I was delighted this week to be invited to judge a creative writing contest at Oakfield Primary School in Rugby.

Mrs Walsh’s class of 9 year olds had to design a poster advertising fictitious chocolate – ‘Cocoas’.

Not only had everyone created great looking posters, I was amazed to discover that even at this early age, kids already had a good grasp of some of the techniques that people like us use to help sell product.

The Contest

Although it was tough judging, the 3 best were :

1st Place – Emily

Cocoas - 1st Place

We chose this as the overall winner because we felt is had a good headline, a good promotional offer and a great description of the actual bar itself.

2nd Place – Brandon & Adam

Cocoas - 2nd Place

This entry came 2nd because we liked the idea of ‘cheeky little cocoas in their beds’ – it was fun and conjured up a great image of the product.

3rd Place – Brandon

Cocoas - 3rd Place

We liked this one because of the strapline – “The cream of your dreamzzzz’

Well done to you all!

What’s it like working in advertising?

In addition to judging the contest, I gave a brief insight into what working in an advertising agency was like.

Eager to know what happens at Cloud 9, Questions included:

• Do you do all the adverts on the TV?
• Did I have to go to university to work in advertising?
• If you make posters, do you have to put them all up?
• What is the best advert we’ve ever created?
• How much do you get paid?

All the kids seemed really interested – who knows? maybe the next Ogilvy or Saatchi will come from Rugby!