The finals last night at the Griffin Farley “Beautiful Minds” brand planning competition came down to two ideas: “Bikes with Benefits” and “Don’t Take That Shit.” The former selected for its cultural currency and energy, the latter for its create-a-movement potential. The judges, looking at briefs on the CitiBikes program, made the right call giving the competition to the Bikes With Benefits team.
Great ideas should be able to come from anywhere, yet Bikes With Benefits was a creative idea as well as a strategy — and that can be a problem for some creative teams. Don’t Take That shit was not so much creative as it was a spark for creative. It may have won the room but it didn’t win the judges.
Another Farley, Jim Farley of Ford, once said great advertising makes you feel something then do something. Both ideas accomplished this. Both strategies were strong. One idea showed better. Peace.
PS. Great job BBH, Sarah Watson and Angela Sun. This event is a keeper.