6 Lessons Learnt from The SkunkWorks Challenge!
If you’re still wondering what I’m talking about, clearly you’ve been away too long!
Here’s what The SkunkWorks Challenge was all about, and how we made it to the finals!
And then we won! Nice feeling to be featured in the news as a winning digital marketing agency from 120+ agencies!
End of story? Not really!
Thought it might be a nice idea to share some things I learnt along the way, since I was lucky to be one of the two who actually went to Delhi and experienced the challenge first hand!
1. Going beyond the brief
This is like a 50-50 chance that you have to decide if you want to risk. While some assessors might see it as positive, some might just look at it as a waste of time. While my personal choice would be to stick to the brief given, an exception might make sense if we have a REALLY brilliant idea. In this challenge, even a not-so-brilliant idea was appreciated because it went beyond the brief. Tough luck for us, who chose to stick with the brief!
2. Stating the obvious
No matter how qualified a judging panel might be; it’s important to state the basic hygiene factors even if they seem too obvious. Though our idea for The SkunkWorks challenge was a website, the feedback was that it wasn’t digital enough. We actually focused on the idea; assuming a presence and all types of posts on existing social platforms. Maybe, if we had included some basic slides on the type of posts, and what we would do on different social platforms, our idea would have been perceived as a more robust digital marketing strategy.
3. Preparing before a presentation
Two things I learnt. 1) ALWAYS be prepared beforehand and do a dry run of the presentation. 2) Know when to stop preparing and not treat it like an exam. 10 minutes before the actual presentation, I was repeating stuff and got nervous on stage. Luckily I was presenting with a colleague and we made it look like part of the plan!
4. More the merrier
Take support from everyone who can help in terms of ideas, and design. A striking visual makes a good idea look even better; and have a stronger impact. A design person who is used to portraying ideas in a visual manner is ideal for just a different way of looking at a problem; which more often than not leads to a more creative solution. Also, feedback in terms of changes is important as many times as possible. It does get annoying for the people making those changes (yes, we would have been happy to smash our laptops), but it always makes the end result nicer!
5. Isolate yourself
When working on a really important assignment, results do get better when you isolate yourself, focus on just that one assignment and not let other work or people from office interfere. A change in the surroundings, if possible, is mostly a welcome one! Dear boss, I hope you’re reading this!
6. Getting along
It’s important that you get along with the person you are working with. My personal opinion is that while everyone should have a say in the matter, the team responsible should consist of people working at the same level and not a boss and a subordinate. It makes discussions, thrashing ideas and sharing seemingly stupid ideas a little easier!
So yes, all in all, The SkunkWorks Challenge was a good learning experience. I am glad I could go. 25th birthday celebrated being locked up in a room with a digital marketing brief, just one colleague for company, and 24 hours without sleep was totally worth it!
And of course the post-birthday celebration in office made it even better!
Amol Maokar is a Senior Content Writer, previously a journalist, with an extensive experience in creative writing and editing. He has an uncanny knack of adding humour to his content pieces.
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