Melbourne creative cracks global brief Nichola Patterson
Steve Lopez has become the first Australian to win the pitch for the latest OpenAd brief for his "Hidden Gems" campaign.
OpenAd.net it is said to be the world's first online marketplace for buying and selling advertising, marketing and design ideas. Briefs are posted and creatives from around the world pitch their ideas in the hope of getting the job.
For this particular brief, creatives were asked to convince people that they don’t have to go overseas to have a good holiday by creating ads that focused on the forgotten wonders of their homelands.
Lopez, from Prahran in Melbourne, won US$1000 for his campaign “Hidden Gems” that used print and digital activity to remind holidaymakers what their countries have to offer.
He is currently a freelance art director but was formerly at Clemenger Proximity and Leo Burnett. He has won two golds at the Australasian Promotion Marketing Association awards, a silver and bronze at the ADMA Awards and was most recently a finalist in the John Caples International Awards
Jo Smith, UK general manager of OpenAd said Lopez’s campaign was versatile enough for many different countries and was impressed with the way he extended the campaign idea.
“This is also a sign that word is spreading about OpenAd.net in Australia. Last year, London-based Australian creative Simon Briscoe and his British partner Orlando Warner won our generic competitions for ‘supermarkets’, ‘corporate mailings’ and ‘best pitched idea’. But this is the first time we have had an Australian based at home winning a pitch independently,” she said.
Lopez is delighted at his win.
“I am over the moon, how can I not be? – A brief that allowed a world of creatives to respond, and I was the winner!” he said.
OpenAd.net has over 7,000 creatives in 115 countries contributing to various briefs.
