Innovative and renowned advertising agency Sid Lee will curate a massive crowd-sourcing experiment, Boot Camp, in support of one of Sir Richard Branson’s favourite causes. The initiative, which started March 4th, challenges thousands of creative young professionals and entrepreneurs from around the world to raise awareness and create a movement to support Branson’s beloved cause: ending the war on drugs. The best and brightest ideas developed throughout the 80-day process will be presented to Sir Richard himself and the 2,000-plus international delegates present at the C2-MTL conference on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013.
The three-day international conference (held May 21st to 23rd) on commerce and creativity is a not-for-profit organization that explores the relationship between commerce and creativity, and its potential to redefine business, bringing together innovators from every industry. Surely an overload of meaningful information for young professionals, it features talks given by renowned speakers, interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations, conceptual spaces, festive evenings, collaborative workshops, and a creativity Boot Camp, all held in an innovative village designed exclusively for C2-MTL.
So, what’s the deal on Boot Camp? Winners of the Young Glory competition, business leaders from around the world, C2-MTL ambassadors, Sid Lee’s 600 employees from around the globe and all delegates attending C2-MTL are invited to develop ideas around the cause. Eva Van Den Buckle, Associate Creative Director and partner at Sid Lee, will judge and curate the ideas shared throughout the process. In case you’re wondering, Youth Glory is a worldwide competition devoted to creative consistency that gives students and professionals under 30 the chance to respond to a brief set by a different industry leader from around the world each month.
The crowdsourcing experiment Boot Camp happens in four steps:
1. Young creatives from around the world are invited to submit ideas through the Young Glory platform by the end of March 2013. Eva Van Den Buckle will then select the best ideas in the students and young professionals categories. The two winning teams will be invited to present and share the ideas with Sir Richard at C2-MTL.
2. C2 -MTL ambassadors and Sid Lee’s senior executives will conduct a series of workshops with business leaders around the world to get their perspective on the cause.
3. The 600-plus Sid Lee employees from Montreal, Amsterdam, Paris, Toronto and New York will be tasked to help Richard Branson’s cause by creating a movement from around the world. The best idea will be shared and presented at C2-MTL.
4. During C2-MTL, 2000-plus forward thinkers and game changers from over 30 countries and 30 industries will develop their own ideas and contribute to the conversation through a series of workshops, interacting with the Sid Lee team and winners from previous rounds. The teams will then present the best concepts on C2-MTL’s main stage, where Sir Richard will comment on their ideas and will discuss the future of the cause as well as his own journey as a philanthropist, entrepreneur and seasoned risk-taker.