Drawbacks to Competition & Live Briefs

        While we have discussed some of the benefits of entering competitions and accepting live briefs, there are inevitably some downsides too. 

        With any competition brief, the client likely gets more out of it than the student. After all it is cheaper than paying a professional to do the job, plus they get the good publicity that comes with setting student competitions and providing opportunities for flourishing young talent. Often, when big companies set competition briefs it is because they are loosing money or customers, and are looking to reverse this decline without spending great amounts of money. 

        A particularly cynical view is that student creativity is being exploited, as there are incidents where successful entrants' ideas are used, without the student receiving any credit.

        Much of the time, briefs can be broken down into the following categories:

Problem-

• People don't know about us!
• Multiple audiences (we don't know who the audience is).
• Fun, but also serious.
• We don't know what we want!
• We want something pretty, but at the same time practical.
• We are dull & out of date.
• Adding value.

Proposal-

• Produce a product.
• Produce a visual concept.
• Persuade through a campaign.

Achieve-

• Publicise their brand.
• Expand their audience.
• Restore customers.
• Attract kids.
• Edge out competition.