The Isle of Man’s creative community has a new way to showcase its artistic talents following the launch of Ashgrove Marketing’s Createurs competition. The Island-wide contest gives the Island’s creative amateurs the chance to produce their dream marketing campaign with the chance to win cash prizes and have their work immortalised in a special Gallery Magazine edition later this year.
Entrants can choose to improve upon an existing branding exercise or advertising campaign or create their own entirely from scratch with prizes available in graphic design, web and multimedia, copywriting or photography. A first prize is available for each category, with the additional opportunity to win the overall Createurs 2013 Best Entry and the Createurs 2013 People’s Choice award, which is to be decided by followers of the Ashgrove Marketing Facebook page.
Creative projects must be entirely original and accompanied by a creative rationale which explains the thought process behind the submission. Chosen brands can range from local Manx businesses and charities to international brands or an entirely made up company. All entrants are also given the opportunity to seek the guidance of any of Ashgrove’s creative team throughout the creative process.
Ashgrove’s brand strategist, Graeme Brooks, explains the thinking behind this Island first: “The idea came to us, as most good ideas will, in the afterglow of a Friday afternoon at the Ashgrove bar. We had recently had another influx of CVs from some remarkably talented amateurs looking to get into the world of marketing and the topic inevitably shifted to portfolios. There’s a very deep pool of eager creative talent on our dear old island but we often find that many applicants are unsure of how to apply their skills to sell something. So, we decided to do something about it.”
He continued: “Createurs is an opportunity for the Island’s artists, writers, designers and photographers to apply their considerable talents to a brand of their choice and give it not just aesthetic appeal, but consumer appeal. But of course, it’s not just a case of coming up with the most poetic copy or lavish designs: this competition is about showing your understanding of your favourite brands - those companies, charities, products or services you value most - and enhancing consumer perceptions of their offering. In short, we want to help creative amateurs become creative professionals. And if that’s not enough, we’ll be throwing a competition party at Barcode, so sharpen those pencils and hit the drawing board!”
If you’ve ever seen an advert or professional photograph, read an article or visited a website and thought ‘I could do better than that!’, then throw your hat into the ring. The deadline for submissions is 10th August and the Ashgrove team is there to help every day in between. You can talk to them on 645 390 or email graeme@ashgrovemarketing.com . To keep up to date with competition details and entry updates on-line visit www.facebook.com/AshgroveMarketing or www.twitter.com/nsightnmind.
Professionals interested in sponsoring a category should contact Graeme Brooks via the above channels.
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