SINGAPORE – Bates CHI&Partners is the official Singapore City Host for the 2014 Portfolio Night 12 event, which will be held simultaneously in all participating cities worldwide on May 21, 2014. Portfolio Night is a global portfolio review and recruitment event that was founded by IHAVEANIDEA in 2003 and now presented by ADC.
Portfolio Night City Hosts like Bates CHI&Partners join the Portfolio Night Global Team on an international stage to present a fast-paced evening of advice, networking and recruitment. City Hosts are a mix of agencies, ad clubs and educational institutions.
Each City Host is responsible for bringing together the top creative directors in its city with up-and-coming advertising talent; which will provide junior talent with the opportunity to learn from the best, and to provide leading industry creative directors with a chance to mentor and give back to the advertising industry.
At press time, 32 of Asia’s top creative directors from agency networks as well as the hottest independents, have signed up to participate in the Singapore Portfolio Night.
To promote the event in Singapore, Bates CHI&Partners unveiled its campaign based around the idea of “Adland Security”, where portfolios are put through stringent airport-style screening and only the best make it through.
“Bates CHI&Partners is a strong supporter of Youth talent as seen in our investment in such initiatives as Portfolio Night. Through our involvement in Portfolio Night, we would like to drive home the message to Young Creatives that their portfolios are their passports to a great career and a bright future in advertising,” said David Mayo, CEO, Bates CHI&Partners.
“A careers night for any other industry would probably be a very straight-faced affair,” said Leo Poloniecki, Head of Copy for BatesCHI&Partners, “but advertising is a fun industry to work in so Portfolio Night deserved a campaign with a playful sense of humour”.
The Adland Security campaign involves airport security style posters that warn of “prohibited items” and other contraband that will not be looked on kindly by security guards (i.e., the Creative Directors of the evening) – these are shown to be typical clichés and weak innuendos that are commonly found in student folios. To rollout the campaign, the agency has engaged its media partner mSIX to place the ads at bus stops that are close to the various art colleges in Singapore.
The print work is supported by an Adland Security microsite outlining rules for safe passage into Adland – adland-security.com. In addition, the agency has created campaign branded direct mail packs, containing Department of Adland Security (DAS) jackets and t-shirts, as well as name tags and lanyards, that were made specially for the Creative Directors who form the Adland Border Control team, whose jobs are to strictly vet portfolios and catch those trying to smuggle through shady concepts and tepid ideas.
There are rich rewards for students on the night: one standout young creative stands the chance of winning an all expenses trip to New York City, to join the winners from all the other cities participating in Portfolio Night. The winning student will take part in a week-long All Stars competition, sponsored by ADC. Other incentives include exclusive internship opportunities with the local agencies.
The event is supported by the DesignSingapore Council and will be held at the National Design Centre. Centrally located on 111 Middle Road in the arts, cultural, learning and entertainment district of Bras Basah-Bugis, the venue was chosen as it is the nexus for design in Singapore that encourages the exchange of ideas and collaboration amongst designers, businesses and the public.
“The DesignSingapore Council is pleased to support Portfolio Night where young designers are presented with a platform to meet and get first-hand advice from some of the best creative directors from the top Singapore advertising agencies.” Jeffrey Ho, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council.
Working with Bates CHI&Partners to produce the Adland Security campaign were Republic Studios and Digitalis for photography and digital imaging, and Ugly Duckling for film direction and production.
You can learn more about Portfolio Night 12 and its City Hosts here. Portfolio Night 12 is made possible by the support of global sponsors, Shutterstock.
