The Roses Advertising Awards is one of the more notorious design competitions in the UK, It offers a choice of briefs, set by some of the countries most elite design studios, offering prizes with both financial and professional gain, placement schemes and even chances to have your work on display at some of the countries leading design museums. So as you can expect, it was rather daunting going in for this knowing the competition would be of such a high calibre.
Having chosen to tackle the Oxford English Dictionary - New Words brief, around a fortnight was spent alone buried amidst spider diagrams and sketchbooks, playing every meaning of every new word on the current list off against one another; then furthermore the associations with each of those words. After my key finding in the Marks & Spencers campaign (in archive under 'Cheap Luxury') research was to play an important part in conceptualising for this brief.
So the decision was made, two separate solutions chosen and both to be produced and submitted as a joint/complimentary campaign. The first was 'ambience' a series of stickers showing some of the new words, which would be placed in public restrooms, seating areas, gymnasiums & bars (wherever each phrase was relevant). The chosen words were 'Celebutante' - meaning 'new celebrity', 'Bahookie' - meaning 'backside', 'Aerobicised' - meaning 'toned' & 'Crunk' - meaning 'Crazy Drunk'.
With the stickers produced and put into their environments, The theory was in the response of curiousity due to repeated exposure, In essence, By subliminally flooding the memory with continuous exposure to these stickers in public places, You would eventually question their meaning, taking a closer look and noticing the URL which directs you to the OED's website, and the explanation/meaning of these 'new words'
