On 9th November, Creativebrief launched its first all-day BITE LIVE event, which saw over 160 attendees descend on London’s Barbican Centre.

Based on some of the most celebrated projects to have featured on BITE, this flagship event enables our brand and agency audience to get under the skin of the most creative and effective work from around the world.

Check out the video below to see some of the key highlights:

19 incredible speakers from Spotify, Airbnb, Channel 4, The School of Life, R/GA and many more, explored the theme of ‘Human to Human: Building an emotional connection in an age of technology’.

The morning kicked off with a Philosophy Slam hosted by The School of Life. Audience members were asked to shout out any word of their choice – “Change”, “Authenticity”, “Success” – at which point the philosophers would explore its meaning, citing anecdotes from literature to psychology. A fast-paced, interactive session that had us thinking about traditional marketing jargon in a whole new context.

Next, Pete Markey (Aviva) and Dom Boyd (adam&eveDDB) introduced Aviva’s new global positioning – ‘Good Thinking’. A platform built on a deep understanding of the emotional complexities of real people. Dom Boyd explained the difficulty in achieving empathy within a big data age, instead citing the power of small data – one-on-one conversations.

James Temple (R/GA) then took to the stage to talk about accelerating innovation in order to stay relevant in this digital age; from cultivating an internal culture of creativity to tapping into the start-up community.

Ben Kendall (Airbnb) and Bexy Cameron (Amplify) shared their story of overcoming the tension between Airbnb’s global direction and their local communities. Focusing on a recent activation in Germany, called Live There Haus, the project successfully helped Airbnb to create a tangible connection within this unique market.

As part of Max Ward’s talk (Gravity Road), the audience was whisked away into small teams, each of which were then tasked with building their very own messaging bot. A hands-on experience designed to educate the attendees on the relevance of Artificial Intelligence.

Russell Blackman (The Big Issue) and Chris Baker (FCB Inferno) introduced a revolutionary project called Change Please – a completely new way to tackle homelessness. In contrast to the ailing magazine industry, the £8 billion coffee industry is booming. The brand worked with local councils and charities to educate individuals on becoming coffee baristas; a whole new way of helping people to get back on their feet.

“For us it’s not necessarily about needing to tell a Spotify story. It’s more about telling the music fan’s story,” explained Karen Staughton and Holly Brooker (both Spotify), citing the brand’s CMO. Karen and Holly gave an insightful look into how the brand successfully uses platform and user data to not only inspire their marketing campaigns, but also to inform new products and services.

James Walker and Grace Ayres (both Channel 4) spoke alongside Clare Elder (OMD) to unveil the strategy behind the widely praised ‘We’re the Superhumans’. With the shocking statistic that 67% of people in UK felt uncomfortable talking to a disabled person (Scope, 2014), the brand set about creating an accessible and inclusive campaign that challenged people’s perceptions of disability and helped Channel 4 to connect on a very human level. 

Rory Sutherland (Ogilvy & Mather Group) closed the show with an ever-entertaining and eye-opening look at the science of knowing what economists are wrong about. A session jam-packed with useful anecdotes and lessons in behavioural change, Rory had the room in fits of laughter.

If you are a brand and keen to share the learnings from the day with your team, please contact [email protected] to discuss Creativebrief’s BITE INSPIRE sessions.

With thanks to our event partners