We remember the first time we met you. It was 2016. We gathered at The China Exchange in Soho, lured by Johnny Pitt, the promise of an evening of creativity we had never experienced before, oh and some cocktails.
Johnny, you did not disappoint.
So began the WWCreative love affair with the Creative Shootout. From humble beginnings to BAFTA HQ in Piccadilly to The Picture House in Central London, like any good 90’s romance, we have been there all the way.
We’ll Stand by You
(I’ll stand by you, The Pretenders)
We were there when Mischief PR disrupted birthdays for Unicef. We were there in 2017 when the Creative Shootout team decided that the audience, as well as the judges, could have a say in who took the illustrious prize home. That year was won again by Mischief with a campaign that asked us to “be arsed” about mental health. We were there in 2018 when Raw London humanised hunger and this time a live poll was introduced to add to the competing agencies’ nerves! We were there in 2019 when Wire took the prize for A Plastic Planet and the countdown clock on stage was introduced – because a live pitch “done in a day”, a live audience and a live vote weren’t quite cutting the seat-of-your-pants mustard by the fourth year of Creative Shootouts.
Then it’s January 2020, another venue change and we are sitting in the audience of The Picturehouse listening to Epoch give a much-needed voice to the homeless as they won the Crisis campaign. We cried we laughed, we voted, we danced, we talked about the possibilities of next year…
You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone
(Big Yellow Taxi – Amy Grant version)
…and then.
We all know what happened next. By 23 March 2020, it was clear that everything was going to change. As COVID-19 and lockdowns took over our lives were disrupted. It became clear that many things we had taken for granted weren’t going to be the same. We missed friends, families and funerals. We missed birthdays, weddings and going to the pub. We missed work colleagues, eventually the office and definitely going to gigs.
We missed being together.
Even with strangers on the commute.
Amongst all these things we missed the Creative Shootout. It’s not just about the prize and the amazing charities that get the highlight they deserve. It’s about being together, a room full of creative talent that is almost tangible – if only we could bottle it (a challenge for you Johnny). It’s about celebrating the brilliance of the teams who can pull a pitch from thin air, in a day. It’s about the collective nerves and anticipation. It’s the party at the end when we just cannot stop talking about our favourite pitch, and it’s about the friends we made.
Return of the Creative Shootout 2023
(Return of the Mac Mark Morrison)
Well, get your black leather trench coat out because Johnny and the Launch team are back and we couldn’t be more excited. If your creative agency wants to be a part of this radical day of fever-pitching, you must get your entry in by Monday 28th November. Entries opened on the 26th of September so you have a couple of months to assemble your team and come up with an idea for this year’s charity, FoodCycle. Your initial offering to the gods of PR can be in any digital content format. It can be a video, showreel, animation, GIF, graphic, image or audio – but it must be viewed or listened to in 60 seconds or under and sent over the Creative Shootout.
“From all entries, eight finalist agency teams (made up of four) will be selected to go on and compete in the live head-to-head Final Show at Picturehouse Central in London, on Thursday 26th January 2023. One agency will walk away with industry fame, a new client and £10,000.
Teams will be given a real brief on the day from FoodCycle at lunchtime – and then have just four hours to come up with their creative campaign.
They then pitch it on the giant stage at Picturehouse Central in just eight minutes each to a live audience of 400, including the high-profile Judging Panel. The winning agency will be crowned live on stage that evening and go on to work with FoodCycle to see their idea come to life in a bespoke project.”
You won’t want to miss a thing
(I don’t want to miss a thing – Aerosmith)
Key Dates:
- 26th September 2022 – Open for entries
- 28th November – Entries Close
- 26th January – Creative Shootout Live Final
WWCreative will, of course, be there as a devoted and loyal sponsor, we can’t wait to see what you all come up with. If your agency doesn’t make the cut we highly recommend attending as an audience member to get a feel for the calibre of entries and live pitches.
We will let the great Steve Tyler play us out, it’s been emotional.
See you in January!
*(because our Gen X copywriter has also been locked up for too long)
