Terry Savage’s Guide to Spikes Asia

It’s another great year for Spikes: strong entries, lots of delegate engagement from all sectors of  the industry and a fantastic line up of speakers. There are speakers to inspire, to educate and to increase learning at a time when the need to keep up-to-date with the rapid changes occurring in the industry is paramount. Spikes, though, is like any  of the other Lions Festivals, be it Cannes or Lynx – go there with a set objective to get the most out of it and you will,  go there and be a wandering generality and you will not. My advice to delegates is study the programme in depth, understand who you want to see and where you need the knowledge, and then stick to the schedule.

 

One of the things not understood by the people looking in is the power of networking. It may be during the day, it may be over drinks at Networking after Dark or at the After Party, but Spikes is all about meeting new collaborators. Some people just think we are partying but those who partake know that those conversations, be they at 4pm in the afternoon or 4am in the morning, are about one thing: that is the business we are in;  inspiration, the changes, the way forward, are some of the many topics that are on the table. 

 

So whilst Spikes runs across three days of learning – it is really 3 days and nights. The people holding the seminars, forums, master classes and TechTalks are not the only ones that can teach you; knowledge also comes from your peers, the person you are sitting next to in the bar or in the main venue. We have people in the industry from all over Asia so now is the chance to feel and understand what is going on in other markets besides your own.

 

At the heart of all of our festivals is the work – work that inspires and is inspired. We all look at the winners, we all have our opinions about the shortlisted work but the difference between an entry and a shortlist is often very small, so if you have a chance, look at more than just the winners and the shortlist. At Spikes the work is available to see in all categories and in all sections so make sure that is in the mix.

 

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that great creativity sells more products and we believe at Spikes that our mission is to make as many people aware of that as possible. Clients at Spikes, as at Cannes, really get an opportunity to understand and deep dive into what makes some campaign’s great and others not. Clients are becoming increasingly focused on this issue – at Cannes for example 25 per cent of our delegate base are marketers, at Spikes last year it was 13 per cent – so there is plenty of room to grow. 

 

The final part of our commitment to improving creativity is our programme of dedicated Academies. These are intensive workshops held over three days to improve the knowledge and skill of our Young Spikes Delegates. This year besides Young Creative we also have Young Marketers, Young Media and Young Account Executives – sessions led by experienced people who operate in the real world. 

 

One of the key motivations for Spikes was to give young people in our industry the opportunity to experience a premium-quality learning event that would help them in their career - without the expense of Cannes. This is the real opportunity, a Cannes-like experience at a fraction of the cost. Having said that, of course Cannes is still the place where people want to be – so learn well at Spikes, absorb the inspiration and do the great work that runs from this and it may well help you on the journey to the South of France.