Many of the National Winners were ready to pitch for the international jury right after the welcome speech on Monday morning, made by Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning, Managing Director of Creative Business Cup. He encouraged the creative entrepreneurs from all over the world to engage in three days of networking, learning and playing, because that’s the way to generate creativity and innovation. The serious business mood gave way for smiles and laughter as the National Winners posed professionally for the promotional photo session. Apart from the attractive prizes for the best creative entrepreneurs, the Creative Business Cup is offering an extradiornary opportunity for investor pitching and individual investor matchmaking meetings on Tuesday.
Media training workshop for national winners
After the first inspirational plenary, about how to get attention on the global media market, creative director Christian Have went on to engage some of the National Winners in a workshop called Media Training.
- Storytelling is the key element in creating awareness of your product, Christian Have told the creative entrepreneurs and runners-up.
- Once the good story is established, you can either go to a PR company or you can use your own network, added Rasmus from Have Communication.
As we all know by now, e-mail campaigns are so last century, however, a personal e-mail or another form of direct contact to a member of your own network might be meaningful, because personal contacts are what matters these days. Someone in your network might have some contacts within the media. Remember that even though we all focus on social media like Facebook and Twitter, up to 80 % of all news stories are still generated from analogy media such as newspapers.
Another important part of your digital strategy is using search engine optimization or SEO. You might think you’ve heard it all a thousand times before, but get ready for a repetition. There is no way around making your URL appear as often as possible on the internet, if you want attention for your product and your company.
Sparking creativity with Christian Stadil
The Danish member of the jury, Christian Stadil from Thornico, delivered an entertaining and enlightening performance about “Sparking creativity and imagination”.
From various photos of Royal Copenhagen porcelain, the scientist Einstein, the protagonist from the award-winning TV-series The Killing, Bill Gates, and finally Picasso in the shower, Stadil supported his ideas about creativity and how to keep it alive within a company.
- Everyone can be creative
- Support humour and playfulness
- Get rid of management by fear
- Remember to take a break, like Picasso in the shower
- Slow thinking is important
Stiven Kerestegian from LEGO
Senior manager at LEGO from Chile, Stiven Kerestegian, underlined how important it is to stay alive and honest, if you’re planning on joining The Journey of Open Innovation. Some of his surprising conclusions about co-creation included that hackers can enhance a product, if you include them in the process. Innovation is intimidating to a lot of people, but orchestrating many creators has been successful for LEGO.
