SINGAPORE — BBDO Singapore kicks off Portfolio Night with the release of NFTs featuring the inspiration behind the first portfolio projects of 12 creative directors.
Portfolio Night has always been a great platform to connect students to the creative juggernauts of the industry. It is a platform for aspiring copywriters and art directors to learn from the best in the industry and also an opportunity to showcase their portfolios.
Even the most well-known creative directors of today will be familiar with this initiation ritual. After all, they once displayed their first portfolios as aspiring students themselves.
As part of this year’s Portfolio Night, BBDO Singapore partnered with The One Club for Creativity and various creative directors to create NFTs of their first portfolios to serve as entry tokens for students from LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Nanyang Polytechnic, Raffles Design Institute, and Temasek Polytechnic as a way for them to meet their creative heroes.
Twelve limited-edition NFTs were created and minted. Every NFT features the first portfolio of the creative director, and the student who receives one will have the opportunity to meet the director of the NFT on June 08, between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm SGMT.
Valerie Madon shared in her NFT the passion that led to her first portfolio and spurred her to greater achievements: “Painting has always been my first love with art. I’ve never imagined myself in this position today. I would have been happy to airbrush motorbikes. Every opportunity that has led me to this point in my career has been a god-sent. Just do what you love, and everything will fall into place.”
Thomas Yang revealed his secret of how clever design can help elevate your creative spark, “This DM pack of 5 diskettes got me into advertising. I remember the creative director was pretty impressed with how I packaged my portfolio sharing my own identity. I always believe that first impression counts.”
Theresa Ong showed us through her NFT that belief plays a big part in success. “It took me some years to find my passion and specialty. After stumbling through piles of ideas I thought my CDs wanted (they didn’t), I realized I was better off building ideas that I truly believed in. That’s when my creative career really took off.”
And Joji Jacob shared how rejection got him accepted as one of the best: “This is an idea I had long before I joined advertising. Perhaps around the same time that I started smoking as a teenager. After all, who knows a product better than a compulsive user. The day I broke into advertising as an intern, I pitched this idea to the creative director at the agency. She looked at it and went ‘Nah.’ Second agency, and second creative director, ‘Nah.’ Third agency, fourth agency, fifth agency; ‘Nah,’ ‘Nah,’ ‘Nah.’ Finally, I got to Singapore and started all over again as a copywriter, almost a student again. First agency in Singapore, ‘Nah’. But I managed to convince a very talented art director to give the idea a shot. The result was my Grand Prix at the Singapore Creative Circle Awards. The moral of the story is that when no one listens to you, listen to your inner voice.”
The following 12 Creative Directors participated in this NFT collection:
- Alan Leong, Creative Lab (SEA), Tik Tok
- Andy Grant, Executive Creative Director, TBWA
- Hwee Peng, Creative Partner, Blak Labs
- Joji Jacob, Creative Partner, BLK J Havas
- Lizi Hamer, Executive Creative Director, No2ndPlace & Octagon
- Marco Versolato, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson
- Pat Law, Founder, Goodstuph
- Pei Ling Ho, Global Creative Director, Google
- Sascha Kuntze, Chief Creative Officer, BBH
- Theresa Ong, Head of Creative Shop, Meta
- Thomas Yang, Executive Creative Director, DDB Singapore
- Valerie Madon, Chief Creative Officer, VMLY&R
The “First Portfolio Collection” has given Creative Directors a new way to preserve and express their very first ideas and students a chance to own a piece of history that was vital for the success of these leaders. It will perhaps inspire these students to forge their very own future, trusting in their very own first idea.
Check out the portfolios here.
CREDITS:
Client: One Show – The One Club for Creativity (Portfolio Night)
Creative Chairman: Tay Guan Hin
Senior Art Director: Amanda Ler
Senior Writer: Ivan Ng
Project Lead: Anne Lee
Sponsored by: TZ APAC (Tezos)
