Entry for YoungGuns 2006 has kicked off with another controversial Call For Entry Campaign - “Worth the Pain”. Conceived by Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland with the insight that if there's one thing young creatives know about producing great work, it's that they often have to go through hell to get there.
Long hours, low pay, poor diet and high stress all combine, threatening to waste them away to mere wrecks. That's where this year's Young Guns call for entries comes in. It comes in the form of a healthy reassurance to the world's under thirty creative community that all this self-inflicted mental and physical trauma they're putting themselves through to enter Young Guns is really “worth the pain.”
The end result being a truly integrated campaign that is already working its way into creative directors' offices and their departments across the globe. To kick things off they created the Dr. Junge Pistole Wellness Clinic (loosely translating into 'Young Guns' in German) in Cannes where nurses administered saline drips and vodka retoxes to weary and damaged young creatives.
A series of creams and ointments to ease the patients' symptoms were also placed in dispensers in bathrooms across the city. A variety of self-treatment posters were created highlighting the potentially lethal threat of ulcers, psoriasis and hemorrhoids (all inevitably brought on by the day to day stresses of the agency environment). These were then sent out to departments around the world. The agency also created a series of print ads that enabled young creatives to test their blood, phlegm, urine and stools.
There is also an online medical facility that reviews creatives' health and diagnoses them. On the site, a virtual nurse appears, prescribing creatives with a downloadable self-treatment film (directed by Saatchi NZ's Matty Burton and Dave Bowman). If your stomach's up to it, have your physical and mental state assessed too at www.worththepain.com
Toby Talbot, CD of Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland had this to say:“Creative Award shows have become increasingly competitive, and although Young Guns is unique with its focus on young and emerging talent, our job in creating their call for entries campaign was to position Young Guns as the edgiest creative awards show in the world.
Why? Simply, the freshest, most innovative thinking comes from young creatives around the world, and this is clearly reflected by the young team who created the 'Worth the Pain' campaign”.
Young Guns is known globally for their controversial call for entry campaigns, having had award-winning campaigns in previous years created and developed by Crispin Porter + Bogusky Miami, Leo Burnett, Chicago and Mother, London. Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland has clearly continued this tradition. via