she managed to come out at the top of the pile on quite a tough brief.

The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation

Over all we received some outstanding Ideas in answer to the Allan Gray Orbis Foundations quest to find the right applicants for their fellowship program. Some of the Ideas pulled some serious out the box thinking out of the bag and others went in directions we could never have dreamed of. Over all we ended up taking 18 Ideas to a final selection workshop - which gives you an Idea of the quality Ideas that you all produced!

Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Winner - Lindy Taoushiani

After much deliberation the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation team eventually settled on Lindy's Idea which was titled 'SMS Your Results' - we are seriously looking forward to see the Idea rolled out. In the mean time check out our interview with Lindy below!

First and foremost, congratulations on having your Idea selected as the winner - mobile marketing is still quite fresh concept. Did you think you had the winning Idea?

Thanks Daniel. Not at all! I submitted three – the first two off the top of my head (with embarrassing typos I see now!) and the third more thought through. I think it was the second one that won.

Tell us a bit more about yourself and how you stumbled across Idea Bounty and the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation brief.

I am very interested in the digital media landscape and the way marketing and relating to consumers has completely changed. One of the Habari summits I attended had a lady from Brazil who mentioned the site as a fantastic South African idea so I looked it up and tried it out.

What drew you to submitting an Idea? Was it the challenge presented or just a chance to show off your Ideas?

Initially it was to try out the crowdsourcing concept only – but I really enjoy coming up with possible solutions to marketing problems – especially when these solutions include digital. Add in a competition element and I’m in!!

How long did it take you to come up with the Idea - was it a toilet moment (I get lots of Ideas on the toilet) or a cunningly crafted plan?

I’m afraid it was off the top of my head – I submitted three ideas at different times – every time I looked at the brief I had a different thought and banged it out right there really.

Tell us a bit about your experience with working on below the line campaigns as well as your online work and how you see the two coming together?

I have 10 years marketing/ agency experience at Artifact but the most exciting for me has been the last three where I have emmersed myself in online/ digital marketing and media - now we are providing a strategic integrated offering that offers the full picture to clients and I am really excited that we are ahead of the game here.

There is definitely a need to stop looking at digital, BTL and ABL as separate strategies. As a strategist my goal has to be to look at what is truly the best way for the client to engage their consumer. In order to do this I have to look at all media avenues – not just the services we offer as an agency or are comfortable with. All marketing professionals should be aware of the different media opportunities available, otherwise they are losing out.

What was your process for tackling the brief - did you stick to methods used in your day job & do you think it helped?

When we do strategies for clients we put in more research I promise! For me the target market being so niche and young, and the client looking for a mobile solution made the idea flow quite easily I think. The more niche the market the easier I find it to connect the client with the consumer.

You have along with your agency worked on a couple of mobile sites for your clients - how do you see brands using mobile in the future? Do you think they will become the standard first point of call a consumer will make when looking for information on the fly?

South Africa is in a unique situation with over 5 million internet users on PC and now probably over 7 million internet users on their mobile. I think mobile presents more than a platform for info on the fly – for many South Africans it is their social networking tool, their research tool, their weather and news tool, music player, etc etc – so I think it is for many already the standard first point of call & often their only point of call.

We assume that you have no problem with Crowdsourcing, (since you submitted an idea) what do you think it will take for the concept of mass Idea generation to become standard thought for big brands?

I think crowdsourcing is obviously a fantastic idea! Along with other global trends, SA agencies need to take note – creativity is not limited to creatives and a successful advertising idea these days is not what it used to be. I think that the more brands realize that their agencies are maybe not offering the full scope of what is possible but are limited to what they are comfortable with they will seek other solutions. You guys will be there with the answers! I also think crowdsourcing should be looked at by brands for product development and marketing – fantastic way to interact with your consumers and create lasting relationships – like Nike does.

It must be awesome to know you are going to see your Idea rolled out - How do you feel about this and any plans for the $3,000 you pocketed in the process?

Its such a great feeling to have won something like this – unfortunately I am not in the target market so the campaign being so niche may miss me!! Boringly I need to start an education fund for my kids and this is a great boost!

Lastly if you were given an unlimited budget to develop a product or idea what would you create?

Unlimited budget – don’t tease me!! I have a BIG idea for tackling the “digital divide” in SA and providing clients with what they need in this changing media landscape – so unilimited budget to get that off the ground would be fantastic!

A big congratulations to Lindy Taoushiani for a well deserved win, we hope you enjoy your $3,000 Bounty! We will be awarding some creatives for their outstanding efforts too - check out the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation top 29 to see who walked away with Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.