When you're in advertising one of the first things you would wish for, is for the campaigns you have worked on to go viral. 2020 however soon proved to our creative industry that the global COVID-19 pandemic was far more serious than a clever topical pun at the end of a sentence.As the first months of the year flew by, it gradually became obvious that organizing a (physical) awards ceremony would become quite the challenge. But it was only after holding on to hope by first delaying from June to September that the evolving statistics forced Creative Belgium to throw in the proverbial towel, and go fully digital. Luckily, we were along for the ride to flexibly service our client and adapt all communication to the evolving needs.
As if it was written in the stars all along, we adjusted to these wild times by doubling down on our original answer to Creative Belgium’s 2020 briefing of focusing on the essence or their organization: the people, their members. The communication concept we had devised was to focus on the personal stories in advertising and emphasize the quest for recognition, fame and eventually stardom, and —as always— tackle the subject with a critical, sharp and disarming tone. Stars deserve to shine. Illustrating the kick-off tagline “Starring: You”, we chose the visual metaphor of promo stickers and star shapes associated with discount leaflets to represent the concept of stardom and self-promotion. A palette of stark black and white information contrasted with a loud, fluorescent green promo color made sure all communication popped off paper and on screen.
The graphic system we devised was based on a dynamic grid flexible enough to continuously adapt to the changes imposed by our government’s COVID-19 measures that severely impacted not only the organization of the festival itself, but also the communication around it. This way, our work evolved from more print and on-site focused design to a dazzling full motion application on social media.
But just because we couldn’t celebrate each other’s awards in person, didn’t mean we couldn’t keep it physical in some form our way. Isolated from clients and colleagues for a period of time, we surprised winners of the digital Instagram Stories ceremony with physical party packs to spice up their private at-the-office celebrations. Connected across social media while partying in our own bubbles (with bubbles) the Creative Belgium Awards lit up the sky once more.
Jury portrait photography by Sofie Coreynen.
Event Branding Copywriting Motion Design Art Direction
