With the launch of the New Blood 2009 campaign, Laura Jordan-Bambach at LBi has written some background to the concept:
"Here at LBi we've just launched the campaign to promote D&AD New Blood's 10th Anniversary exhibition, at the end of June. Its been a labour of love, something that I'm really proud of for the best (in my opinion) and most important part of the charity.
This campaign is about getting industry down to New Blood to support graduating students. First off, don't let's forget the message here. Internships and placements just evaporated for graduates in the last downturn. For a few years students stepped out into an industry that just wasn't paying attention. These graduates went elsewhere, and as anyone trying to find mid/senior talent, particularly in digital, can attest to - the whole industry lost out, and work has suffered for it.
Call me naive (and I'm sure you will) but we wanted to try to get the industry off its arses (or out of them) and take a minute to think about what New Blood is all about, where they might have been 10 years ago, and to make a personal pledge to give these new talents the support that they deserve: there's no denying its going to be really tough for them out there.
The hero photos represent only a small part of this campaign, but a lead that we hoped would put New Blood on the industry radar again, and cause some intense discussion about why it's so important (job done there, I guess ;-) ).The images are tongue-in-cheek but the message they contain is seriously important. The point is that these people aren't the six most important people at the event, it's the students, and it's each person that stops navel-gazing and actually contributes to its success.
These industry 'icons' were selected because they are actively helping New Blood already, offering their time (extra big thanks to Nadav) and profile to help get the conversation going, and who have committed to the New Blood event - they are the first step towards creating some solidarity with our brightest young stars by challenging you to do more yourself. And it's working.
For those that haven't seen the whole campaign, please check it out. For those lucky enough to be judging D&AD professional and student awards this year, there was a booth set up (using the 2 of 2006's Best New Blood Winners - David Horwich & Paul Mansley) where everyone could pledge their support... and of course the hub of activity is that everyone is encouraged to upload their own photos or video committing to being at the event. "I'll be there".
On top of that we're providing free space for all students to have a web presence within the same matrix, and a great digital system for tagging your favourite work at the event, so that all that fiddling about with trying to contact your favourite future teams afterwards is as painless as possible.
So please, continue with the discussion as much as you like, but know it came from the right place. Most importantly take a moment to think about what it was like when you were entering an industry with your vivid optimism and desire to do what we all do every day still intact - and pledge your support."
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