Page 8 - AdNews May-June 2020
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                                           Behind the Cover
The creative contingent of adland is the beating heart
of the industry. To fully embrace this, and with a mission to create awesome and inspiring covers, each month AdNews hand- picks an agency to work its magic.
Ker-ching!
This month we called on the brilliant mind of creative Adrian Elton to dream up our cover on the lucrative world of gaming and esports.
What were your initial thoughts on the gaming brief at hand?
My initial reaction was one of com- plete trepidation as I know close to nothing about the gaming and online sporting sector. I felt pro- foundly unqualified to sum it up from a creative point of view.
Post-first brief chat, what went through your mind and what were the next steps you took as a team?
It was more of an internal mono- logue, which went something like, “holy-shizen-balls”. But then I took a deep breath and reflected on the fact that advertising is all about the art of contemplating complexity and translating those distilled insights into creative expression.
How did you know you’d landed on the best concept? As it often the way, I started with a blank sheet of A4 and then scrawled out a bunch of fledgling ideas as they occurred to me. I then mocked those up in Adobe Photoshop before cobbling them together in a Keynote document that was sent through to AdNews as a PDF. It was quite interesting that the concept AdNews chose was my very first thought and probably my favourite one too.
www.adnews.com.au | May-June2020
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        WORDS BY
PAIGE MURPHY
Who from the team was largely involved and what were their roles?
While I’d like to say that the Adrian Elton Creative team is extensive and brings together decades of for- midable experience, the truth is far more singular than that, as it’s just me.
What were the biggest hurdles to making this a reality? Any challenges?
Given that this was created in the context of the COVID-19 lockdown, it meant that the selected concept needed to be produced without being able to shoot for purpose. Indeed, before the ‘new normal’ I would have tracked down an old school Atari joystick and cash reg- ister so everything could be shot properly with consistent lighting and so forth. But as that wasn’t really practical, I had to work with purchased stock imagery, using all of my retouching “skillz” to make it look as convincing as possible.
Tell us about the actual creation techniques. How did it come together?
Armed with one regulation BIC pen, one piece of Reflex A4 paper, and one Stabilo marker, I brewed up my morning stovetop triple-shot espresso and scrawled up my thumbnail concepts. From there the concepts were mocked up in Photoshop. And once the selected
  cover.indd
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11/5/20
10:54 am
NICK KEENAN • INSIDE PINTEREST’S AUSTRALIAN OFFICE • RADIO IN A CRISIS • WARREN BAGLIN
ADJUSTING TO WFH • AN ADMAN’S SECRET MUSIC LIFE • ADSTREAM’S HEAD OF GOODFEELINGS
     Thinking. Insights. Ideas.
adnews.com.au
Ker-ching!
Advertisers follow the money trail to online gaming and esports platforms.
concept was given the green light - I purchased the hi-res stock shots and stripped the images together into one coherent whole.
Biggest challenges with the whole process? Did anything keep you up at night?
The biggest challenge was defi- nitely creating something that I’d normally shoot, using only stock imagery. But other than that, noth- ing kept me up at night. Indeed, it was all smooth sailing with a delightfully pleasant sea breeze.
Best bit about the process?
The best bit about the process is the satisfaction that I get from being able to replicate all of the roles that usually require the expertise of an entire team. And with zero agency politics - what’s not to like?
AdNews – Since 1928
May–June 2020
 Credits
Agency: Adrian Elton Creative
 A limited edition bespoke AdNews ‘A’ trophy is also up for grabs for the winner.
Print post approved: 100005345


























































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