Our principal, Marilyn Trent, was excited this month to be asked to address an audience at the Creative Juice conference in Chicago presented by Second Wind Network. Marilyn Trent walked the attendees through the process of how she has gotten more creative with the creative brief. Leading a group of 25+ advertising agencies and creative practitioners from around the U.S. in a discussion of style and substance, Marilyn and Michael spoke about how our new fact finding processes have helped to influence new and exciting work.
Trent Design’s Demo Reel helped kick off the presentation and gave the audience an idea of what kind of work we produce.
This event gave us a chance to demonstrate our practice for cultivating information from our clients by asking them to describe their company using each of the 5 senses. We believe this method gives us valuable insight into the way a client may feel about their company on a visceral level. It also eliminates the urge to give specific art direction that could derail a brand or product in the early stages of design.
Marty Kohr speaks about Lasker’s ad legacy
The conference attracted a lineup of fresh presentations from ad men like Ernie Perich of Perich and Partners, Bill Borders formerly of Weiden Kennedy, and Marty Kohr a professor at Medill Northwestern University who spoke about Albert Lasker, a pioneer of early advertising. This was a fascinating show n’ tell because it emphasized how technology has changed but human behaviors and desires have not. These talks rekindled our love for creative problem solving with our need for survival in an age where advertising is fast changing.
We also enjoyed Branda Garrand, principal of Garrand & Company, who could fill in for Kathy Bates as a double when she isn’t running her very cool marketing company and knitting socks. She talked to us about how breakthroughs are all that matter when you are branding a company and working with them to market their goods and services.
By the end of the 2 day visit, Trent Design walked away with some amazing tips on how great work is produced and the overwhelming sense that great creative does not always mean big budgets. Sometimes the strongest agencies are those who listen first and then act on behalf of their clients’ needs (sans egos).
We’d like to thank conference coordinator Tony Mikes at Second Wind Network for the invitation to speak at Creative Juice. It was an amazing experience.
