Every year, I do a talk that's a run down of the best work from the awards. I spend a lot of time collecting case studies, analysing the work and finding out what's so good about it. (If you check out my website, you'll see that now's a particularly good time to book me for it!)
I particularly love the stuff that doesn't fit comfortably into any category. Things like Nike+, Best Buy's Twelpforce, The Wilderness Downtown and anything from Uniqlo. You can't really call these bits of work 'advertising'. They'd probably be better defined as 'innovation'. And that, to me, is the most exciting area of creativity.
However, most agencies don't have the right skills or approach to do this kind of work. A traditional advertising approach just won't get you there. And that's a problem I've been trying to crack for a few agencies recently.
So when I was asked to speak at The Drum's 4 Minute Warning event last month I wanted to have a quick look at innovation. And, as a Scot, I took the rare opportunity to show a little bit of national pride to see what we could learn from five of my homeland's greatest inventors.
And what a quirky bunch of eccentrics they turned out to be.