Kinsale Sharks: It’s All About the People
“It’s all
about the people.” Susan Hoffman taking to the mic at the Kinsale Sharks Awards
on Saturday night before hitting the dancefloor. After three days of fantastic
talks and making new friends in the colourful town on the coast of Ireland, I’d
have to agree. As ad festivals go, it may not be the biggest in the world but
I’m starting to see the value in these intimate and authentic industry
get-togethers. Give me genuine human connections over corporate sheen and huge
crowds any day.
As a Kinsale
virgin, I thought I knew what to expect: lots of Guinness. And while there were
indubitably ridiculous quantities of the black stuff consumed throughout the
three days, my preconceptions were, at best, incomplete. There was, as far as I
know, only one alcohol-induced injury (#DrinkForTidy). For one thing no one had
told me just how pretty the town was – colourful streets straight out of the
British kid’s show Balamory peppered with old style pubs, quirky shops and top
notch restaurants. The quiet folksiness of our surroundings felt like the
perfect spot, particularly given the fact that the industry just can’t stop banging
on about authenticity.
This year
the festival – which has been around for 54 years – switched things up a bit by
bringing Creative Social aboard to curate the speaker schedule. A collection of
exciting thinkers enchanted the audience packed into the stone-built hall of
the Lord Kingsale pub. They spoke against a backdrop of well-worn pub
paraphernalia, beneath a large candelabra made out of an old cartwheel – the
whole thing felt like the hippest Harvest assembly you’ve ever been to. Mr
President’s Laura Jordan Bambach was inspiring. Illustrator/professional troll
Mr Bingo was a riot. Nick Farnhill wrangled the award judges to pass on their
nuggets of inspiration (who knew that James Bradley of 750mph was with Steve
Jobs at the launch of the Mac??). Ed Sayers took us through the history of
Straight 8 – and recruited some new participants for the Straight 8 contest
(including, it would seem, Mr Bingo). Irish illustrator Fuchsia MacAree took us
on a jaunty and colourful journey through Dublin.
And then later, the line between audience and speaker, judge and entrant blurred away into nothing as we got together and chatted into the wee small hours. There was no rushing around. No frantic FOMO (unless you count missing out on Mcasso Music’s darts competition at The Spaniard pub because I had to… well… work). No faceless big brands. Small, spontaneous and genuinely creative – it turns out the Kinsale Sharks really does have bite.
