The answer to the perennial question “What’s next?” is much sought after with several respondents offering their prognostications this week in SHOOT’s Mid-year Report Card Survey.
The query also applies—albeit with an upper case “N”—when it comes to assessing the winners of the AICP Next Awards, what makes them special and why they were able to break through to reach consumers in a meaningful way. Delving into this was a panel of judges as part of the AICP Show and Next Awards road show during a stop in L.A. last week.
In listening to their informed observations, it occurred to me that the word “Next” carries two complementary meanings, the obvious one being what lies head, getting ahead of the curve to see what fresh and new idea or different take on an existing idea will resonate with target audiences and the public at large. But the other meaning of Next has to do with what’s next door to us, what resides close to us that we can relate to and value. So even an idea that’s looking ahead to come up with what’s next also has to think about what’s adjacent to us in terms of concerns, emotions, thoughts, issues and causes that are relevant to our everyday lives.
Panelist Winston Binch, a Next Website/Microsite judge and partner/chief digital officer of Deutsch, affirmed that “causal is the new creativity.” Binch said it’s good business “to use our creativity for good.” It’s that kind of goodness, for socially relevant causes that “gets shared today,” continued Binch, citing as an example P&G/Always’ “#LikeAGirl” initiative which won a pair of Next Awards, taking the negative “like a girl” stereotype (you run “like a girl,” throw “like a girl”) and turning it into an empowering movement celebrating the strength and willpower embodied in doing things “like a girl.”
Sam Baerwald, director of film production, 72andSunny, and a Next Integrated Campaign judge, said that “brand citizenship” is becoming increasingly important, underscored by what he noted fellow panelist and Product Integration jury president Jennifer Golub is integrally involved in as executive director of content at MAL For Good.
“Cool is not enough,” affirmed 72andSunny’s Baerwald. “People go to what’s right.”
