Hally Lara’s Spikes Asia Diary: Day 3
Hally Lara, general manager, WiTH Collective (Australia) shares key takeaways from Day 3
Day three was a public holiday in Singapore, it was Election Day, and so it was quiet at the event, but there were still some quality speakers and take-outs. Following are my top three highlights.
1. Nils Andersson, president, chief creative officer TBWA Greater China – it all starts with a pencil.
Nils talked about the importance of a simple start, a pencil on a piece of paper. He warned today’s creatives not to start on a computer screen, as this rarely leads to great work. He believes strongly in the process of insight, ideate and then execute, and felt too often creative ideas are presented as fully worked up designs, which interferes with the purity of the idea. He finished by defining great ideas as those that breakthrough, change their category are based on a human truth and are genuinely likeable.
2. Yonathan Dominitz, founder Mindscapes – constraints that inspire creativity and innovation.
While most people would say they don’t want to be constrained in their creativity, Yonathan argued that well-defined constraints helps people to think better. He proved this by showing that 81 per cent of this year’s Grand Prix winners at Cannes were constrained in some way, most often using 
the problem as a resource to create the solution. For example, Geico’s Unskippable, Volvo’s Interception and Vodafone’s Red Light Application).
3. Nick Garrett, CEO Colenso BBDO – masterclass: in conversations with Nick Garrett.
Nick’s talk focused on how to sell in great work that truly cuts through. He set the ground rules and shared case studies of how Colenso has 
brought some of their best work to market (eg. Volkswagen’s Reduce Speed Dial, New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation’s Breast Cream and Pedigree’s Found). The biggest lesson here was in the value and importance of a solid relationship with clients built on love and trust. Nick’s suggestions that resonated the most with me were that it’s nice to be important but more important to be nice; know the problem before arriving at a solution; and before you sell something to someone, sell it to yourself.
Overall, Spikes was a good experience with three common themes that dominated. These were the fusion of data and creativity; collaboration and the importance of the team; and marketing has moved far beyond communication into product design and innovation.