Kam Fan 2014: How Stefan Schmidt saw it
Stefan Schmidt is the co founder and Creative Director of dieckertschmidt, Berlin. He recently made the trip to Hong Kong to join this year’s Kam Fan awards jury. Campaign Brief Asia asked Stefan for his thoughts on the judging and his best work.
Over all I am quite impressed by the importance this festival has for the region and for Hong Kong specifically. The fact that our ugly faces were displayed in newspapers, on billboards and transport ads proves that in HK creatives don’t get hidden in the basement, but everybody from government officials to media people seem to value us. This is not always the case in other parts of the world.
Also quite remarkable was the quality of the judges. Smart, precise thinkers. They all had their shit together.
Everybody was eloquent, clear and still extraordinarily respectful to each other – also when there was disagreement (Which was rarely the case.). So, whoever makes the selection, they also know what they are doing.
3 pieces of work that I liked the most.
Life Nutrition “Reversible Barcode” (pictured). So simple, so clever, so helpful. Based on the insight that people would love to give to charities and support all sorts of causes, if it just wouldn’t be so bloody complicated. And here you just have to decide if the product should be scanned upside down at the check-out. Brilliant. (And beautifully designed, btw)
Gift Box. Again. The simplicity hits you off of your feet.
The film “Penguin”. A watchmaker had a series of films on the topic TIME IS LOVE. The best of these stories is Penguin. Well written, wonderfully acted and directed. Great cinematography. Film the way film should be.
So you see, from a simple digital idea via a clever on-pack thingy to a classical piece of film; Kam Fan had everything you want to see today.
I’m very grateful that was invited to be part of the curating. If only I could have been also part of the credit list of some the work.
Schmidt started out as a Copywriter at Publicis in Frankfurt in 1987. He rose to fame at Ogilvy & Mather in the early 90’s before joining Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg. In April 2002 he took over the role of Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Germany and in December 2009 TBWA appointed Schmidt to the new post of Creative at Large/ Europe. In January 2012 he opened his own creative shop in Berlin together with his Art Director Kurt Georg Dieckert who he partners with since the mid-nineties. He has won hundreds of international creative awards for Mercedes Benz, Lufthansa, Spiegel, Playstation, adidas and Kawasaki including Cannes, Clio, Euro ADC, Eurobest, Golden Drum, D&AD and New York Festival.