1. Get all your service providers involved to do a site visit at the same time. At the very start of the planning process – if possible before the venue is chosen -  get all the players together. You won’t know if the AV guy needs to set up in the space that the caterer needs to place a carving station, or whether or not the camera crew doing the live taping will have to run cables through an open window which will cause the door to ‘back-stage’ to remain ajar.
2.  Get everything in writing and don’t take anything for granted. This is one of the first commandments of ‘CYA’ in any profession. Follow every supplier meeting, telephone request from client with a contact report to confirm.
3. Consult your protocol bible/ guru. Whether your event caters to 10 persons or 100, there’s protocol on everything from seating to salutations. Find out beforehand to avoid potential disasters, but also have your protocol handbook on the day of your event.
4. Have a plan B for plan B! Even children have a backup plan for when things don’t go their way. As an event manager, you’ve got to be prepared to activate plan B and C at a moment’s notice.
5. Brief everyone. Everyone who has a role to play should be thoroughly briefed on how the event will be rolled out and on where they fit into the programme. It’s important to not just brief persons on their specific roles, but explain the big picture. This will make your job and the job of your stage manager so much easier.

Got tips of your own? Please feel free to share.

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According to the Inside Golf Magazine the great British golf broadcaster Henry Longhurst once said: “A good caddie is more than a mere assistant. He is a guide, philosopher and friend”.  Other people have likened a caddie to a co-competitor/teammate, strategist, best friend or even a “wife without benefits.”
“Of course, the player is the one swinging the club, but as golf is so much more than just hitting the ball a certain distance, the caddie is truly an integral part of the “team”, and should be recognised for helping contribute to a player’s successes.” said Richard Fellner, Editor of the Magazine.

In the Advertising Agency world the AE’s are normally seen as the stars.  But there are a whole bunch of caddies behind them, making it possible for them to shine.  One can’t do without the other.

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Digicel sure has learnt a few things since coming to T&T about 8 years or so ago.  Remember when they first came?  They were bullies.  Even failing to recognize that their head office was in Port of Spain and Brian Lara was its Prince.  (and still is…)

They had gotten accustom to flattening the competition (except in Barbados) wherever they went and T&T was next.  So they pulled out the Jamaica playbook and went to work.  And who vex lorse.  There are some who will never forgive them for how they treated Pearl and Bunty’s precious son and a whole nation’s treasure.

Digicel’s current “Be Extraordinary” Campaign has changed the game.  And now B-mobile must play follow the leader.  It’s brilliant because there is only so much product news and free minutes that the brain can process before it all becomes ho hum gobbledygook .  Digicel has taken another route to your loyalty, via your heart.

A big part of winning in the market place is owning the momentum.  And Digicel has the momentum with a campaign that takes the high road.  They sure have come a long way.

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Many years ago, before I entered the advertising arena as a copywriter, I was approached by an agency to be the main talent in an ad for one of our major restaurant chains. The concept which used a corruption of the famous Martin Luther King “I have a dream” speech, was loved by everyone, agency and client, when the voiced Power Point story board was presented. Although EVERYONE loved it, there was reservation, fearing the possibility of offending someone in the Trinidad and Tobago public. The concept was changed and a very generic ad was produced. To this day, I cannot understand.

I am sure that anyone who has spent at least two months in advertising would have encountered some internal censorship because of the fear of offending someone. Now, certainly, I am not referring towards work that is as extreme as Borat. By all means, stop that train and avoid a lawsuit. However, I have seen some milder stuff that got buried in the cemetery of creativity before the umbilical chord was cut. But who knows? Nobody might have taken on the ad as much as we thought. Maybe a few feathers might have been ruffled, however if we were willing to take that risk, we might have produced ads like those we look at on cable and say, “Why can’t we be creative like that?”

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To see who these notables are, visit http://internethalloffame.org/

N.B. There are some names that you would expect to have been inducted, but they weren’t…as yet.

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Yagruma is a Spain based crowd-funding platform to fund projects by independent Cuban artist. For those who do not know what crowd-funding is, it is a mechanism to finance projects, causes, etc through micro donations. Unlike investing, backers don’t obtain ownership rights for their contributions. In return, backers obtain rewards such as receiving a copy of the artwork produced, public recognition, etc. Yagruma works where artists post on the site the project that they wish to realise and the cost of it. Visitors to the site then contribute funds to a project of their liking and the artist is able to create his/her work.

This is a great help to artists in Cuba where funding for art projects is generally difficult to achieve. It would be great of such an initiative is introduced to Trinidad and Tobago where, although we swim in a pool of money, support of the arts is not as fervent as it could be.

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The employees at Pepper Advertising jokingly refer to each other as “Peppers”. This is an especially fitting moniker in the Creative Department with its potpourri of artistic flavour. The Creative Team boasts a combination of experience and talent, full time and freelance, that can excite any advertising stew.

Bjorn Stodart, Creative Team Lead

At the head is Team Lead of the Creative Department Bjorn Stodart who describes himself of the pepper genus Moruga Scorpion for his insatiable Carnival spirit and ability to wine faster than you can say, “Colour palette.” This avid mas player is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a BA in Digital Media. Bjorn is the Senior Graphic Artist at Pepper with seven years in the Design field. He directs his team of artists, Dameon Edwards, Janelle Jacelon and Marie-Elena Joseph to create work that is never vanilla and always “on strategy”.

Dameon Edwards, Graphic Designer / Illustrator

Graphic Designer Dameon Edwards can be called the Sweet Pepper, as he is a choir member at his church. When he’s not belting out Handel’s Messiah or fulfilling his duties as church Treasurer, he applies his wealth of experience to his job. He is a graduate of the John Donaldson Technical Institute with over 10 years’ experience in advertising, working at other agencies before coming to the Pepper kitchen.

Janelle Jacelon, Graphic Designer

Janelle Jacelon is the newest addition to the Pepper family. She worked in Graphic Design for close to 10 years before moving to Pepper. She says that the pace of her job is a hectic one and to counteract it she enjoys spending quality time with her son or indulging in her favourite ice cream while taking in a romantic comedy, with paper towels not too far from reach. On a weekend, relaxing on a tranquil beach is blissful while she pens a poem or two.  Janelle is famous for her ability to turn things around quickly and that’s a key ingredient in today’s reality of impossible deadlines.

Marie-Elena Joseph, Graphic Designer / Illustrator

Marie-Elena Joseph is quite a rolling stone…er…Pepper, but switching jobs is not uncommon in this industry.  She graduated magna cum-laude with a BFA (with a major in Illustration) from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. After college she sojourned at Nickelodeon and MTV Networks in New York.  Marie loves doing freehand artwork. She had the opportunity to show off her artistic talent recently at the Queen’s Park Savannah, where the local leg of the “Urban Heartbeat” tour was held. “Urban Heartbeat – An artistic Encounter in Public Spaces” an initiative of the Goethe Institute in Mexico City, saw selected artists painting public spaces in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. Marie was one of nine winners from Trinidad and Tobago chosen to paint a mural at the East Wall of the Grand Stand, together with German Artist Jim Avignon.  After three days and layers and layers of sun screen, she contributed to the mural her Gremlins, a piece that showed Art creating itself.

Eric Barry, Senior Copywriter

Another member of the Creative Team is Eric Barry, the Senior Copywriter. Eric began in the advertising field in 1999. A UWI Theatre Arts graduate, he also writes for the stage, radio and screen. This occasional actor has seen his writing for the stage win seven Cacique Awards. He was also commissioned by the University of the West Indies to pen pieces on social awareness for radio and the social media. Along with his creative peers and a freelance pool that brings specialised skills to the mix, Eric and the team present a rich smorgasbord of talent available to Pepper’s clients.

About Pepper Advertising

Founded seven years ago by Dennis Ramdeen, Pepper is a full service advertising agency whose mantra is that any brand should seek to “own one thing”, in the hearts and minds of its customers.  Ramdeen said that he is inspired by the commitment and passion of pepper people and he is lucky to have such a talented, committed and passionate bunch of people to come to work to every day.

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Where do we go from here?

Here’s a mighty nation in search of its truth

After all that has gone before we took and we’ll take some more….

(David Rudder – Trinidad boys, Tobago boys)

So Trinidad and Tobago boys (and girls), what’s next for our football?  Remember?  Football; Dwight, Russell, Jumbo, Jack, Gally, Beenhakker and the emotional roller coaster dem fellas gave us….the Power and the Glory. (thanks David)

Remember?  How has football gone from hero to zero?  And when will it make us smile again? I believe the solution lies in giving back football to the people.  And yes I know this sounds sappy and romantic and too ‘pie in the sky’.  But I’m talking about really building football from the ground up through primary, secondary and community based leagues.  There’s no short cut, sorry.   We play at community level and then the FA Cup and another National Knockout pits community teams against each other.  I don’t believe the Pro League is doing anything for us after more than 10 years, so time to try the Grow League.

There is a lot of sweat equity available to football that is bottled up in communities.  We have to find a way to tap into it.  We will do this through leadership, consultation, discipline and persistence.

When we do that we could finish David’s song “Give we room, give we room, we comin’ down, Trinidad Boys….Tobago Boys.”

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Client:

ANSA Merchant Bank Limited

Project:

35th Anniversary Press Ad

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From their website, the show is described as:

AMC’s new original series The Pitch offers viewers an intense, gripping, never-before-seen glimpse inside America’s top ad agencies. Each week watch two agencies as they compete to win a new client the only way they can: by going head-to-head in a cut-throat, winner-takes-all showdown, a presentation known as The Pitch. With only seven days to prepare, the pressure to perform is intense. The whining, the brainstorming, the blue-sky thinking: it’s all here as the teams work around the clock and pray for the moment of inspiration that will win them the job and keep their companies alive. The drama is real, the stakes are high, and the clock is ticking. From the producers of Undercover Boss. Witness the pressure…The passion…The Pitch

I have always been curious to know how the advertising world is outside of Trinidad, in the “developed world.” Do they have the same problems and complaints that we have? Are their systems and operations better? Are they worse? I am so happy to be able to experience this that I can’t wait for the series to begin.

The only downfall is that the AMC channel is available on DirecTV but not on Flow. I don’t know about the other providers. Fortunately, I am a DirecTV subscriber.

Anyone desiring to know more on this upcoming series can visit: http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-pitch

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